Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Fluid ow and heat transfer modeling in the event of lost circulation and its
application in locating loss zones
crossmark

Yuanhang Chena, , Mengjiao Yub, Stefan Miskab, Evren Ozbayoglub, Shaohua Zhouc,
Nasser Al-Khanferic
a
Louisiana State Univeristy, Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
b
University of Tulsa, McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering,Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
c
Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: Lost circulation is one of the most persistent and costly drilling problems that drilling engineers have been
Lost circulation struggling with for decades. The pinpointing of the zones of loss allows the treatments to be applied directly to
Drilling the points of loss rather than to the entire open hole.
Heat transfer This paper presents an approach to predict the location of single loss zone in a vertical well by interpreting
Drilling uids
the transient mud circulating temperature proles altered by mud loss. The uid ow and heat transfer
Downhole measurement
numerical model in estimating the transient mud circulating temperature proles during a lost circulation event
was developed. The temperature prole in both the ow conduits (drillpipe and annulus) were modeled using
mass and energy balances. The ow rate of drilling mud decreases in the annulus above the loss zone as part of
the uids lost into the fractures, which in turn alters the heat transmission status between the drillpipe, annulus,
and near-wellbore formation. The wellbore is divided into two sections, which accounts for single loss zone.
Case studies were performed and numerical solution results were presented and analyzed. According to the
results, alterations induced by mud loss include: 1) Declines in both annular mud temperature and drillpipe
mud temperature over time, and 2) Discontinuity in the rst order derivative of annular mud temperature with
respect to depth at the location of loss. By matching the simulated results with the distributed temperature
measurements at dierent time stamps, the depth of the loss zone can be identied.

1. Introduction drilling and cementing operations to resume quickly. At shallow depth,

Lost circulation is one of the most persistent and costly drilling
problems that drilling engineers have been struggling with for decades.
It happens when a very porous, cavernous or highly fractured zones
intercept the current well path, and the drilling mud lost into that zone
under overbalance pressure between the wellbore and formation
(Majidi et al., 2008).
Lost circulation not only costs large volumes of valuable drilling
uids, it also causes large amounts of nonproductive time as when
circulation occurs the drilling crew cannot continue to perform most of
the functions.
Severe lost circulation problems (Clapper et al., 2011) that do not
respond well to conventional treatments might be curable by spotting a
LCM (lost circulation materials) pill and holding it under gentle
squeeze pressure for a predetermined period. At downhole tempera-
ture, the LCM pill expands rapidly to ll and bridge fractures, allowing
the location of the losses into natural permeable zones need not be
known exactly. However, at greater depth (more than 5000 ft) or when
severe losses are occurring, the exact location of the thief zones must be
determined before eciently spot the pills to the right locations.
Besides, the overbalance pressure varies with depth, therefore, the
squeeze pressure can also be optimized by knowing the depth of the
fracture.
In the case when severe loss is present, setting the cement plug is
one eective way of sealing the loss zone completely and followed by
drilling back through the plug or sidetracking the well. Subsequently,
without the knowledge of the loss zone location, there is no way as to
decide which depth to set the cement plug and whether it is reasonable
to set a cement plug to begin with.
Similarly, the evaluation and design of setting additional casings
can be assisted with the information of the number and location of the
existing loss zones.

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yuanhangchen@lsu.edu (Y. Chen).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.08.030
Received 4 January 2016; Received in revised form 22 July 2016; Accepted 30 August 2016
Available online 15 September 2016
0920-4105/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Y. Chen et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19

Nomenclature porosity
density
c specic heat, Btu/lbm-F dimensionless loss rate
C compressibility, ft2/lbf viscosity
d diameter, ft
g geothermal gradient, F/ft Subscripts
h convective heat transfer coecient, Btu/h-F-ft2
k thermal conductivity, Btu/h-ft-F a annulus
L total depth of the well, ft af between annulus and formation
m mass ow rate, lbm/h ap earth surface
p pressure, lbf/ft2 es earth surface
q heat rate, Btu/h f formation
r radius, ft drilling mud
T temperature, F m drilling mud
s measured depth, ft nl no loss
t time, h p drillpipe
U overall heat transfer coecient, Btu/h-F-ft2 r radial
v velocity, ft/h ss steady state
z depth, ft w borehole wall

