Method to Alter the Process of Cuttings Bed Formation in a Wellbore

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems to predict and alter the characteristics of cuttings bed in a wellbore in real time or ahead of time during planning to avoid the consequences of poor hole cleaning, i.e., high torque and drag, stuck drills, broken drill tools, lost circulation, low rates of penetration, and any related delays in the drilling schedule. The methods may include collecting drilling cuttings from drilling a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation, analyzing the drilling cuttings, predicting characteristics of cuttings bed based at least in part on the drilling cuttings, predicting the effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed on hole cleaning, changing at least one parameter controlling drilling operation when the hole cleaning is impaired by the effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed, and predicting an impact of the change of the at least one parameter on the characteristics of the cuttings bed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 collecting drilling cuttings from drilling a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation;   analyzing the drilling cuttings;   predicting characteristics of cuttings bed based at least in part on the drilling cuttings;   predicting effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed on hole cleaning;   changing at least one parameter controlling drilling operation when the hole cleaning is impaired by the effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed; and   predicting an impact of the change of the at least one parameter on the characteristics of the cuttings bed.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the drilling cuttings comprises measuring at least one drilling cuttings characteristics selected from the group consisting of size, shape, density, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the drilling cuttings is performed at a rig site. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the drilling cuttings is performed while drilling an inclined well section. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter controlling drilling operation comprises at least one parameter controlling drilling operation selected from the group of parameters controlling drilling operation consisting of drilling fluid flow rate, drilling fluid chemistry, drilling fluid rheology, a force applied on a drill bit, a number of rotations per minute of the drill bit, an eccentricity of a drill string, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the drilling cuttings is performed by an operator. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the drilling cuttings is performed automatically. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the drilling cuttings is performed automatically with video registration of the drilling cuttings and analysis of drilling cuttings images is performed with an image processing algorithm. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the change of the at least one parameter is performed by an operator. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the change of the at least one parameters is performed automatically. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 representing a modeled section of a wellbore by splitting the modeled section of the wellbore into a grid comprising a representation of a borehole when a change of inclination angle of a drilling string is above a threshold, wherein the grid is divided into grid layers and columns, each grid layers and columns divided into cells, wherein each cell represents drilling fluid, drilling cuttings moving in the drilling fluid, or non-moving drilling cuttings;   populating the grid with a first cell in one of the two bottom corners of the grid;   populating a grid layer with cells in a constant direction;   calculating deposition criterion of a drilling cuttings when a cell is inside the representation of the borehole in the grid;   adding the cell to a cuttings bed when the deposition criterion is met;   updating velocity normalization coefficient when the cell is the last cell in the grid layer;   adding a cell to a first end of a grid layer above a populated grid layer;   populating the grid layer above the populated grid layer with cells in a constant direction;   calculating deposition criterion of a drilling cuttings when a cell is inside the representation of the borehole in the grid; and   stopping populating the grid layer when the grid layer is a final grid layer of the grid or when drill bit is stuck.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further analyzing the drilling cuttings recovered from drilling the wellbore. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further predicting characteristics of the cuttings bed. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further predicting effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed on hole cleaning. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further changing at least one parameter controlling drilling operation when the hole cleaning is impaired by the effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further predicting an impact of the change of the at least one parameter controlling drilling operation on the characteristics of the cuttings bed. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , predicting an impact of the change of the at least one parameter controlling drilling operation on the characteristics of the cuttings bed, wherein the at least one parameter controlling drilling operation comprises at least one parameter controlling drilling operation selected from the group of parameters controlling drilling operation consisting of drilling fluid flow rate, drilling fluid chemistry, drilling fluid rheology, a force applied on a drill bit, a number of rotations per minute of the drill bit, an eccentricity of a drill string, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         18 . A system comprising:
 a collector of drilling cuttings produced by drilling of a well in a subterranean formation;   a sensor to measure the drilling cuttings; and   an information handling system to analyze data collected by the sensor, predict characteristics of cuttings bed, predict effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed on hole cleaning, change at least one control parameter when the hole cleaning is impaired by the effects of the characteristics of the cuttings bed, and predicting an impact of the change of at least one control parameter on the characteristics of the cuttings bed.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one control parameter comprises at least one control parameter selected from the group of control parameters consisting of drilling fluid flow rate, drilling fluid chemistry, drilling fluid rheology, a force applied on a drill bit, a number of rotations per minute of the drill bit, an eccentricity of a drill string, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the sensor measures at least one of drilling cuttings characteristics selected from the group consisting of size, shape, density, and any combination thereof.