High temperature and high pressure rheological properties of high-density water-based drilling fluids for deep wells

To maintain tight control over rheological properties of high-density water-based drilling fluids, it is essential to understand the factors influencing the theology of water-based drilling fluids. This paper examines temperature effects on the rheological properties of two types of high-density water-based drilling fluids （fresh water-based and brine-based） under high temperature and high pressure （HTHP） with a Fann 50SL rheometer. On the basis of the water-based drilling fluid systems formulated in laboratory, this paper mainly describes the influences of different types and concentration of clay, the content of a colloid stabilizer named GHJ-1 and fluid density on the rheological parameters such as viscosity and shear stress. In addition, the effects of aging temperature and aging time of the drilling fluid on these parameters were also examined. Clay content and proportions for different densities of brine-based fluids were recommended to effectively regulate the rheological properties. Four theological models, the Bingham, power law, Casson and H-B models, were employed to fit the rheological parameters. It turns out that the H-B model was the best one to describe the rheological properties of the high-density drilling fluid under HTHP conditions and power law model produced the worst fit. In addition, a new mathematical model that describes the apparent viscosity as a function of temperature and pressure was established and has been applied on site.

Experimental Study on the Electrical Conductivity of Orthopyroxene at High Temperature and High Pressure under Different Oxygen Fugacities

At presure 1.0-4.0 GPa and temperature 1073-1423 K and under oxygen partial pressure conditions, a YJ-3000t multi-anvil solid high-pressure apparatus and Sarltron-1260 Impedance/Gain-Phase analyzer were employed to conduct an in-situ measurement of the electrical conductivity of orthopyroxene. The buffering reagents consist of Ni＋NiO, Fe＋Fe3O4, Fe＋FeO and Mo＋MoO2 in order to control the environmental oxygen fugacity. Experimental results made clear that： （1） within the measuring frequency range from 10-1 to 106 Hz, the complex impedance （R） is of intensive dependence on the frequency; （2） The electrical conductivity （a） tends to increase along to the rise of temperature （T）, and Log a vs. 1/ T fit the Arrenhius linear relations; （3） Under the control of oxygen buffer Fe＋Fe3O4, with the rise of pressure, the activation enthalpy tends to increase whereas the electrical conductivity tends to decrease. The activation energy and activation volume of the main current carders of orthopyroxene have been obtained, which are （1.715±0.035） eV and （0.03±0.01） cm^3/mol, respectively; （4） Under given pressure and temperature, the electrical conductivity tends to increase with increasing oxygen fugacity, while under given pressure the activation enthalpy tends to decrease with increasing oxygen fugacity; and （5） The sample＇s small polarons mechanism has provided a reasonable explanations to the conduction behavior at high temperature and high pressure.

Prospect of HDR geothermal energy exploitation in Yangbajing,Tibet,China,and experimental investigation of granite under high temperature and high pressure

Hot dry rock （HDR） geothermal energy, almost inexhaustible green energy, was first put forward in the 1970s. The development and testing of HDR geothermal energy are well reported in USA, Japan, UK, France and other countries or regions. In this paper, the geological characters of Yangbajing basin were first analyzed, including the continental dynamic environments to form HDR geothermal fields in Tibet, the tectonic characteristics of south slope of Nyainqentanglha and Dangxiong-Yangbajing basin, and the in-situ stresses based on the investigations conducted, and then the site-specific mining scheme of HDR geothermal resources was proposed. For the potential development of HDR geothermal energy, a series of experiments were conducted on large-scale granite samples, 200 mm in diameter and 400 mm in length, at high temperature and high triaxial pressure for cutting fragmentation and borehole stability. For the borehole stability test, a hole of 40 mm in diameter and 400 mm in length was aforehand drilled in the prepared intact granite sample. The results indicate that the cutting velocity obviously increases with temperature when bit pressure is over a certain value, while the unit rock-breaking energy consumption decreases and the rock-breaking efficiency increases with temperature at the triaxial pressure of 100 MPa. The critical temperature and pressure that can result in intensive damage to granite are 400-500℃ and 100-125 MPa, respectively.

