Downhole Vibration Characterization via Contour Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wellbore operations face challenges in controlling vibrations caused by drilling tools and equipment, leading to potential damage, inefficiency, and operational disruptions due to unpredictable vibrations and complex equipment behavior.
Innovation Solution
An automatic vibrational mapping system that characterizes vibrational behavior by creating maps relating operational parameters such as weight-on-bit and revolutions-per-minute to vibration levels, using a systematic searching algorithm to identify and mitigate destructive vibrations, and an adaptive control system to optimize drilling operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If drilling operations are conducted with standard equipment and parameters, then drilling productivity is maintained, but severe vibrations occur causing equipment damage and operational disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary characterization of vibration behavior by creating vibration maps that relate operational parameters to vibration levels before actual drilling operations. This allows operators to identify and avoid parameter combinations that would cause severe vibrations, preventing equipment damage and operational disruptions before they occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors drilling operations and compares actual operational parameters against the pre-established vibration maps. When parameters approach regions associated with severe vibrations, the system provides feedback to adjust parameters away from these harmful regions, maintaining productivity while avoiding vibration-related problems.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If operational parameters are adjusted to mitigate vibrations, then vibration levels are reduced, but determining proper parameters becomes extremely complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The complexity of determining proper operational parameters is resolved in advance by creating comprehensive vibration maps that characterize vibration behavior across the entire range of possible parameter combinations. This preliminary characterization eliminates the need for complex real-time parameter optimization during drilling operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of directly solving the complex parameter optimization problem during operations, the system creates a simplified representation (vibration map) that copies the essential vibration characteristics. This map serves as a lookup table that translates complex vibration analysis into simple visual guidance for parameter selection.
3Loss of information
If vibration characterization is performed through systematic parameter variation, then complete understanding of vibration behavior is achieved, but time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs vibration characterization as a preliminary activity before production drilling operations begin. By completing the systematic parameter variation and map creation in advance, the time-consuming characterization process does not interfere with productive drilling operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system focuses vibration characterization efforts on the specific range of operational parameters actually used in production drilling. Rather than characterizing the entire theoretical parameter space, the system concentrates resources on the relevant operating window, achieving sufficient understanding without excessive time investment.
Data Source
AI summary
Vibrational behavior of a wellbore operation can be characterized as a vibrational map relating a modeled or sensed vibration level of the operation's equipment to operational parameters of the wellbore operation. The operational parameters can be controllable by settings of the equipment. The map can include multiple contour lines, each representing a set of adjacent coordinates of operational parameters that have the same vibrational level. Tracing a contour line can include determining vibration at a pre-tracing coordinate, adjusting the operational parameters until the vibration level to be mapped is reached at a tracing origin coordinate, then varying the operational parameters while keeping the vibration level constant until the tracing origin or a bound of the operational parameters is reached. Vibration levels having multiple, non-intersecting contour lines can be found by repeating tracing from a different pre-tracing coordinate.