Greek Letters Superscript

thermal diusivity U upper section

permeability L lower section

Direct measurement of fractures includes image logging, nuclear the shale shaker as the mud returns to the surface. Measurement data
magnetic resonance (NMR) and microseismic monitoring. The meth- are retrieved through wireless connection. The temperature measure-
ods such as image logging and NMR unfortunately suer from practical ment is within 1 F of accuracy with drilling tracers of the second
diculties in the use of nding loss zone; microseismic (Maxwell, generation. Two eld tests were conducted (Yu et al., 2012; Shi et al.,
2009) monitoring does not work well with narrow single fracture plane 2015) and the concepts of the tracer deployment and retrieval
as the width of the facture is too narrow to be assessed by micro-
seismicity.
Other methods that were developed based on the detection of uid
ow alteration in the wellbore due to the presence of loss zones include:
temperature survey; radioactive tracer survey; hotwire survey; and
spinner survey (Mitchell and Miska, 2011). However, all these
approaches require pausing drilling activity at the time and performing
logging survey. Signicant NPT (non-productive time) and costs from
tripping and logging operations halted broad eld applications of such
methods. Surge and swab, as well as mud compensation during
tripping are also problems associated with applying these methods.
Therefore, an alternative method is needed to ll this gap and map the
loss circulation zones more eectively.
This paper introduced a new method of utilizing the mud circula-
tion temperature proles in mapping loss zones, including 1) The
modeling of transient mud circulation temperature with single loss
zones in vertical wells, and 2) The technique in locating loss zone with
distributed mud circulating temperature measurements while drilling.
The conventional MWD (measurement while drilling) systems that
has been widely used in the industry take measurements only at the
locations close to the bit, while for the rest of the wellbore the
measurement cannot be accessed. Intelligent drillpipes were invented
and engineered in the last decade to perform single/multiple points of
measurement along the wellbore while transferring data in real time
with minimum delay. However, the measurement locations are still
limited and do not constitute as distributed measurement.
A downhole microchip (Drilling Tracer) measurement system was
developed during the last several years at the University of Tulsa (Chen,
2010). The goal of this project is to achieve continuous measurement of
pressure and temperature along the wellbore while drilling at low costs
so that it can be used as a routine procedure during drilling operations.
The microchips are deployed into drilling mud and then transport
along with the mud, taking measurements of mud temperature and
pressure along the way, and eventually being collected on the surface in
Fig. 1. Schematic of mud ow in downhole tubulars when mud loss is present.

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Y. Chen et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19

approaches as well as subsequent data acquisition have been validated. Qa

With drilling microchips, distributed temperature measurement can be
accessed and utilized to predict the location of the loss zone. Additional
usage of such temperature data may be for identifying highly perme-
able zone for reservoir or formation evaluation purpose (i.e., high mud
seepage loss zone in the case of poor quality lter cake build-up while
drilling).
qa (z+z, t ) t qa (z, t ) t +qaf (z, t ) t qap (z, t ) t = t
t (1)
For the sections below the point of loss, where the mud ow rate is
assumed to be the original mud inlet ow rate m aL ,
cm maL TaL (z+z, t )cm m aL TaL (z, t )+2rw zhaf (TwTaL )2rp
TaL (z )
zUap (TaL Tp )=cm m Aa z
t (2)

