Directional/complex wells

Hole-Cleaning Fibers Improve Cuttings-Carrying Capacity

A specialized fibrous material was examined and was found to be effective for hole-cleaning applications.

Cuttings suspension after 5 minutes in hole-cleaning pills.
Fig. 1—Cuttings suspension after 5 minutes in hole-cleaning pills. Left: xanthan gum pill. Right: Fiber 1 pill (2 lbm/bbl). The cutting average diameter was 1000 μm.

Hole cleaning in deviated wells is more challenging than in vertical wells because of the boycott effect or the eccentricity of the drillpipe. Poor hole cleaning can result in problems such as borehole packoff or excessive equivalent circulating density. The complete paper investigates a specialized fibrous material (Fiber 1) for hole-cleaning characteristics. The primary goal is to identify significant mechanisms of hole-cleaning fibers and their merits compared with polymeric high-viscosity pills.

Hole-Cleaning Indices

Based on a review of the literature, most effective parameters regarding hole cleaning in different well types were investigated.

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