ADVANCED CUTTINGS TRANSPORT STUDY

The Quarter began with installing the new drill pipe, hooking up the new hydraulic power unit, completing the pipe rotation system (Task 4 has been completed), and making the SWACO choke operational. Detailed design and procurement work is proceeding on a system to elevate the drill-string section. The prototype Foam Generator Cell has been completed by Temco and delivered. Work is currently underway to calibrate the system. Literature review and preliminary model development for cuttings transportation with polymer foam under EPET conditions are in progress. Preparations for preliminary cuttings transport experiments with polymer foam have been completed. Two nuclear densitometers were re-calibrated. Drill pipe rotation system was tested up to 250 RPM. Water flow tests were conducted while rotating the drill pipe up to 100 RPM. The accuracy of weight measurements for cuttings in the annulus was evaluated. Additional modifications of the cuttings collection system are being considered in order to obtain the desired accurate measurement of cuttings weight in the annular test section. Cutting transport experiments with aerated fluids are being conducted at EPET, and analyses of the collected data are in progress. The printed circuit board is functioning with acceptable noise level to measure cuttings concentration at static condition using ultrasonic method. We were able to conduct several tests using a standard low pass filter to eliminate high frequency noise. We tested to verify that we can distinguish between different depths of sand in a static bed of sand. We tested with water, air and a mix of the two mediums. Major modifications to the DTF have almost been completed. A stop-flow cell is being designed for the DTF, the ACTF and Foam Generator/Viscometer which will allow us to capture bubble images without the need for ultra fast shutter speeds or microsecond flash system