2. Mathematical modeling which yields

TaL (z, t ) T L (z, t )
The geometry of conduits during conventional drilling with single 1L =2L a (TaL Tw )+3L (TpTaL )
t z (3)
loss zone is as shown in Fig. 1. The drilling mud ows in with a mass
rate of wp , after owing through the loss zone, part of the mud was lost Where
into the fracture, resulting a reduction in the ow rate above the m cm Aa L cm m aL rp Uap
fracture to waU . The reduction in ow rate indicates reduction in velocity 1L = ; 2 = ; 3L =
2rw haf 2rw haf rw haf
of the ow, which leads to an alteration in heat transmission of the
system above the point of loss. As a result, the mud temperatures in Similarly, for the sections above the point of loss, since the ow rate
both the drillpipe and annulus evolve dierently with mud loss reduces from m aL tom aU , the energy balance equation becomes
comparing to when no loss is present.
The idea of using distributed temperature measurement in produ- cm m aU TaU (z+z, t )cm m aU TaU (z, t )+2rw zhaf (TwTaU )2rp
cing wells for ow proling of multiple completion zones has been TaU (z )
zUap (TaU Tp )=cm m Aa z
explored and investigated during the last few years, as ber optic t (4)
sensor enabled the distributed temperature measurement along the
Which yields as z 0 ,
wellbore during production stage of the well (Ouyang and Belanger,
2004). TaU (z, t ) T U (z, t )
1U =2U a (TaU Tw )+3U (TpTaU )
The uid ow and heat transfer in a drilling well has been t z (5)
investigated by many (Holmes and Swift, 1970; Kabir et al., 1996;
Where
Karstad and Aadny, 1997; Karstad, 2006; Edwardson et al., 1962;
Raymond, 1969; Wooley, 1980; Chen and Novotny, 2003; Nguyen m cm Aa U cm m aU rp Uap
1U = ; 2 = ; 3U =
et al., 2009; Marshall and Bentsen, 1982; Kakac and Yener, 2000; Kinik 2rw haf 2rw haf rw haf
et al., 2014, 2015; Erge et al., 2015, 2014; Karimi et al., 2014; Karimi
Vajargah et al., 2014; Osgouei et al., 2013), and the approaches can be Applying the energy balance in the drillpipe,
generally categorized as analytical and numerical. For numerical Qp
approaches, the temperature prole in transient state can be solved qa (z, t ) t qp (z+z, t ) t +qap (z, t ) t = t
t (6)
and the rst numerical model is proposed by Raymond (1969).
Assume no drillpipe washout is present, then mud ow rate m p is
Subsequent modications made to Raymond's model involves the
uniform inside the drillpipe throughout the well,
inclusion of multiple casing strings in the model (Marshall and
Bentsen, 1982). The work shows that from a heat transfer stand point Tp (z )
cm m p Tp (z+z, t )cm m p Tp (z, t )=2rp Up (TaTp )zcm Ap z
of view, a wellbore in uniform radius is quite adequate and that the t
allowance for multiple casing strings and a string of drill collars is (7)
unnecessary. Therefore, neglecting the eect of multiple casing is not a
Divided by 2rp Uap z and z0 yields
limitation for the approach developed here. These numerical transient
models have been implemented in several commercial software which Tp Tp
1 =2 +(TaTp )
are being used in industry for well design purposes, however, there is t z (8)
no known investigation on the thermal behaviors of the wellbore
Where
during lost circulation that has been conducted using these software.

2.1. Idealization of the problem

The heat generated by mechanical friction and viscous heating in a

vertical well is negligible.
Pump rate and mud loss rate are constant.
Cutting concentration in the drilling mud is negligible.
For the heat transfer in formation, only conduction in the radial
direction is considered.
Uniform wellbore diameter is assumed.

2.2. Energy equations and numerical methods

To obtain the governing equations of mud temperature in the

drillpipe, annulus and formation, we setup the energy balance in a
control volume over a small interval z as shown in Fig. 2.
Base on the energy balance of the control volume in the.
annulus, Fig. 2. Energy balance of control volumes in annulus and drillpipe respectively.

