Enhanced Hydraulic Modeling and Event Detection Using Real-Time Fluid Properties and Fluid Position Tracking Software

Replicating downhole conditions using real-time software helps reduce nonproductive time. Hydraulic outputs trend against sensor outputs, enabling event detection. Using real-time fluid properties with fluid tracking hydraulic software helps improve predictions for comparison, enabling faster and more reliable detection of downhole conditions. Two instances of real-time hydraulics simulators capable of tracking property changes of fluid and the positions of discrete fluid volumes within the wellbore were used. One simulator was used with a real-time fluid properties apparatus that provided full six-speed rheology and fluid density in real time. The second simulator used fluid updates provided by the mud engineer on location. The calculated equivalent circulating density (ECD) and predicted standpipe pressure (SPP) from the hydraulics software was compared to actual pressure while drilling (PWD) and measured SPP sensor outputs. The real-time fluid apparatus provided real-time rheology and density values consistently while drilling the section, and data was provided directly to the hydraulics simulator. Comparing ECD predictions with and without the real-time fluid properties made it possible to identify any improvements achieved using such equipment. Although both sets of data showed that the hydraulics simulator was highly accurate, using real-time fluid inputs enabled ECD predictions to trend considerably closer to the PWD measurements. The capability of tracking the predicted ECD against actual sensor outputs enables users to quickly determine deviations in sensor outputs associated with downhole conditions and to observe deviations occurring as a result of inconsistencies within the fluid system. Data presented in this paper are taken from some of the first global deployments of real-time fluid properties measurement equipment used in conjunction with real-time hydraulics software.