The Research Status and Major Problems of High Temperature and High Pressure Experiment on Petrogenesis and mineralization

1 Introduction In contrast,1experimental geochemistry is a young subject,but in recent years,the research on experiment of high temperature and high pressure has become an important branch in the parallel subjects of traditional mineralogy,petrology,geochemistry and geophysics.It is not only an important and essential way and window to understand geological processes in depth and geological

Development of a High Temperature and High Pressure Oil-Based Drilling Fluid Emulsion Stability Tester

When drilling deep wells and ultra-deep wells, the downhole high temperature and high pressure environment will affect the emulsion stability of oil-based drilling fluids. Moreover, neither the demulsification voltage method nor the centrifugal method currently used to evaluate the stability of oil-based drilling fluids can reflect the emulsification stability of drilling fluids under high temperature and high pressure on site. Therefore, a high-temperature and high-pressure oil-based drilling fluid emulsion stability evaluation instrument is studied, which is mainly composed of a high-temperature autoclave body, a test electrode, a temperature control system, a pressure control system, and a test system. The stability test results of the instrument show that the instrument can achieve stable testing and the test data has high reliability. This instrument is used to analyze the factors affecting the emulsion stability of oil-based drilling fluids. The experimental results show that under the same conditions, the higher the stirring speed, the better the emulsion stability of the drilling fluid;the longer the stirring time, the better the emulsion stability of the drilling fluid;the greater the oil-water ratio, the better the emulsion stability of the drilling fluid. And the test results of the emulsification stability of oil-based drilling fluids at high temperature and high pressure show that under the same pressure, as the temperature rises, the emulsion stability of oil-based drilling fluids is significantly reduced;at the same temperature, the With the increase in pressure, the emulsion stability of oil-based drilling fluids is in a downward trend, but the decline is not large. Relatively speaking, the influence of temperature on the emulsion stability of oil-based drilling fluids is greater than that of pressure.

The construction of technical standard system for ultra deep and high sour gas fields in Northeast Sichuan

To deal with the exploitation difficulties of gas fields in Northeast Sichuan with deep marine strata, after researching the relative standards domestic and abroad extensively, summarizing and promoting the successful experiences and failure lessons of project construction technology application scientifically, Sinopec has established an integrated technical standard system for the exploration and development of ultra deep and high sour gas fields. The system consists of 51 enterprise standards and covers 7 professions including geophysical prospecting, drilling, drilling log, well logging, gas formation test and production, sour gas gathering and transferring system, and HSE (health,safety,environment). It guides and guarantees the safe, high-quality and high-efficiency project construction effectively by means of enhancing the engineering design criterion, recommending the data processing and interpretation methods, identifying the requirements of operation and field inspection and standardizing the application of technical equipments.

Rheological properties of oil-based drilling fluids at high temperature and high pressure

The rheological properties of two kinds of oil-based drilling fluids with typically composition were studied at pressures up to 138 MPa and temperatures up to 204 ℃ using the RheoChan 7400 Rheometer.The experimental results show that the apparent viscosity,plastic viscosity and yield point decrease with the increase of temperature,and increase with the increase of pressure.The effect of pressure on the apparent viscosity,plastic viscosity and yield point is considerable at ambient temperature.However,this effect gradually reduces with the increase of temperature.The major factor influencing the rheological properties of oil-based drilling fluids is temperature instead of pressure in the deep sections of oil wells.On the basis of numerous experiments,the model for predict the apparent viscosity,plastic viscosity and yield point of oil-based drilling fluids at high temperature and pressure was established using the method of regressive analysis.It is confirmed that the calculated data are in good agreement with the measured data,and the correlation coefficients are more than 0.98.The model is convenient for use and suitable for the application in drilling operations.

Gas-Liquid Mass Transfer in a Slurry Bubble Column Reactor under High Temperature and High Pressure

The gas-liquid mass transfer of H2 and CO in a high temperature and high-pressure three-phase slurry bubble column reactor is studied. The gas-liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficients kLa are obtained by measuring the dissolution rate of H2 and CO. The influences of the main operation conditions, such as temperature, pressure, superficial gas velocity and solid concentration, are studied systematically. Two empirical correlations are proposed to predict kLa values for H2 and CO in liquid paraffin/solid particles slurry bubble column reactors.

Influence of annealing treatment on as-grown Ib-type diamond crystal at a high temperature and high pressure

In this paper,we report on the influence of annealing treatment on as-grown Ib-type diamond crystal under high pressure and high temperature in a china-type cubic anvil high-pressure apparatus.Experiments are carried out at a pressure of 7.0 GPa and temperatures ranging from 1700 C to 1900 C for 1 h.Annealing treatment of the diamond crystal shows that the aggregation rate constant of nitrogen atoms in the as-grown Ib-type diamond crystal strongly depends on diamond morphology and annealing temperature.The aggregation rate constant of nitrogen remarkably increases with the increase of annealing temperature and its value in octahedral diamond is much higher than that in cubic diamond annealed at the same temperature.The colour of octahedral diamond crystal is obviously reduced from yellow to nearly colorless after annealing treatment for 1 h at 1900 C,which is induced by nitrogen aggregation in a diamond lattice.The extent of nitrogen aggregation in an annealed diamond could approach approximately 98% indicated from the infrared absorption spectra.The micro-Raman spectrum reveals that the annealing treatment can improve the crystalline quality of Ib-type diamond characterized by a half width at full maximum at first order Raman peak,and therefore the annealed diamond crystals exhibit nearly the same properties as the natural IaA-type diamond stones of high quality in the Raman measurements.