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Y. Chen et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19

m c m Ap m p cm ( f /8)(ReD 1000) Pr
1= ; 2= NuD=
f 0.5
2rp Uap 2rp Uap 1 + 12. 7( 8 ) (Pr 0.671) (21)
The heat transfer between annulus mud and formation is through where f is the Darcy friction factor, which can be obtained either from
the wellbore wall, which is represented by the Moody chart or, for smooth tubes, from the correlation developed
Tf (z, r = rw, t ) by Petukhov:
2rw h f (Tf (z, r =rw, t ) Ta )=2rw k f
r (9) f =(0. 79 ln(ReD )1. 64)2 (22)
As for the heat transfer inside the formation, the model is simplied The Gnielinski Correlation is valid for:
by only considering heat transfer in radial conduction, in which case
the governing equation of the formation temperature becomes 0.5 Pr 2000
3000 ReD 5*10 6
Tf (z, r , t ) 2Tf (z, r , t ) 1 Tf (z, r , t ) LC / D 10 (23)
=f +
t r 2 r r (10) For forced convection from turbulent ow in the annulus, according
When convective heat transfer in formation is considered, pore to McAdams (1954):
pressure and pore uids temperature need to be solved simultaneously 2
as fully coupled process. This process can be represented by the hL cp 3 0. 023
=
following governing equations (Nguyen et al., 2009): cpb G k b (De G / b )0.2 (24)

(Tf (z, r , t ) ( 2Tf (z, r , t ) 1 (Tf (z, r , t ) fl cfl (Pf (z, r , t ) For the value h at the outer wall of diameter D2 , using data for air
=f + + and water Davis (1943) found
t r 2 r r f cf r
(Tf (z, r , t ) D 0.1 0.14
(11) = 2 1 b
r D1 w (25)
(Pf (z, r , t ) ( 2Pf (z, r , t ) 1 (Pf (z, r , t ) Pf (z, r , t ) 2 Based on equations from various sources, for D2 / D1 from 1 to 10,
=c + +cfl
t r 2 r r r Wiegand et al. (1945) proposed = 1.0 , in which case Eq. (24)
becomes
(12)
2
hL cp 3
f
where c= 0. 023
fl 2Ct =
The initial state of the system at the inception of the mud loss is cpb G k b (De G / b )0.2 (26)
established based on a steady-state condition. For the modeling where
consideration, the steady-state temperature prole of the mud in
2
drillpipe, annulus and the formation are obtained by running the cp 3
model without mud loss for an extended period of time ( > 24 h), and hL =0. 023(De G / b )0.2 cpb G
k b (27)
the temperature variation does not exceed 5F in the next 24 h.
Therefore, the initial condition can be expressed as For h at an inner wall of diameter D1, for D2 / D1 of 1.65, Monrad and
Pelton (1942) found
Tp (z, t =0)=Tp ss (z ) = Tp nl (z, t =24Hr ) (13)
D 0.53
Ta (z, t =0)=Tass (z ) = Tanl (z, t =24Hr ) (14) =0. 87 2
D1 (28)
Tf (r , z, t =0)=Tfs . s .(r , z ) = Tfnl (r , z, t =24Hr ) (15) The Nusselt number leaps at the transition between ow regimes
Boundary conditions include: 1) known mud inlet temperature: for ow in annuli with larger Prandtl numbers, as shown in Fig. 3.
Since the forced convective heat transfer coecient is proportional to
Tp (z=0, t )=Tin (16) the Nusselt number, the magnitude of convective heat transfer is highly
Temperatures are continuous for the mud, both inside and outside dependent on the ow regime.
the drillpipe:

TaU (z=zf , t )=TaL (z=zf , t ) (17)

T pU (z=zf , t )=TpL (z=zf , t ) (18)

Mud temperature is continuous when exiting the drillpipe;

Tp (z=L , t )=Ta (z=L , t ) (19)

The far end of the reservoir has a linear geothermal temperature

prole:
Tf (r =ro, z, t )=Tes+gG z (20)

Forced convection contributes as the primary source of heat

transmission in the wellbore, compared to natural convection in a
static condition (Osgouei et al., 2014). The level of forced convection is
controlled by the convective heat transfer coecient, which can be
determined by various correlations under dierent ow geometries and
ow regimes.
For turbulent ow in a circular duct, Gnielinski (1975) modied Fig. 3. Nusselt Number vs Reynolds Number for mud ow in an annulus with various
Petukhov's equation (Petukhov, 1970) and results in: Prandtl Number conditions.

