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Numerical Simulation for the Effect of Mud Cake Time-Dependent Properties on Wellbore Stability

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Abstract

Mud cake quality is the key to evaluating the plugging capacity of workover fluid and plays an important role in wellbore stability and reservoir protection. A hydraulic mechanical coupling model was established to investigate the mechanism of mud cake dynamic characteristics while considering the influence of annular flow field, filtrate invasion and particle deposition theory in combination with the dynamic plugging effect of mud cake. The influences of filtration time, particle size distribution, solid fraction, workover fluid viscosity and formation lithologic characteristics on mud cake dynamic properties, pore pressure, collapse pressure and fracture pressure were investigated. The results show that improving mud cake sealing performance is conducive to broadening the safe mud weight window. A small mean particle size is conducive to improving the coalescence stability of the particles, which can form a dense mud cake. A large standard deviation can improve the dispersion of particle size distribution and enhance the matching efficiency between particle size and pore throat. An increase in solid fraction mud cake is beneficial to building up a thin and dense plugging zone. Workover fluid viscosity has no significant influence on collapse pressure and fracture pressure. The formation permeability has the most significant impact on fracture pressure, which proves the good adaptability of wellbore strengthening technology in high permeability formation.

Highlights

  • The definition of time-dependent mud cake was developed.

  • A hydro-mechanical wellbore stability risk prediction model was developed.

  • The suggestions for the optimization of drilling fluid were provided.

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No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Abbreviations

v θ :

Circumferential velocity

Ω:

Rotary speed

R i :

Wellbore initial radius

h c :

Mud cake thickness

r :

Radial distance

μ :

Fluid viscosity

R s :

Drill string radius

v z :

Axial velocity

p b :

Annular pressure drop

p :

Pore pressure

p w :

Wellbore pressure

p e :

Formation initial pore pressure

k c :

Permeability of mud cake

k f :

Permeability of rock matrix

u p :

Filtrate invasion velocity

R e :

Radius of model

D p :

Size of solid phase

F g :

Gravity force

ρ s :

Particle density

F b :

Buoyancy force

ρ l :

Density of liquid phase

F d :

Drag force

v z :

Circumferential velocity

v θ :

Axial velocity

w :

Annular velocity at the distance of Ri − hc − Dp/2

F l :

Lateral lift force

u l :

Lateral migration velocity

F p :

Permeating force

t :

Filtration time

u p :

Filtrate invasion velocity

k c :

Permeability of mud cake

r eff :

Effective radius of particle

a :

Permeability-related coefficient of mud cake

ε c :

Solid fraction of mud cake

F n :

Normal resultant force

F t :

Tangential resultant force

γ(D p):

Deposition probability

H max :

Peak of protrusion

β :

Deposition probability of whole particles

f(D p):

Probability density of particle with the size of Dp

ε s :

Solid content of fluid

σ ij :

Stress component

ε ij :

Strain component

E :

Young’s modulus

v :

Poisson’s ratio

α ij :

Biot coefficient

ζ :

Variation of fluid content

M :

Biot modulus

p m :

Pore pressure at the distance of initial wellbore radius after mud cake buildup

σ m :

Wellbore pressure

σ e :

In situ stress

σ e and σ g :

Stress vector of the wellbore and global coordinate system

I w :

Inclination angle

A w :

Azimuth angle

P c :

Potential value of collapse pressure

P f :

Potential value of fracture pressure

A 0 :

Friction coefficient between particles

\(\sqrt {J_2 }\) :

Average shear stress

S p :

Average effective stress

D 0 :

Cohesion strength

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Acknowledgements

This research received financial support from the Postdoctoral Research Program of Petrochina Southwest Oil & Gas Field Company (20230303-18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Natural Gas Technology, PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company, Chengdu, 610213, Sichuan, China

    Jia Li & Youquan Liu

  2. PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company, Chengdu, 610051, Sichuan, China

    Yong Ma & Qiang Liu

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  1. Jia Li
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  2. Yong Ma
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Li, J., Ma, Y., Liu, Y. et al. Numerical Simulation for the Effect of Mud Cake Time-Dependent Properties on Wellbore Stability. Rock Mech Rock Eng 57, 581–596 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03567-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03567-x

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