Abstract:
Real-time identification of the bottomhole gas invasion state is the key to well control during managed pressure drilling (MPD), which is directly related to the selection of follow-up operations involving the gas circulation exhaust based on standpipe pressure control or the conventional shut-in procedure. In view of the factors of gas migration expansion and dissolution, it is pointed out here that the equilibrium between outlet flow and inlet flow does not directly mean the stop of bottomhole gas invasion, and there is a precedence relationship between them. Based on the rapidly increasing wellhead back pressure control method, an MPD wellbore-formation coupling model for multiphase variable-mass flow was established, and the finite difference method was used to iteratively solve this model. The calculated results agreed well with the experimental measured ones. The simulation results show that the obvious inflexion point of the outlet flow is a sign for distinguishing the precedence relationship between the outlet-inlet flow equilibrium and the bottomhole gas invasion stop. Once the bottomhole gas invasion stops, the 2nd derivative of the standpipe pressure will quickly drop to near zero and keep stable thereafter. According to the above parameter variation characteristics, a real-time identification method for the bottomhole gas invasion state based on the outlet and inlet flow as well as the real-time monitored standpipe pressure was proposed. This study has guiding significance for the improvement of the MPD well control theory.