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Y. Chen et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19

Fig. 6. Drillpipe and annular mud circulating temperature proles with consideration of
convective heat transfer in the formation.

Using an electrical analogy for heat ow from drillpipe to the

annulus, the following relationship can be obtained:
Fig. 4. hp , haf , and Uap for variable mud loss rates.
Tp Ta
qap= rpo
=2rpi Uap (TpTa )s
Table 1 ln
Well/reservoir conditions and fluid properties. 1 rpi 1
+ +
2rpi hp s 2ks s 2rpo ha s (29)
Parameters Unit System I Unit System II Commonly
Consistent Units used Units Therefore, the overall heat transfer coecient between annulus and
drillpipe, Uap is obtained as
Well Depth L 15,000 ft 4573 m
Drill Stem OD dp 0.552 ft 6.62 in 1
Uap=
Drill Bit Size dw 0.698 ft 8.37 in
rpo rpo rpo 1
Inlet Volumetric Flow qp 2,526 ft3/h 315 gpm + ln r +
Rate
rpi hp ks pi ha
(30)
Mud Density m 74.8 lbm/ft3 10 lbm/gal
Inlet Mud Tin 110 F 43.3 C Forced convective heat transfer coecients in both drillpipe and
Temperature annulus are constant in laminar ow regardless of the change in
Mud Thermal km 0.3 Btu/(ft- 0.6 W/m-K Reynolds number, but changes with a virtually linear relationship to
Conductivity F-h)
the volumetric ow rate in turbulent ow. The higher the value of
Steel Pipe Thermal ks 25 Btu/(ft- 50 W/m-K
Conductivity F-h) dimensionless mud loss rate (dened as the ratio of loss rate to pump
Formation Thermal kf 0.65 Btu/(ft- 1.3 W/m-K rate, m l / mp ), the higher the inlet mud ow rate required to transfer the
Conductivity F-h) ow regime of uids above the point of loss to laminar ow.
Mud Specic Heat cm 0.4 Btu/(lbm- 1.672 kJ/K Kg For the condition Fig. 4 is based on, with 400 gpm circulation rate
F)
and a dimensionless loss rate = 10%, the section above the point of
Formation Specic cf 0.2 Btu/(lbm- 0.836 kJ/K kg
Heat F) loss is in turbulent ow; while with = 25%, the ow regime above the
Formation Density f 165 lbm/ft3 2.64 g/cm3 point of loss converts to laminar. For a specic range of mud inlet ow
Surface Earth Tes 59.5 F 15.28 C rate, the dimensionless loss rate aects the ow regime and conse-
Temperature
quently aects the Nusselt number and the forced convective heat
Geothermal Gradient gG 0.0127 F/ft 2.3114 C/100 m
Thermal Diusivity of f 0.045 ft2/h 1.2E06 m2/s transfer coecient. Simulations reveal that mud loss induces a reduc-
Formation tion in both tubular mud temperature and near-wellbore formation

Fig. 5. Time dependent annular mud temperature when no mud loss is present. Fig. 7. Decline in annular mud temperature after loss initiated at 13,500 ft, =25%.

