Multilevel force balanced downhole drilling tools including cutting elements in a track-set configuration

A downhole drilling tool designed to form a wellbore, comprising:

• a bit body;
• a first plurality of blades on exterior portions of the bit body;
• a group of single-set cutting elements on exterior portions of the first plurality of blades;
• a second plurality of blades on exterior portions of the bit body;
• a group of track-set cutting elements on exterior portions of the second plurality of blades, the first and second plurality of blades, the group of single-set cutting elements and the group of track-set cutting elements cooperating with each other to form a composite bit face profile including a plurality of respective groups of at least three neighbor cutting elements;
• and
• each respective group of at least three neighbor cutting elements is force balanced with respect to each other and includes at least two cutting elements from the group of track-set cutting elements.

A method of designing a downhole drilling tool for drilling a wellbore, comprising:

• determining locations of a first group of track-set cutting elements on exterior portions of a first plurality of blades of a downhole drilling tool based on balancing forces acting on each of the cutting elements in the first group of track-set cutting elements;
• determining locations of a second group of track-set cutting elements on exterior portions of a second plurality of blades of the downhole drilling tool based on balancing forces acting on each of the cutting elements in the second group of track-set cutting elements;
• projecting the first and second plurality of blades and the first and second groups of track-set cutting elements onto a composite bit face profile including a plurality of groups of at least three neighbor cutting elements;
• simulating forces acting on all cutting elements in the first and second groups of track-set cutting elements while drilling a wellbore;
• and
• evaluating imbalance forces acting on each group of at least three neighbor cutting elements, each group of at least three neighbor cutting elements including at least one cutting element from the first group of track-set cutting elements and at least one cutting element from the second group of track-set cutting elements.

A method of designing a downhole drilling tool for drilling a wellbore, comprising:

• determining locations of a group of single-set cutting elements on exterior portions of a first plurality of blades of a downhole drilling tool based on balancing forces acting on each of the cutting elements in the group of single-set cutting elements;
• determining locations of a group of track-set cutting elements on exterior portions of a second plurality of blades of the downhole drilling tool based on balancing forces acting on each of the cutting elements in the group of track-set cutting elements;
• projecting the first and second plurality of blades, the group of single-set cutting elements and the group of track-set cutting elements onto a composite bit face profile including a plurality of groups of at least three neighbor cutting elements;
• simulating forces acting on all cutting elements in the group of single-set cutting elements and the group of track-set cutting elements while drilling a wellbore;
• and
• evaluating imbalance forces acting on each group of at least three neighbor cutting elements, each group of at least three neighbor cutting elements including at least two cutting elements from the group of track-set cutting elements.