A Study of the Solids Transport Characteristics in the Non-Newtonian Fluid With Inclined Annulus

During drilling, the precipitation velocity of cuttings within an annulus depends on the density, configuration, and size of the cuttings, and on the density, viscosity, and rheological characteristics of the drilling fluid. In this study, in order to identify transfer features of cuttings, an experiment was performed under wide-ranging conditions by constructing a slim hole annulus (44 mm × 30 mm) device. In this experiment, the pressure loss and the particle transport ratio were measured in upward flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. These quantities were influenced by particle concentration within the flow, pipe rotation, flow rate, and inclination of the annulus. For both water and CMC (carboxymethylcellulose) solutions, the higher the concentration of the solid particles is, the larger the pressure gradients become. The experimental uncertainty of this study varies from a minimum of 3% to a maximum of 9% depending on the experimental conditions.