5
Y. Chen et al.
Fig. 8. Eect of loss rate on annular mud temperature with same loss zone location
(13,500 ft) 12 h after loss.
Fig. 9. Eect of loss zone location on annular mud temperature with same mud loss rate
12 h after loss, =25%.
temperature from the steady state condition, regardless of the ow
regimes in the drillpipe and annulus. However, temperature reduction
is most signicant when the ow regime in both owing conduits
(drillpipe and annulus) is turbulent.
3. Results and discussion
Most of the input data, as is shown in Table 1, are from Holmes and
Swift's work, which are used to better evaluate the results from this
study with previous modeling results, and to better illustrate the eect
of lost circulation to the overall temperature alteration. For this phase
of development we keep the scope of research on vertical wells.
Fig. 5 shows the change in annular mud temperature prole over
time prior to mud loss. We assume that at the beginning of the
circulation, temperature proles in the wellbore and formation follow
linear geothermal distribution. Annular mud temperature decreases at
the lower section of the well and increases at the upper section of the
well as circulation proceeds. The rate of changes in annular mud
temperature slows down after 12 h of circulation and we assume a
steady state is reached at the 24th hour.
Fig. 6 shows the evolution of drillpipe and annular mud circulating
temperature proles during mud loss. The solid curves represent the
temperature proles when only heat conduction is considered in the
formation, while dashed ones represent the results obtained when both
conduction and convection in formation are considered. According to
the results, by including the heat convection in formation, both
drillpipe and annular mud circulating temperatures are lower than
the ones when the heat convection eect in formation is ignored.
6
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19
However, the alteration in mud temperature caused by this eect is
very low (around 0.9 F after 12 h of circulation, with formation
permeability of 10 mD) comparing to the eect of mud loss itself
through the changes in velocity proles in the annulus.
To model the initial conditions realistically, we must assume a
steady state mud circulating temperature prole instead of linear
formation temperature distribution prior to the mud loss. As soon as
a mud loss ( =25%) is introduced at the depth of 13,500 ft, annular
uid temperature starts to decline in the lower sections of the well. The
annular uid temperature proles at dierent time stamps of loss are
shown in Fig. 7. A total drop of approximately 40F in bottomhole
temperature (BHT) is observed over 24 h of mud loss. Comparing to
the rst 12 h, the mud circulating temperature drop eases signicantly
during the second 12 h, which indicates the eect of mud loss to the
circulating mud temperature proles is most signicant in the early
stage.
Fig. 8 illustrates the eect of loss rate on the reduction in annular
mud temperature. Among the three mud loss events with dierent
dimensionless loss rates, the one with = 40% had the lowest BHT
(i.e., the most signicant temperature reduction among the three) at
the end of 12 h of mud loss; while the loss with dimensionless rate
= 10% had the highest BHT (the least temperature reduction among
the three); on the other hand, with the same rate of loss, as the loss
zone goes deeper, the annular mud temperature reduction becomes
larger, which leads to a lower nal annular mud temperature at the
lower section of the well. Fig. 9 shows that with the same dimensionless
loss rate of 25%, the loss occurred at a depth of 13,250 induced a larger
annular mud temperature reduction than the one at the depth of
10,000 ft.
Many rigs (especially the oshore ones) are equipped with Coriolis
ow meters on the owline to accurately determine the return ow
rates and therefore loss rates, as shown in Fig. 10 (Reitsma, 2010).
When no Coriolis ow meter is available, one can use ow pedal
readings or pit deviations to estimate return ow rates. In theory, one
may estimate location of the loss directly from the oset in the
temperature prole with a known loss rate. However, there are many
uncertainties in the input parameters, plus the mud loss is mostly
inconsistent, we anticipate a large discrepancy in the absolute tem-
perature value between the results of this model and the real
measurements.
In accordance with the governing equations, the derivative of the
annulus mud temperature with respect to z is discontinuous at the
point of loss as shown in Fig. 11. The break points formed within the
rst minute of mud loss, and grows as the mud loss persists. Therefore,
one can identify loss zones by measuring and plotting the annulus mud
Fig. 10. Return Flow rate measurement from Coriolis ow meter.
Y. Chen et al.
Fig. 11. Ta /z vs z over time with loss at depth of 12,000 ft ( = 25%).
Fig. 12. Ta /zvs z with dierent loss rates after one hour of loss at depth of 12,000 ft.
Fig. 13. Ta /zvsz for dierent loss zone location with =0. 25 after one hour of loss.