Practice and Cognition of Midway VSP in High Temperature and High Pressure Field of South China Sea

Ying-Qiong Basin is a typical high-temperature and overpressure basin, which is the main battlefield of oil and gas exploration in South China Sea and has made great breakthroughs in recent years. During drilling process in high pressure, the relationship between the deep and the pressure is directly related to the drilling safety and costs. In order to improve prediction accuracy, the VSP operation is carried out through the midway, and three points have been obtained: 1) The VSP has a higher accuracy of the interface depth in certain depth range of the drill bit. 2) When the low-frequency trend prediction is accurate before the drill bit, interval velocity of the VSP inversion is consistent with the formation velocity. 3) The VSP pressure forecast is based on the inversion layer velocity and under-compaction pressure. If the velocity prediction is not accurate, the pressure forecast must be erroneous. If the pressure has other sources, the formation pressure is not accurate even if the inversion velocity is accurate. The application scope and exploration effect of midway VSP operation are summarized and applied to Ledong 10-1 block in Yinggehai basin, which realize the breakthrough in the field of high temperature overpressure and provide the basis for other similar exploration areas to do VSP operation.

Experimental study on liquid immiscibility of lamprophyre-sulfide melt at high temperature and high pressure and its geological significance

With lamprophyre and pyrite from the Laowangzhai gold deposit, Yunnan Province, China, as starting materials, and at pressures from 1.5 to 3.0 GPa and temperatures from 1160 to 1560℃ , an experimental study was carried out on the liquid immiscibility of lamprophyre-sulfide melt at high temperature and ultra-high pressure in the DS-29A cubic 3600T/6-type high pressure apparatus. Results showed that the liquid immiscibility of lampro-pyre-sulfide melt in the magmatic system would happen during the early magmatic evolution (high temperature and high pressure conditions) and was controlled by temperature and pressure. The sulfide melt which was separated from the lamprophyric melt would make directional movement in the temperature and pressure field and assemble in the low-temperature and low-pressure region. Because the density of SM is higher than that of the lamprophyric melt, the former would gather together at the bottom of the magma chamber and there would exist a striking boundary between the two melts. On the other hand, the results also suggested that there would be little possibility for lampro-phyric magma to carry massive gold, and lamprophyres can't provide many of oreforming materials (Au) in the processes of gold mineralization.

The Electrical Conductivity of Gabbro at High Temperature and High Pressure

The electric conductivity of gabbro has been measured at 1.0-2.0 GPa and 320-700℃, and the conduction mechanism has been analyzed in terms of the impedance spectra. Experimental results indicated that the electric conductivity depends on the frequency of alternative current. Impedance arcs representing the conduction mechanism of grain interiors are displayed in the complex impedance plane, and the mechanism is dominated at high pressure. These arcs occur over the range of 10\+2-k×10\+5 Hz (k is the positive integer from 1 to 9). On the basis of our results and previous work, it is concluded that gabbro cannot form any high conductivity layer (HCL) in the middle\|lower crust.

Mechanical Analysis of a Multi-Test String in High-Temperature and High-Pressure Deep Wells

The mechanical behavior of the test string in deep wells is generally relatively complex as a result of the high temperature and high pressure,severe dogleg and buckling effects,which in some circumstances can even lead to string failure.Traditional computational methods for the analysis of these behaviors are often inaccurate.For this reason,here a more accurate mechanical model of the test string is introduced by considering variables such as temperature,pressure,wellbore trajectory,and buckling,as well as combining them with the deformation and string constraint conditions brought in by changes in temperature and pressure during the tripping,setting,and test operations.The model is validated by applying it to a specific high-pressure gas well(located in Northeast Sichuan).

