Equivalent Circulation Density Analysis of Geothermal Well by Coupling Temperature

Xiuhua Zheng, Chenyang Duan, Zheng Yan, Hongyu Ye, Zhiqing Wang and Bairu Xia
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Xiuhua Zheng: School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China
Chenyang Duan: School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China
Zheng Yan: Tongren Jiulong Mining Investment and Development Co., Ltd, Guizhou 554309, China
Hongyu Ye: Beijing Taili New Energy Technology Co., Beijing 100010, China
Zhiqing Wang: School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China
Bairu Xia: School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), No. 29, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: The accurate control of the wellbore pressure not only prevents lost circulation/blowout and fracturing formation by managing the density of the drilling fluid, but also improves productivity by mitigating reservoir damage. Calculating the geothermal pressure of a geothermal well by constant parameters would easily bring big errors, as the changes of physical, rheological and thermal properties of drilling fluids with temperature are neglected. This paper researched the wellbore pressure coupling by calculating the temperature distribution with the existing model, fitting the rule of density of the drilling fluid with the temperature and establishing mathematical models to simulate the wellbore pressures, which are expressed as the variation of Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD) under different conditions. With this method, the temperature and ECDs in the wellbore of the first medium-deep geothermal well, ZK212 Yangyi Geothermal Field in Tibet, were determined, and the sensitivity analysis was simulated by assumed parameters, i.e., the circulating time, flow rate, geothermal gradient, diameters of the wellbore, rheological models and regimes. The results indicated that the geothermal gradient and flow rate were the most influential parameters on the temperature and ECD distribution, and additives added in the drilling fluid should be added carefully as they change the properties of the drilling fluid and induce the redistribution of temperature. To ensure the safe drilling and velocity of pipes tripping into the hole, the depth and diameter of the wellbore are considered to control the surge pressure.

Keywords: wellbore pressure analysis; equivalent circulating density; geothermal well; wellbore temperature distribution; mathematical modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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