Estimating drilling fluid properties and the uncertainties thereof
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsJason D. Dykstra, Zhijie Sun, Xiaoqing Ge, Yuzhen Xue
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
During drilling operations various drilling mud properties may be measured and predicted. Uncertainties in the measured or predicted values may also be calculated. The estimated uncertainties may then be used to optimize mud sampling interval and/or control a mud mixer. A decision making algorithm may be performed to optimize a surface mud sampling interval such that the uncertainties are maintained within a bounded region with minimal number of sampling times.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- circulating a drilling mud through a mud circulation system;
- determining a model of drilling mud property dynamics;
- measuring a first value for a drilling mud property at a first time;
- calculating an uncertainty of the first value at a second time;
- and
- measuring a second value for the drilling mud property once the uncertainty of the first value is greater than an uncertainty limit.
A mud circulation system comprising:
- a drill string within a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation;
- a pump configured to convey drilling mud through the drill string and the wellbore;
- a sensor coupled to the system to measure a drilling condition;
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the drill string, the pump, or both and encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause the system to perform a method comprising:
- circulating a drilling mud through the mud circulation system;
- determining a model of drilling mud property dynamics;
- measuring a first value for a drilling mud property at a first time;
- calculating an uncertainty of the first value at a second time;
- and
- measuring a second value for the drilling mud property once the uncertainty of the first value is greater than an uncertainty limit.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause a mud circulation system to perform a method comprising:
- circulating a drilling mud through the mud circulation system;
- determining a model of drilling mud property dynamics;
- measuring a first value for a drilling mud property at a first time;
- calculating an uncertainty of the first value at a second time;
- and
- measuring a second value for the drilling mud property once the uncertainty of the first value is greater than an uncertainty limit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.