Anisotropic strength,deformation and failure of gneiss granite under high stress and temperature coupled true triaxial compression

The anisotropic mechanical behavior of rocks under high-stress and high-temperature coupled conditions is crucial for analyzing the stability of surrounding rocks in deep underground engineering.This paper is devoted to studying the anisotropic strength,deformation and failure behavior of gneiss granite from the deep boreholes of a railway tunnel that suffers from high tectonic stress and ground temperature in the eastern tectonic knot in the Tibet Plateau.High-temperature true triaxial compression tests are performed on the samples using a self-developed testing device with five different loading directions and three temperature values that are representative of the geological conditions of the deep underground tunnels in the region.Effect of temperature and loading direction on the strength,elastic modulus,Poisson’s ratio,and failure mode are analyzed.The method for quantitative identification of anisotropic failure is also proposed.The anisotropic mechanical behaviors of the gneiss granite are very sensitive to the changes in loading direction and temperature under true triaxial compression,and the high temperature seems to weaken the inherent anisotropy and stress-induced deformation anisotropy.The strength and deformation show obvious thermal degradation at 200℃due to the weakening of friction between failure surfaces and the transition of the failure pattern in rock grains.In the range of 25℃ 200℃,the failure is mainly governed by the loading direction due to the inherent anisotropy.This study is helpful to the in-depth understanding of the thermal-mechanical behavior of anisotropic rocks in deep underground projects.

A Comprehensive Method for the Optimization of Cement Slurry and to Avoid Air Channeling in High Temperature and High-Pressure Conditions

Air channeling in the annulus between the casing and the cement sheath and/or between the cement sheath and formation is the main factor affecting the safe operation of natural gas wells at high temperatures and pressures.Prevention of this problem requires,in general,excellent anti-channeling performances of the cement sheath.Three methods to predict such anti-channeling performances are proposed here,which use the weightless pressure of cement slurry,the permeability of cement stone and the volume expansion rate of cement sheath as input parameters.Guided by this approach,the anti-channeling performances of the cement slurry are evaluated by means of indoor experiments,and the cement slurry is optimized accordingly.The results show that the dangerous transition time of the cement slurry with optimized dosage of admixture is only 76 min,the permeability of cement stone is 0.005 md,the volume shrinkage at final setting is only 0.72%,and the anti-channeling performances are therefore maximized.The effective utilization of the optimized cement slurry in some representative wells(LD10–1-A1 and LD10–1-A2 in LD10–1 gas field)is also discussed.

Various admixtures to mitigate the long-term strength retrogression of Portland cement cured under high pressure and high temperature conditions

In order to investigate the problem of long-term strength retrogression in oil well cement systems exposed to high pressure and high temperature(HPHT)curing conditions,various influencing factors,including cement sources,particle sizes of silica flour,and additions of silica fume,alumina,colloidal iron oxide and nano-graphene,were investigated.To simulate the environment of cementing geothermal wells and deep wells,cement slurries were directly cured at 50 MPa and 200?C.Mineral compositions(as determined by X-ray diffraction Rietveld refinement),water permeability,compressive strength and Young’s modulus were used to evaluate the qualities of the set cement.Short-term curing(2e30 d)test results indicated that the adoption of 6 m m ultrafine crystalline silica played the most important role in stabilizing the mechanical properties of oil well cement systems,while the addition of silica fume had a detrimental effect on strength stability.Long-term curing(2e180 d)test results indicated that nano-graphene could stabilize the Young’s modulus of oil well cement systems.However,none of the ad-mixtures studied here can completely prevent the strength retrogression phenomenon due to their inability to stop the conversion of amorphous to crystalline phases.

High-pressure and high-temperature sintering of pure cubic silicon carbide:A study on stress-strain and densification

Silicon carbide(SiC)is a high-performance structural ceramic material with excellent comprehensive properties,and is unmatched by metals and other structural materials.In this paper,raw SiC powder with an average grain size of 5μm was sintered by an isothermal-compression process at 5.0 GPa and 1500?C;the maximum hardness of the sintered samples was31.3 GPa.Subsequently,scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the microscopic morphology of the recovered SiC samples treated in a temperature and extended pressure range of 0-1500?C and 0-16.0 GPa,respectively.Defects and plastic deformation in the SiC grains were further analyzed by transmission electron microscopy.Further,high-pressure in situ synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction was used to study the intergranular stress distribution and yield strength under non-hydrostatic compression.This study provides a new viewpoint for the sintering of pure phase micron-sized SiC particles.

