N-Porosity N-Permeability Mud Weight Window Determination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for determining the mud weight window in drilling operations assume formations have singular or dual-porosity and singular or dual-permeability, ignoring the complex multi-porosity and multi-permeability aspects of formations like shale, which can lead to inaccurate mud weight calculations, potentially causing formation collapse or fracturing.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using a computer processor to calculate mud weight windows by determining total stresses and pore pressures in N-porosity and N-permeability formations, applying poroelastic wellbore solutions, and using failure criteria to determine individual and overall collapse and fracturing mud weights, thereby adjusting the mud weight in real-time to maintain a safe operational range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional singular or dual-porosity models are used to determine mud weight window, then the calculation process is simple, but the accuracy of mud weight determination deteriorates leading to formation collapse or fracturing
Solution Approach 1:
The formation is segmented into N distinct porous media layers, each with its own porosity and permeability characteristics. The computer processor calculates individual effective stresses and mud weight parameters for each layer, then aggregates them to determine the overall mud weight window. This segmentation allows accurate representation of complex multi-layer formations while maintaining systematic calculation procedures.
2Measurement precision
If N-porosity and N-permeability poroelastic wellbore solution is applied, then the accuracy of formation characterization improves, but the computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The computer processor is designed as a universal computational system that can handle both simple singular-porosity cases and complex N-porosity scenarios using the same poroelastic wellbore solution framework. The system automatically adapts to different formation complexities by processing the appropriate number of porous medium parameters, providing a unified approach that maintains accuracy across varying levels of formation complexity.
3Reliability
If individual failure criteria are applied to each porous medium, then the collapse and fracturing mud weights for each layer are accurately determined, but the overall formation assessment becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The computer processor calculates individual collapse mud weights and fracturing mud weights for each of the N porous media layers using their respective failure criteria. These individual results are then merged and combined to determine the overall formation collapse mud weight and fracturing mud weight. This merging process integrates the reliability of individual layer assessments into a comprehensive formation-wide mud weight window determination.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach ensures accurate determination of the mud weight window, preventing formation collapse and fracturing, thus ensuring health and environmental safety during drilling operations by accounting for the complex porosity and permeability of formations.
Implementation Method 1
obtaining, by a computer processor, total stresses and pore pressures of each porous medium of a formation using an N-porosity and N-permeability poroelastic wellbore solution
Implementation Method 2
determining, by the computer processor, an individual collapse mud weight and an individual fracturing mud weight for each porous medium of the formation using a first set of associated failure criteria
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes obtaining total stresses and pore pressures of each porous medium of a formation, determining a first and second set of effective stresses for the formation, determining an individual collapse and fracturing mud weight for each porous medium of the formation using a first set of associated failure criteria, wherein the first set of associated failure criteria are based on the first set of effective stresses, determining an overall collapse and fracturing mud weight for the formation using a second set of associated failure criteria, wherein the second set of associated failure criteria is based on the second set of effective stresses, determining a mud weight window for the formation using the individual collapse mud weight, the individual fracturing mud weight, the overall collapse mud weight, and the overall fracturing mud weight, and transmitting a command to a drilling system based on the mud weight window.