Session: 03-06-01: Damage, Fatigue, and Fracture

Paper Number: 152548

152548 - Developing High-Fidelity Models for Virtual Verification and Validation of Downhole Drilling Tools 

Logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools are instruments that provide real-time information about the formation of the well as it's being drilled. LWD tools are typically large, instrumented drill collars that are placed near the end of the drill string. There is chassis that carries expensive sensors or measurement devices inside the drill collar. LWD tools can be used to measure many different metrics, including: porosity, resistivity, acoustic waveform, hold direction, and weight on bit. The increasingly harsh environmental loads impose fundamental challenges on the structural integrity of downhole drilling and measurement tools in many aspects. The failure modes of these tools in operation can include twist-offs of fatigue-critical features, leaks at tool joints, and shock and vibration-induced measurement device failures, which could result in a significant amount of non-productive time and remedy cost. In this paper, we present three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models for verification and validation (V&V) of drilling and measurement tools, which include fatigue analysis of collar ports and rotary shouldered connections, sealability analysis of rotary shouldered connections, and dynamic modeling of a roll test. All these high-fidelity models have been well validated by comparing the model predictions to the experimental test results, and favorable agreement was observed in each comparison. The developed finite element models can enable fit-for-basin virtual V&V to support new drilling and measurement tool designs and root cause analysis of field failures incurred by the existing tools.     

Presenting Author: Ke Li SLB

Presenting Author Biography: Ke Li currently works as a technology program manager with SLB.