DRILLING TECHNOLOGY
Experimental Studies on the Effect of Mechanical Cleaning
Devices on Annular-Cuttings Concentration
In horizontal and highly deviated por-
tions of an extended-reach-drilling
(ERD) well, cuttings beds form on
the low side of the annulus. The cut-
tings bed partially blocks the annulus,
resulting in excessive pressure loss
and a higher equivalent circulating
density (ECD). Recently, the use of
downhole mechanical cleaning devic-
es (MCDs) has been introduced to
mitigate the problem without inducing
excessive ECD. The full-length paper
presents results of an experimental
study that was conducted to evaluate
cuttings-removal efficiency of MCDs.
Results indicate that the tools signifi-
cantly reduce the amount of cuttings
in the annulus.
Introduction
Efficient cuttings transport is an
important issue in drilling highly
deviated and horizontal wells. In
directional wells, drilled cuttings
tend to accumulate on the low side
of the annulus and form a thick
cuttings bed when the flow velocity
becomes insufficient to suspend the
This article, written by Assistant Tech-
nology editor Karen Bybee, contains
highlights of paper SPE 134269,
Experimental Studies on the Effect
of Mechanical Cleaning Devices on
Annular Cuttings Concentration and
Applications for Optimizing ERD Sys-
tems, by Ramadan Ahmed, SPE
(currently with the University of Okla-
homa), Munawar Sagheer, SPE,
Nicholas Takach, SPE, Reza Majidi,
SPE, Mengjiao Yu, SPE, and Stefan
Miska, SPE, University of Tulsa, and,
Christophe Rohart, SPE, and Jean
Boulet, SPE, VAM Drilling, originally
prepared for the 2010 SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition,
Florence, Italy, 1922 September. The
paper has not been peer reviewed.
For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT FEBRUARY 2011
cuttings-bed particles. Particularly in
high-angle and horizontal boreholes,
the formation of a thick cuttings
bed can give rise to numerous dif-
ficulties such as lost circulation, dif-
ferential sticking, and high torque
and drag. Recently, hydromechanical
hole-cleaning devices (HHCDs) have
been developed to enhance cuttings-
transport efficiency in directional
wells. These tools are introduced in
the drillstring with different spac-
ing arrangements.
These tools have helical grooves or
blades on their surface to assist cut-
tings-bed removal. A negative angle
also is designed on each blade to
improve the scooping effect on the
cuttings bed. While rotating the drill-
pipe, the blades scoop the cuttings
bed and help to bring the cuttings
into suspension. At the same time,
the circulation of the drilling fluid
allows the suspended cuttings par-
ticles to be carried away, thus leading
to better hole cleaning. Because of
hydrodynamic and hydromechanical
effects, the tools help to reduce the
cuttings accumulation in highly devi-
ated and horizontal sections of the
wellbore where the buildup of a cut-
tings bed cannot be avoided. Thus,
several of these tools are used in a
typical drilling application to reduce
the in-situ cuttings concentration
and, hence, reduce the occurrence of
hole-cleaning-related problems.
HHCDs improve hole cleaning by
creating more turbulence, bringing
cuttings into suspension, and scoop-
ing the cuttings bed. The interaction
between the tools and the slurry that
contains cuttings particles and drill-
ing fluid is a complex fluid-mechanics
problem for which an analytical solu-
tion would be difficult to develop.
Therefore, an experimental approach
is the best option to provide practical
solutions, perform sensitivity analy-
sis, and obtain a better understanding
of the use of these tools.
To achieve the objectives of the
investigation, extensive cuttings-
transport experiments were per-
formed using a water-based fluid that
contains 1.25 ppb polyanionic cellu-
lose (PAC) as a viscosifier. Table 1 in
the full-length paper presents the test
matrix that specifies test parameters
for each experiment. Two, designs/
generations (Fig. 1) of these tools
(G1 and G2) were considered in the
investigation, and their performance
was compared to standard drillpipe
without MCDs. The second-genera-
tion (G2) tool was developed recent-
ly. The tool is expected to perform
better than the first-generation (G1)
tool in terms of cleaning the wellbore
and reducing drillstring mechanical
friction and required torque at the
surface. The new design of G2 has a
bearing system that allows the blades
to rotate freely without touching the
wellbore wall, and as a consequence,
both the blades and wellbore are pro-
tected. Although mechanical benefits
are apparent from its design, it is
important to determine hole-cleaning
efficiency of the tool quantitatively
and perform a qualitative comparison
between the two generations under
different operating conditions. At the
same time, it is necessary to deter-
mine the effect of drilling parameters,
such as mud flow rate, tool spacing,
drillpipe-rotation speed, rate of pene-
tration (ROP), inclination angle (i.e.,
measured from the vertical axis), and
annular diameter ratio, on the effi-
ciencies of these tools. This would
help to optimize the performance of
the tool through careful control of
these parameters. Hence, this study
focuses on determining experimen-
tally the efficiencies of these down-
45
 (a)
Fig. 1G1 is the first-generation tool (a), and G2 is the second-generation tool (b).
hole cleaning devices (G1 and G2)
and studying parameters that affect
their performance.
