Experimental investigation on barite sag under flowing condition and drill pipe rotation

Using drilling fluids with optimum density is one of the most important approaches to stabilize the pressure of the bottom formation and prevent blowout through the drilling process. One of the common methods for this purpose is adding some additives with high specific gravity to the drilling fluid to tune its density. Among the possible chemicals, barite and hematite with the density of 4.2 and 5.2 g/cc are the most common additives. Unfortunately, although the application of these additives is advantageous, they have some drawbacks which the most important one is separation and settlement of solid phase called barite sag. The barite sag comes from barite, or other dense materials particles deposition resulted in undesired density fluctuations in drilling fluid can lead to mud loss, well control problems, poorly cementing and even pipe sticking which occurs in severe cases. With respect to these concerns, the current investigation is concentrated to obtain the relation between the dynamic conditions such as flow rate (0.308 and 0.19 l/s) and deviation angles of 30°,45°,60° and 90° and barite sag phenomenon through a flow loop equipment. Besides, the effect of drilling string rotational speed (70 rpm) on the barite deposition is investigated. The results not only indicate that increasing the flow rate from 0.19 l/s to 0.308 l/s can reduce the deposition rate, but also increasing the deviation angle from 45 to 60 o enhance the barite deposition to its maximum value. Graphic abstract