Modeling Approach Estimates Temperatures in Growing High-Temperature Wells
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: March 2024

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This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 214836, “Downhole Temperature Estimation of a Growing High-Temperature Wellbore Using a Modified Drift-Flux Modeling Approach,” by Ningyu Wang, SPE, Mohamed S. Khaled, and Anthony Luu, The University of Texas at Austin, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

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Downhole temperature (DHT) estimation is very important for heat management while drilling high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) and geothermal wells. Existing transient models neglect the effect of wellbore growth or deepening on the downhole temperature. The complete paper provides a new modeling tool to estimate and manage the DHT in higher-temperature oil, gas, and geothermal wells. The model, which has the potential to run in real time and thereby digitally twin the drilling operation, may contribute to preventing premature temperature-related failures of bits and downhole tools while drilling future wells in high-temperature environments.

Introduction

Analytical and numerical modeling are the two main approaches discussed in the literature to estimate the mud temperature inside the drillstring and the annulus. Although these models provide valuable insights on selecting optimal heat-management techniques during circulation, none consider the effect of drilling rate of penetration (ROP) on downhole temperature, and all consider the wellbore as having fixed and static dimensions.

On the other hand, the effect of ROP in an arbitrarily growing wellbore on other aspects of drilling has been modeled and studied. In this work, the authors present a validated thermohydraulic model based on the drift-flux approach to simulate the transient behavior of downhole temperature during drilling. This model can predict the effect of different cooling-strategy techniques based on real-time operational changes and can predict temperature-sensor measurements. It thereby establishes a foundation for active managed-temperature drilling of HP/HT and geothermal wells.

Methodology

The drift-flux model is a well-studied model for 1D flow in a flow channel with static geometry. Conservation equations, and their discretization, are detailed in the complete paper, as are equations regarding heat transfer in the solid.

Assumptions. To lay the foundation for a thermohydraulics model that considers the effect of the growth of the wellbore, the following key assumptions are made:

- The ROP is much slower than the mud-flow velocity.

- The cuttings are assumed to be perfectly integrated into the mud and to share the physical properties of the drilling mud. Therefore, the added mud volume equals the volume of the cuttings. The complete paper focuses on laying the foundation for a solver that accounts for the wellbore growth.

- The transient temperature distribution in the drillstring is neglected because the authors are primarily interested in temperature behavior on larger time scales.

- The growth of the wellbore trajectory is an external input and is to be updated in a timely manner if the solver is run in real-time mode.

- The drillpipe entering the well has constant cross-sectional geometry.

- The formation temperature ahead of the bit is considered to not yet be disturbed as drilling proceeds.