Experimental Study
Cuttings-transport experiments were
performed using the low-pressure
ambient-temperature flow loop devel-
oped by Tulsa University Drilling-
Research Projects. The tests were
intended to obtain experimental data
that can provide useful information
to improve the performance of MCDs
and yield valuable insights into the use
of these devices for improving cuttings
transport while drilling. Therefore,
experiments were performed to cover
a wide range of test parameters, as
shown in Table 1 in the full-length
paper. According to the test matrix,
30 experiments with 10 different loop
assemblies were conducted. Each
experiment was repeated three times
to ensure result reliability. Thus, a
total of 90 tests were performed. The
effects of seven operating parameters
(i.e., diameter ratio, flow rate, tool
spacing, tool design, drillpipe-rotation
speed, ROP, and inclination angle)
were studied. Three different drillpipe
sizes were considered in the investi-
gation. The following three types of
tool spacings were considered: (1)
Type 1two MCDs in the test sec-
tion; (2) Type 2three MCDs in the
test section; and (3) Type 36 MCDs
in the test section. Experiments also
were conducted with only a conven-
tional drillstring (i.e., no MCDs). All
experiments were performed with one
test fluid (1.25-lbm/bbl PAC suspen-
sion) that has acceptable rheological
properties and is fully transparent
to allow flow visualization and bed-
height measurements. The experi-
ments were performed in a large-scale
flow loop that has an 8-in. transparent
test section.
46
The rheology of the test fluid best
fits the power-law model. The aver-
age cuttings size (river gravel with 2.6
specific gravity) used in the experi-
ments was 3.35 mm in diameter.
Conclusions
Analysis of the experimental results
shows some interesting trends and pro-
vides better understanding of the effect
of mechanical hole-cleaning tools on
cuttings transport at different operating
parameters. It shows the performance
of the tools compared with that of stan-
dard drillpipe. The study focused on
investigating the effect of most of the
drilling parameters considered in the
field. As a result, the test matrix was
developed on the basis of the Taguchi
method. The Taguchi approach was
implemented to reduce the number of
experiments while covering the most-
relevant parameters such as flow rate,
ROP, diameter ratio, tool design, and
drillpipe-rotation speed. For each test,
the amount of cuttings accumulated in
the test section was determined from
weight measurements.
Analysis of the results by the anal-
ysis-of-variance (ANOVA) approach
shows that the flow rate and hole-
inclination angle are the most-critical
parameters that dictate hole-cleaning
performance of the tools.
In addition to the ANOVA results,
a generalized correlation was devel-
oped on the basis of dimensional
analysis. An extensive sensitivity
analysis, which was conducted using
the correlation, shows that:
MCDs are effective in cleaning
highly deviated and horizontal well-
bores.
Hole-cleaning performance of the
two tools (G1 and G2) investigated in
this study is comparable. Performance
of the first-generation tool is slightly
better than that of the second-gener-
(b)
ation tool, depending on operating
parameters; however, G2 tools rotate
freely without touching the wellbore
wall and thus reduce the torque and
drag required at the surface and limit
wear considerably.
In horizontal wellbores, use of the
tools improves hole cleaning regard-
less of the bed area in the annulus.
The effect of ROP on the annu-
lar-bed area is minimal. Flow-loop
experiments simulate only the effect
of cuttings-generation rate at the bit,
which is related directly to the ROP.
The contribution of axial tool move-
ment to the removal process could
be substantial, but it was not studied
during these experiments. A prelimi-
nary model that includes axial tool
movement has been proposed; field or
experimental data now are required to
determine model parameters.
Annular-bed area is very sensitive
to differences in tool spacing when a
small number of tools per length of
the wellbore is used.
The drillpipe-rotation speed has
a moderate effect on the performance
of the tools.
MCDs improve hole cleaning by
scooping cuttings-bed particles and
resuspending, them into the high-
velocity flow zone, thus, achieving
further transportation by drilling fluid.
Mud-carrying capacity remains an
important factor for the overall hole-
cleaning performance with MCDs.
Visual observation of the bed profiles
in the annulus indicates that the bed
height in the tool zone is very low
compared to locations where there
is no tool and that the bed height
is maximized between two adjacent
tools. The axial tool movement implies
a cumulative scooping effect of these
tools, providing an additional increase
of the overall cleaning performance of
the MCD drilling system. JPT
JPT FEBRUARY 2011