Modular Guide Rail Connections for Mobile Drilling Rig Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile drilling rigs experience deformation, sinking, and disconnection of guide rails due to bending, shear, and deflection forces, especially on soft or deformable ground surfaces, leading to tipping hazards and reduced operational space.
Innovation Solution
Modular guide rail system with moment-resistant connections between segments, distributing loads and forces across multiple segments, featuring protruding and receiving connectors with shear pins and abutment faces, and a layered structure including base, intermediary, and roller assembly guides to enhance stability and load distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If guide rails are used on soft or deformable ground surfaces, then the drilling rig can be positioned and moved along the rails, but the rails experience bending, shear, and deflection forces causing deformation, sinking, and disconnection
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rail system is divided into multiple segments that can be independently supported on the ground surface. Each segment is spaced apart to reduce the bending moment and deflection forces on any single segment, preventing sinking and disconnection while maintaining the continuous path for the drilling rig to follow.
Solution Approach 2:
Support structures or intermediate elements are introduced between the guide rail segments and the soft ground surface. These intermediaries distribute the loads from the drilling rig across a larger area of the ground, reducing the bearing pressure on any single point and preventing the rails from sinking into the soft ground.
2Power
If guide rails are subjected to high loading from drilling operations and environmental factors, then the drilling rig can perform its functions, but the rails experience high bending, shear, and deflection forces leading to deformation and disconnection
Solution Approach 1:
By dividing the continuous guide rail into discrete segments spaced apart along its length, the system distributes high loading forces across multiple segments rather than concentrating them on a single continuous structure. This reduces the bending moment and shear forces on any individual segment, maintaining structural integrity under heavy drilling operations and environmental loads.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rail system transitions from a single-plane structure to a three-dimensional configuration with vertical support elements or cross-beams connecting the rail segments. This adds a vertical dimension to the structure, increasing the moment of inertia and resistance to bending and deflection forces while maintaining the horizontal path for the drilling rig.
3Length of moving object
If guide rails are made longer to cover more distance, then the drilling rig can access more well locations, but the rails are more susceptible to deformation and disconnection at joints
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rail system uses modular segments of standardized length that can be connected through robust joint mechanisms. Each segment is independently supported on the ground, which reduces the cumulative deformation and stress accumulation that would occur in a single long continuous rail. The segmented design allows for better accommodation of ground variations and reduces the likelihood of disconnection at joints.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rail segments are pre-assembled with connection mechanisms and support structures in place before installation on the ground surface. This preliminary preparation ensures that the joints and support elements are properly positioned and secured, reducing the likelihood of disconnection or deformation during subsequent drilling operations and movement of the drilling rig.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for supporting and transporting a drilling rig. The system may have a pair of rails, wherein each rail has a plurality of rail segments and a plurality of connections between the segments. Moreover, each connection may have a plurality of interlocking lugs secured with a shear pin and opposing abutment faces, such that each connection may be configured to transfer moment and shear forces between adjacent rail segments. In some embodiments, the each rail segment may be configured to support a point load of up to 1000 kips. In some embodiments, each rail segment may have a protruding connector and a receiving connector, and each connection may include the protruding connector of a first segment and the receiving connector of a second segment. In some embodiments, a portion of each connection may be configured for tension loading and another portion may be configured for compression loading.