9.

Drillstring & BHA Design

Habiburrohman abdullah

Drill String Design

Drill Pipe
Pressure Control Equipment
Drill String Loads
Monitoring Equipment

Bottom-Hole Assembly (BHA)

Design
Purpose
Components
Assemblies:
- Slick, Packed, Pendulum, Directional
Properties:
- Weight, Stiffness

Introduction
The drillstring design is the mechanical linkage connecting the
drillbit at the bottom of the hole to the rotary drive system on
the surface.
The drillstring has several functions:

- transmit rotation to the drillbit.

- exerts weight on bits (WOB)
- guides & controls trajectory of the bit
- allows fluid circulation

Drillstring Components
The components of drillsting:
1. Drill Pipe
2. Drill Collar
3. Accessories including:
- HWDP
- Stabilizers
- Reamer
- Directional control equipment

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Figure 1: Drillstring Components

Drill Pipe Selection

Table 1: DP grade and yield strength

Grade

Minimum Yield
Strength, psi

Letter Designation

Alternate
Designation

D-55

55,000

E-75

75,000

X-95

95,000

G-105

105,000

S-135

135,000

Only grade E, G and S are actually used in oilwell drilling.

API RP7G established guidelines for Drill Pipe as follows:
- New = no wear, never been used
- Premium = uniform wear, 80% wall thickness of new pipe
- Class 2 = 65% wall thickness of new pipe
- Class 3 = 55% wall thickness of new pipe

Tool Joints
Tool joints are screw-type connectors that join
the individual joints of drillpipe.
All API tool joints have minimum a yield
strength of 120,000 psi.

Washout in Drillstrings
Tool joint failure is one of the main causes of
fishing jobs in drilling industry. This failure is
due entirely to the joint threads not holding
or not being made properly.

Figure 2: Make Up Torque

Washout in Drillstrings
Washout can also develop due to cracks develop within
drill pipe due to severe drilling vibrations.
Washout are usually detected by a decrease in the
standpipe pressure, between 100 300 psi over 5 15
minutes.
The life of tool joints can be tripled if the joints if hardfaced
with composites of steel and tungsteen carbide.

Approximate Weight of DP
and Tool Joint
Nominal weight of DP is always less than the actual
weight of DP and tool joint because of the extra
weight added by tool joint and due to extra metal
added at the pipe ends to increase the pipe
thickness.

Figure 3: Tool joint dimension

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Approximate Weight of DP
and Tool Joint
Calculations of approximate weight of tool joint and DP:
a)

Approximat e adjusted weight of DP Plain end weight

b)

upset weight
29.4

Approximat e adjusted weight of tool jo int 0.222 x L D 2 d 2

Where :
0.167 x D 3 D 3TE 0.501 x d 2 x D DTE
L = combined length of pin and box (in)
D = outside diameter of pin (in)
d = inside diameter of pin (in)
DTE = diameter of box at elevator upset (in)

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Approximate Weight of DP
and Tool Joint
c)

Approximat e adjusted weight of DP assembly

approx. adjusted wt. DP x 29.4 approx. wt. tool jo int

29.4 tool jo int adjusted length

where,
tool jo int adjusted length

L 2.253 x D DTE
ft
12

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Tool Joint Dimension

Table 2: Tool joint dimension table

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Approximate Weight of DP
and Tool Joint

Example
calculate the approximate weight of tool joint and DP assembly for 5 in OD, 19.5 lb/ft
Grade E DP having a 6.375 in OD, 3.5 in ID. With NC50 tool joint. Assume the pipe to be
internally-externally upset (IEU) and the weight increased due to upsetting to be 8.6 lb.

Solution
Referring to Table 2, NC50, 6.375 in OD, 3.5 in ID tool joint for 19.5 lb/ft nominal weight
DP is available in grade X95
Thus

L = 17 in ; DTE = 5.125 in
D = 6.375 in ; and d = 3.5 in

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Approximate Weight of DP
and Tool Joint
a) Approximate adjusted weight of Tool Joint

0.222 x L D 2 d 2 0.167 x D 3 D 3TE 0.501 x d 2 x D DTE

0.222 x 17 6.3752 3.52 0.167 x 6.3753 5.1253 0.501 x 3.52 x 6.375 5.125
120.27 lb

b). Approximate adjusted weight of Drill Pipe

plain end weight

upset weight
29.4

2
1
8 .6
5 4.276 2 x
x 489.5
4
144
29.4

17.93 0.293 18.22 lb / ft

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Approximate Weight of DP
and Tool Joint
Adjusted length of tool joint:

L 2.253 x D DTE 17 2.253 x 6.375 5.125

1.651
12
12

c) Hence, approximate weight of tool joint and DP assembly :

18.22 x 120.27
21.2 lb / ft
1.651 29.4

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Drill Collar (DC) Selection

There are two types of DC :
- Slick DC
- Spiral DC
In areas where differential sticking
is a possibility spiral DC should
be used in order to minimize
contact area with formation.

