DEVELOPMENT OF FIBROUS DRILLING FLUIDS FOR HORIZONTAL WELL CLEANOUT: PARAMETIC INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Drilling fluids enhance drilling efficiency by facilitating cutting transportation, maintaining suspension, regulating pressure, and stabilizing rock formations. Fiber usage in drilling operations improves hole-cleaning efficiency without increasing fluid viscosity. This research investigates fibers' impact on CMC-based polymeric well cleanout fluids' carrying capacity and the influence of polymer and fiber concentrations and cutting size on cutting terminal velocity. In this study, synthetic monofilament fiber and carboxymethyl cellulose polymeric base fluid are used to assess fluid carrying capacity, and therefor, Box-Benhken design was used to analyze, model, and optimize all the parameters to achieve the possible minimum drilling cuttings terminal velocity. Results showed that increasing fiber and polymer concentrations improved the fluid's ability in enhancing its cutting-carrying capacity. Also, it shows that cutting size and polymer concentration significantly influence velocity. 0.85 CMC wt.%, 0.02 3mm fiber wt.%, and 1mm cutting size are the optimal conditions for reducing terminal velocity using Minitab.