Fig. 14. Eect of ow regime distribution on Ta /z : Case I.
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19
Fig. 15. Eect of ow regime distribution on Ta /z : Case II.
Fig. 16. Eect of ow regime distribution on Ta /z : Case III.
Fig. 17. Eect of ow regime distribution on Ta /z : Case IV.
temperature proles, i.e., the Ta /z vs z proles, and identify the break
points. According to the results, the overall Ta /z prole in the early
stage of mud loss does not change much in value; while declines
signicantly in the later stage of loss.
It is also concluded that the higher the mud loss rate is, the larger
the jump in Ta /z value at the break points, as shown in Fig. 12. In
addition, the further the loss zone is o from the bottom, the larger the
jump in Ta /z value is at the break point, which is as shown in Fig. 13.
Therefore, loss zone can be more easily identied when the loss occurs
distant from the bottom or when the loss rate is high. The jump occurs
as soon as the lost circulation initiates and remains as the lost
circulation lasts.
Forced convective heat transfer coecient is highly dependent on
the ow regime; therefore, the heat ow and consequently the tubular
7
Y. Chen et al.
mud temperature proles are directly aected by ow regimes in the
owing conduits. Based on the distribution of ow regimes in the
wellbore, the scenarios can be categorized into four groups:
Case I: Laminar ow in both drillpipe and annulus;
Case II: Uniform ow regime in drillpipe and annulus respectively,
but diers from each other;
Case III: Turbulent in the drillpipe and annulus below loss zone,
laminar in annulus above loss zone; and
Case IV: Turbulent ow in both drillpipe and annulus.
Figs. 1417 show, in terms of generating observable break points
in the derivative plot, Case III (Flow regime divides in the annulus) is
the most eective, followed by Case II (turbulent ow in drillpipe and
laminar in annulus). Case I and IV (uniform laminar or turbulent ow
regime in both ow conduits along the entire length of the well) are the
least eective. When the ow regimes in both the drillpipe and annulus
are laminar as represented by Case I, due to the low level of heat
transmission between tubular muds and near-wellbore formation, the
eect in temperature redistribution is insignicant comparing to its
turbulent counterpart.
On the other hand, in Case IV, the level of heat ow is at its
maximum when both the mud ow in drillpipe and annular space are
turbulent. However, since forced convective heat transfer coecient is
positively correlated to ow velocity, there is a reduction in convective
heat transfer coecient in the annulus above the point of loss, which
leads to a counter eect on the nal derivative plot.
To magnify the jumps at the break points, an optimization on the
pump rate is desirable when circulating the microchips. By adjusting
the pump rates, the loss zones can be most eectively located by
achieving Case II and Case III conditions.
Insucient measurement points can result in a smearing eect,
which means the average measurement value over a large interval can
cause the break points in Ta /z vs z curve more dicult to be
identied. Therefore, shorter measurement interval is needed to
provide a better indication of the loss zone location. With the current
measurement frequency given by the drilling microchips (one sample
every 0.52 s, which means one measurement sample within every
10 ft), these measurement data are more than sucient for the use of
this method, which requires the measurements be taken within
approximately every 500 ft.
4. Conclusions
Continuous mud loss results in a decrease in mud circulating
temperature in both the drillpipe and annulus, which indicates
essentially a cooling eect, especially to the lower sections of the
well.
As the mud loss rate gets higher, or the depth of loss gets closer to
the bottom, mud temperature in both the drillpipe and annulus will
decrease at a faster rate, and end up with a lower steady-state
temperature.
The break points in Ta /z vs. z plots can be used to identify the
location of mud loss, which is a better indicator than the original
temperature prole. These break points form within the rst minute
of mud loss, and grow as the mud loss persists.
With the same loss zone location, the higher mud loss rate, the
larger jump in Ta /z value at the break point; on the other hand,
with the same loss rate, the jump in Ta /z gets larger as the location
of loss moves away from bottom.
Downhole microchip temperature measurement data provides su-
cient resolution to identify the break points, and therefore, can be
eectively used to locate the loss zones.
Heat transmission in the wellbore is highly dependent on the ow
regimes of tubular muds, therefore, an optimization in the pump
rate is desired to achieve optimal results.
8
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 148 (2017) 19
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Saudi Aramco and University of
Tulsa for nancial and technical support of this research.
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