Mixing processes and patterns of fluids in alkane-CO_(2)-water systems under high temperature and high pressure——Microscopic visual physical thermal simulations and molecular dynamics simulations

Various types of geofluids exist in deep and ultra-deep layers in petroliferous basins.The geofluids are much more active under high-temperature and high-pressure(HTHP)conditions,but their properties are unclear.We simulated the mixing of different fluids in CH_(4)/C_(3)H_(8)/C_(6)H_(14)/C_(8)H_(18)-water systems and C_(6)H_(14)/C_(8)H_(18)-CO_(2)-H_(2)O systems at temperatures of 25℃ to 425℃ and pressures of 5 MPa to 105 MPa,using an in-situ micron quartz capillary tube thermal simulation system and molecular dynamics numerical simulation software.The mixing processes,patterns,and mechanisms of various fluids were analyzed at microscale under increasing temperature and pressure conditions.The results show that the miscibility of fluids in the different alkane-H_(2)O and alkane-CO_(2)-H_(2)O systems is not instantaneous,but the miscibility degree between different fluid phases increases as the temperature and pressure rise during the experiments.The physical thermal experiments(PTEs)show that the mixing process can be divided into three stages:initial miscibility,segmented dynamic miscibility,and complete miscibility.The molecular dynamics numerical simulations(MDNSs)indicate that the mixing process of fluids in the alkane-H_(2)O and alkane CO_(2)-H_(2)O systems can be divided into seven and eight stages,respectively.The carbon number affects the miscibility of alkanes and water,and the temperature and pressure required to reach the same miscibility stage with water increase with the carbon number(C_(3)H_(8),C_(6)H_(14),CH_(4),C_(8)H_(18)).CO_(2) has a critical bridge role in the miscibility of alkanes and water,and its presence significantly reduces the temperatures required to reach the initial,dynamic,and complete miscibility of alkanes and water.The results are of great significance for analyzing and understanding the miscibility of geofluids in deep and ultra-deep HTHP systems.

Porosity, permeability and rock mechanics of Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation deep shale under temperature-pressure coupling in the Sichuan Basin, SW China

To investigate the porosity, permeability and rock mechanics of deep shale under temperature-pressure coupling, we selected the core samples of deep shale from the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the Weirong and Yongchuan areas of the Sichuan Basin for porosity and permeability experiments and a triaxial compression and sound wave integration experiment at the maximum temperature and pressure of 120 ℃ and 70 MPa. The results show that the microscopic porosity and permeability change and the macroscopic rock deformation are mutually constrained, both showing the trend of steep and then gentle variation. At the maximum temperature and pressure, the porosity reduces by 34%–71%, and the permeability decreases by 85%–97%. With the rising temperature and pressure, deep shale undergoes plastic deformation in which organic pores and clay mineral pores are compressed and microfractures are closed, and elastic deformation in which brittle mineral pores and rock skeleton particles are compacted. Compared with previous experiments under high confining pressure and normal temperature,the experiment under high temperature and high pressure coupling reveals the effect of high temperature on stress sensitivity of porosity and permeability. High temperature can increase the plasticity of the rock, intensify the compression of pores due to high confining pressure, and induce thermal stress between the rock skeleton particles, allowing the reopening of shale bedding or the creation of new fractures along weak planes such as bedding, which inhibits the decrease of permeability with the increase of temperature and confining pressure. Compared with the triaxial mechanical experiment at normal temperature, the triaxial compression experiment at high temperature and high pressure demonstrates that the compressive strength and peak strain of deep shale increase significantly due to the coupling of temperature and pressure. The compressive strength is up to 435 MPa and the peak strain exceeds 2%, indicating that high temperature is not conducive to fracture initiation and expansion by increasing rock plasticity. Lithofacies and mineral composition have great impacts on the porosity, permeability and rock mechanics of deep shale. Shales with different lithologies are different in the difficulty and extent of brittle failure. The stress-strain characteristics of rocks under actual geological conditions are key support to the optimization of reservoir stimulation program.

Support design method for deep soft-rock tunnels in non-hydrostatic high in-situ stress field

Due to the long-term plate tectonic movements in southwestern China,the in-situ stress field in deep formations is complex.When passing through deep soft-rock mass under non-hydrostatic high in-situ stress field,tunnels will suffer serious asymmetric deformation.There is no available support design method for tunnels under such a situation in existing studies to clarify the support time and support stiffness.This study first analyzed the mechanical behavior of tunnels in non-hydrostatic in-situ stress field and derived the theoretical equations of the ground squeezing curve(GSC)and ground loosening curve(GLC).Then,based on the convergence confinement theory,the support design method of deep soft-rock tunnels under non-hydrostatic high in-situ stress field was established considering both squeezing and loosening pressures.In addition,this method can provide the clear support time and support stiffness of the second layer of initial support.The proposed design method was applied to the Wanhe tunnel of the China-Laos railway in China.Monitoring data indicated that the optimal support scheme had a good effect on controlling the tunnel deformation in non-hydrostatic high in-situ stress field.Field applications showed that the secondary lining could be constructed properly.