Wellbore Flow and Heat Transfer of Drilling with Foam

摘要

On the basis of special physical properties of foam drilling fluid, a mathematical model of foam flow and heat transfer in a wellbore was established, and the solution of the model was proposed. Employing the established mathematical model and its solution, numerical calculation was conducted to analyze the effect of wellbore heat transfer on the hydraulic parameters of foam drilling. The results indicated that foam temperature in a drilling pipe was always lower than that in the annulus and formation temperature. At the bottom of the annulus, foam temperature was lower than the formation temperature, whereas in the top of the annulus, foam temperature was higher than the formation temperature. Most important, with increasing well depth, liquid injection rate, and gas injection rate, the deviation between foam temperature at the bottom of the annulus and formation temperature increased. Wellbore heat transfer not only resulted in increased foam quality in the top of the annulus, bottom pressure, and minimum gas injection rate but also a decrease in the foam quality at the bottom of the annulus and minimum cutting transport velocity. Therefore, the stability and cutting transport capacity of foam decreased. In addition, foam density and Fanning friction coefficient were affected by wellbore heat transfer. Although to a certain extent wellbore heat transfer has an effect on hydraulic parameters of foam drilling, the effect was limited and could be counteracted by increasing gas injection rate and back pressure.