A finite element model for analyzing horizontal well BHA behavior

Horizontal wells are proven to be better producers because they can be extended for a long distance in the pay zone. Engineers have the technical means to forecast the well productivity for a given horizontal length. However, experiences have shown that the actual production rate is often significantly less than that of forecasted. There are a number of reasons for the discrepancy of predicted to actual production rates in horizontal wells. However, it is a difficult task, if not impossible, to identify the real reason why a horizontal well is not producing what was forecasted. Often, the source of problem lies in the drilling of horizontal section such as permeability reduction in the pay zone due to mud invasion or snaky well patterns created during drilling. Although drillers aim to drill a constant inclination hole once in the pay zone, the more frequent outcome is a sinusoidal wellbore trajectory. g while drilling (LWD) and real time measurement of resistivity at bit help drill in the pay zone by constant monitoring of borehole trajectory and formation boundaries. Rotary steerable tools (RTS) allow spontaneous intervention to drilling direction and inclination if run with LWD tools. Nevertheless, there are still many cases where LWD cannot be deployed due to technical difficulties. One such case was noticed in the Middle East where LWD sensors were worn out completely during 1 h run time due to extreme formation abrasiveness. In the absence of LWD and RTS, it becomes a challenging task to drill a constant inclination borehole which will be addressed in this paper. o factors, which play an important role in wellbore tortuosity, are the inclination and side force at bit. A constant inclination horizontal well can only be drilled if the bit face is maintained perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of bottom hole assembly (BHA) while keeping the side force nil at the bit. This approach assumes that there exists no formation force at bit. Hence, an appropriate BHA can be designed if bit side force and bit tilt are determined accurately. element method (FEM) used in this study determines the bit side force and bit tilt simultaneously. The FEM is superior to existing analytical techniques because it can accommodate many more independent parameters which otherwise cannot be taken into account. As a matter of fact, it is believed that oversimplification of actual physical phenomena with unacceptable assumptions is the major source of error with existing BHA designs. aper presents an FEM technique in assessing the bit tilt and side forces and compares the results with the existing techniques.