Patent Document ID: 9945228
Application ID: 14385904
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for assessing risk associated with drilling a section of a wellbore in a formation using a drilling system, comprising: defining one or more critical control parameters for the drilling system; and identifying one or more failure modes of the drilling system associated with each critical control parameter which may arise during drilling the section of the formation; assessing each critical control parameter for a fixed set of external drilling conditions corresponding to a position along the section of the wellbore to determine a probability of triggering each failure mode associated with that control parameter as the critical control parameter varies; determine a value of an instantaneous risk of the drilling system failing at each position along the section of the wellbore based on an assessed probability of triggering each failure mode associated with each critical control parameter as the critical control parameter varies; plotting an instantaneous operating point of the drilling system, corresponding to an instantaneous value of each of the critical control parameters, within a respective operating window; calculating a value of the section risk as the additive risk of the instantaneous risk values; and adjusting at least one of a configuration of the drilling system or the critical control parameter for the drilling system to maximize or maintain at least one performance characteristic while minimizing, reducing, or capping the value of the section risk; and updating the instantaneous risk of the configuration of the drilling system based on real time data such that a selected drilling system configuration provides a least risk of triggering the one or more failure modes.