Figure 4:Type of Drill Collars

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Drill Collar (DC) Selection

Table 2: Drill Collar & Hole Size

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Procedure for Selecting DC

1) Determine the Buoyancy Factor (BF) of the mud weight:
MW = mud weight, ppg
MW
65.5
of a gallon of steel, ppg
BF = 1weight

65.5

2) Calculate the required collar length to achieve desired WOB:

WOB = weight on bit, lbf (x1000)
W dc = DC weight in air, lb/ft
0.85 = safety factorWOB
DC Length
0.85
x BFdimensionless
x Wdc
BF = buoyancy
factor,
3) For directional well:
I = well inclination

DC Length

DC Length vertical
cos I
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Bending Strength Ratio (BSR)

Bending strength ratio defined as the ratio of
relative stiffness of the box to the pin for a
given connection.
Large OD drill collars provide greater stiffness
and reduce hole deviation problem.

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Stiffness Ratio (SR)

Stiffness ratio define as follows:
SR = Section modulus of lower section tube/section modulus of upper
section tube

From field
OD experience,
OD ID a balance BHA should have:
SR

OD2 OD12 ID12

2

- SR = 5.5 for routine drilling

- SR = 3.5 for severe drilling or significant failure

rate experience

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Heavy Weight Drill Pipe (HWDP)

HWDP has the same OD
of a standard DP but with
much reduce inside
diameter (usually 3)

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Figure 5:Type of HWDP

Stabilizer
Stabilizer tools are places
above the drill bit and along
the BHA to control hole
deviation, dogleg severity
and prevent differential
sticking.
There are two types of
stabilizer:
rotating stabilizer
non rotating stabilizer

Figure 6:Type of Stabilizer

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Standard BHA Configuration

There are five types of BHA configuration:
1. Pendulum assembly
2. Packed bottom hole assembly
3. Rotary build assembly
4. Steerable assembly
5. Mud motor and bent sub assembly

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Drillstring Design Criteria

The criteria used in drillstring design are :
- Collapse
- Tension
- Dogleg Severity Analysis

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Collapse Design
The criteria to be used as worst case for the collapse design
of DP is typically a DST. The maximum collapse pressure
should be determined for an evacuated string, with mud
hydrostatic pressure acting on the outside of the DP.
A design factor is used in constructing the collapse design
line. The design factor to be used for this full evacuation
scenario is 1.0.

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Collapse Calculation
1. DST (Drill Stem Test)

L x 1 L Y x 2
Pc

19.251
Where:19.251
- Pc = collapse pressure (psia)
- Y = depth to fluid inside DP (f)
- L = total depth of well (ft)
- 1 = fluid density outside DP (ppg)
- 1 = fluid density inside DP (ppg)

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Collapse Calculation
2. Design Factor in Collapse
collapse resis tan ce of Drillpipe
DF
collapse pressure ( Pc )

a DF of 1.125 is normally used

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Tension Design
The tension load is evaluated using the maximum load concept.
Buoyancy is included in the design to represent realistic drilling
condition.
The tension design is established by consideration of the
following :
- tensile force
- design factor
- slip crushing design

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Tension Design
(Tensile Force)
Weight Carried
The greatest tension (P) on drillstring occurs at top joint at
the maximum drilled depth.

Where :
Ldp = length of DP per foot
dc
Wdp = weight dp
of DP perdp
unit length
Ldc = length of DC per foot
Wdc = weight of DC per unit length
BF = Buoyancy Factor

P L x W L x Wdc x BF

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Tension Design
(Tensile Force)
The drillstring should not be designed to its
maximum yield strength to prevent the DP from
yielding and deforming. At yield, the DP will have:
Deformation made up of elastic and plastic (permanent)
deformation.
Permanent elongation.
Permanent bend & it may be difficult to keep it straight.

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Tension Design
(Tensile Force)
To prevent this, API recommends that the use of maximum
allowable design load (Pa), given by :

Pa 0.9 x Pt
Where :
- Pa = max. allowable design load in tension, lb
- Pt = theoretical yield strength from API tables, lb
- 0.9 = a constant relating proportional limit to yield strength

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Tension Design
(Tensile Force)
From above (tensile force) equation, we obtain:
MOP = Pa P
DF = Pa / P
where :
MOP = margin of overpull, lbs
DF = design factor, dimensionless

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Dogleg Severity Analysis

The most common DP failure is
fatigue wear. Fatigue is tendency of
material to fracture under repeated
cyclic stress and chemical attack.
A DP fatigue wear generally occurs
because the outer wall of the pipe in
a dogleg is stretched resulting in
additional tension loads.

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Dogleg Severity Analysis

The maximum possible dogleg severity for
fatigue damage considerations can be
calculated using the following formula:
432,000 b tanh KL
Max Ds
x
x

ED
KL

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END

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