Increased Penetration Rate

In permeable rocks, a positive

differential pressure will decrease
penetration because.
 Increases the effective confining stress
which.
Increases the rocks shear strength.
Therefore increasing shear stress (by
drilling UB) increases penetration rate.

 And increases the chip hold down effect.

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Chip Hold Down Effect

Bit tooth.
Crack in the
formation.

As drilling fluid
enters the fracture,
the pressure
differential across
the rock fragment
decreases,
releasing the chip.

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Effect of Pressure Differential

12

Indiana Limestone
Confining Pressure= 6000 psi

10

Drilling Rate (ft/hr)

In permeable
rocks
penetration
rate is a
function of the
differential
pressure not
the absolute
pressure.

Micro-bit test

Bit weight= 1000 lbm

50 rpm

4
2

0
0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Overbalanced Differential Pressure (psl)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

5000

Penetration Rate As A Function Of

The Differential Pressure Across The
Workfront
100

For permeable rocks

90

15000 lbm
30000 lbm

80

ROP (ft/hr)

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Pressure Drop Through Filter Cake (psi)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

900

1000

Penetration Rate in
Impermeable Rocks
Bit tooth

Crack in the
formation.

In impermeable rock, the

instantaneous initial
pressure in the crack
itself is close to zero, i.e.
the penetration rate is
now a function of
absolute wellbore
pressure.

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Borehole pressure = 440 psi

150

X Pore Pressure 87 psi

O Pore Pressure 508 psi

Rate of Penetration (ft/hr)

125

100

75

50

25

0
0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

Downhole Weight on Bit (lbf)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

40000

45000

50000

Borehole pressure = 1.450 psi

150

X Pore Pressure 580 psi

O Pore Pressure 870 psi

Rate of Penetration (ft/hr)

125

+ Pore Pressure 116 psi

100

75

50

25

0
0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

Downhole Weight on Bit (lbf)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

40000

45000

50000

Borehole pressure = 4.800 psi

150

X Pore Pressure 2320 psi

+ Pore Pressure 4930 psi

Rate of Penetration (ft/hr)

125

100

75

50

25

0
0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

Downhole Weight on Bit (lbf)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

40000

45000

50000

Normalized Drilling Strength

DSn=

WOB x RPM
ROP
WOB x RPM
ROP

Pb

Po

DSn

Normalized Drilling Strength Index.

WOB

Weight on Bit (lbf).

RPM

Rotary speed (rpm).

ROP

Rate of penetration (ft/hr).

Pressure (psia).

Subscript b

Indicates borehole conditions.

Subscript o

Indicates atmospheric conditions.

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Influence Of BHP On Normalized

Drilling Strength In Hard Shales
Normalized Rock Drilling Strength, DSn

10

DTM/Jurassic-2 Shale
SDM/Welsh Shale
Results from Cheatham et al.
SDM/Jurassic-2 Shale

9
8
7
6
5
4

A value of 5 means that the

penetration rate at an specific BHP
will be 1/5 of the penetration rate
at atmospheric pressure.

3
2
1
0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Bottomhole Pressure (psi)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

4500

5000

Normalized Shale Strength

Example

A well drilled with an unweighted
(8.5 ppg) mud at a depth of 6000.

BHP ~ 2900 psi.

Reducing the effective MW to 7 ppg
reduces BHP to 2400 psi.

Decreases the drilling strength, i.e.,
increase the penetration rate by less
than 15%.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Normalized Shale Strength

Example

To double the penetration rate the
BHP would have to be dropped to
~ 1500 psi.

A BHP of 100 psi might be expected
if drilling with air and would
increase the penetration rate
approximately 5 times.
Note: This assumes equal WOB and RPM.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Normalized Shale Strength

Example
10

DTM/Jurassic-2 Shale
SDM/Welsh Shale
Results from Cheatham et al.
SDM/Jurassic-2 Shale

Normalized Rock Drilling Strength, DSn

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

Bottomhole Pressure (psi)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

4000

4500

5000

Field Example
Switching From Air To Mud
3000
Well 1
Well 2

4000

Well 3

Depth (feet)

DRY AIR
5000

SWITCH TO MUD
6000

7000

8000

9000
5

10

15

20
Days

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

25

30

Increased Bit Life???

Increased vibration with air drilling
may actually decrease bearing life.

Bit may drill fewer rotating hours but
drill more footage.

The number of bits required to drill
an interval will be inversely
proportional to the footage drilled by
each bit.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Effect Of UBD On Cutting

Structure Of Roller Cone
Bits

Mechanical Specific Energy, MSE,
is defined as the mechanical work
that must be done to excavate a
unit volume of rock.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

The Work Done By The Bit Is:

WOB
x
ROP
W= 2 +
60 x RPM
Where
W

work done by the bit (ft/ lbf/ revolution)

torque (ft- lbf)

weight on bit (lbf)
rate of penetration (ft/hr)
revolutions per minute

WOB =
ROP =
RPM =

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

The Volume Of Rock

Excavated Per Revolution Is:
V=

2
d b x

ROP
240 x RPM

volume of rock excavated per revolution (ft 3)

db

bit diameter (feet)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

The Mechanical Specific

Energy Is Give By:
480 x RPM 4WOB
+
MSE=
d b2 x ROP
d b2
MSE

mechanical specific energy (psi)

Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

What Does This Mean?

480 x RPM 4WOB
+
MSE=
d b2 x ROP
d b2
1. Bit torque is not a function of borehole
pressures.
2. Penetration rates generally increase
with decreasing borehole pressures.
3. MSE are therefore, usually lower at
lower borehole pressures.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

What Does This Mean?

4. Therefore, cutting structure wear
rates (in terms of distance drilled)
should be inversely related to the
MSE.
5. If the bit has to do less work to
remove a given volume of rock, its
cutting elements should wear less.
6. A bit should be able to drill more
footage, when drilling underbalanced.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Reduced Differential Sticking

Fs = Ac * Ps *144 sq.in./sq.ft.

Fs =

Force required to free pipe (lbf)

Ac =

Contact area (sq. ft)

P =

Pressure differential across

the mud cake (psid)

s =

Coefficient of friction between

the string and the mud cake.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering

Example

Contact area is 30 feet long and 0.25 ft
wide.

Pressure differential is 300 psid.

The coefficient of friction is 0.3

The force to free the pipe (in excess of
string weight) is:
30 x 0.25 x 300 x 0.3 x 144 = 97,200 lbf.

Note: Equation 3.5 in text is incorrect.
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering