Experiment No.

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Mud weight and Density test

1. Aim:-
 To know how to use mud balance apparatus.
 To know the change in density after adding barite by using water.
 To recalculate the density of the mud which is given.

2. Theory

A device to measure density (weight) of mud, other liquid. A mud

balance consists of a fixed-volume mud cup with a lid on one end of a
graduated beam and a counterweight on the other end. A slider-weight
can be moved along the beam, and a bubble indicates when the beam is
level. Density is read at the point where the slider-weight sits on the
beam at level.

Drilling fluid -mud - is usually a mixture of water, clay, weighing

material and a few chemicals. Sometimes oil may be used instead of
water, or oil added to the water to give the mud certain desirable
properties. Drilling fluid is used to raise the cuttings made by the bit and
lift them to the surface for disposal. But one of the major functions of a
drilling fluid includes providing hydrostatic pressure to prevent
formation fluids from entering the wellbore. To ensure that the
hydrostatic pressure balances out with formation pressure and that the
wellbore is stable, the mud density has to be taken into consideration.

Higher formation pressure require higher mud density (this can be

achieved by adding more barite to the drilling fluid) and vice versa.
Using an incorrect drilling fluid (in terms of its mud density), can result
in a formation damage thereby leading to a well blowout. Also we can
use other material for preparing mud with different material also we can
get a different specific gravity and density (craft, 2008).

The densities of some materials are shown in Table 1.

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 Table (1): Densities of common mud components

3. Apparatus

The four-scale mud balance is used to determine the density or weight

of drilling fluids or cement slurries. One of the most important properties
monitored throughout the drilling operation is the mud density.

The mud balance is designed so that the mud cup at one end of the arm
is balanced by a fixed counterweight at the opposite end, with a sliding
weight rider free to move along a graduated scale. A level bubble is
mounted on the beam to ensure accurate balancing.

On the front side are measuring scales with ranges of 6.5 to 23 lbs/gal and
specific gravity of 0.79 to 2.72 g/cm³. At the back side there are scales for
49 to 172 lb/ft³ and for 340 to 1,190 psi/1000 ft.

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Mud Balance Equipment

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 4. Calibration

1. Remove the lid from the cup, and completely fill the cup with water.

2. Replace the lid and wipe dry.

3. Replace the balance arm on the base with knife-edge resting on the
fulcrum.

4. The level vial should be centered when the rider is set on 8.33. If not, add
to or remove shot from the well in the end of the bream.

5. Procedure

- Place the base (preferably in the carrying case) on a flat level surface.

- Fill the balance cup with the sample to be tested to the limit. Put the
lid onto the balance cup by pushing it downward with a slow rotating
motion until it is firmly seated. Make sure that some of the test sample
is forced out through the vent hole in the lid. This action will also help
to rid the sample of any entrained air of gas.

- Cover the hole in the lid with a finger and wash all mud from the
outside of the cup and arm. Then thoroughly dry the entire balance.

- Fit the knife edge of the balance arm into the fulcrum and balance
the assembly by moving the rider along the arm. The Mud Balance is
horizontal when the level bubble fluctuates an equal distance to either
side of the center line.

- Read the sample weight from the side of the rider nearest the balance
cup. The measurement reading is equivalent to specific gravity of the
sample.

6. Calculation

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 Theoretical calculation:

- Volume of water = 350 ml = 350 cm3 ( 1 ml =1 cm3 )

- Mass of Bentonite (Clay) = 45 g

- Density of Mud ?

Mb Mb 45
ρ b=
Vb
→ Vb=
ρb
→
2.5
= 18 cc

ρ w v w+ ρ b v b=ρ m v m
(1) (350) +(2.5*18) = ρm (350+18)

395=( 368 ) ρ m ρ m=1.073 g/cc

7. Results

Theoretical calculation results was ρ m=1.073 g/cc

Practical results at lab was ρm = 1.03 g /cc

8. Discussion

Q/ Describe it, when the mud density is Too high (or more )then make
problem(break formation or damage it ) how are you control that problem ?

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 Q/ Explain it, when the density is insufficient in the mud ? what happen ? How are
you control it ?

The mud density is considered in relation to the HP imposed on the hole. At a

given depth, larger the mud density results in larger pressure. When this pressure in
the hole bottom is examined, in the face of the formation pressure acting on
opposite direction to it, the net effect is called Differential Pressure, that is the
difference between the HP and the Formation Pore Pressure. It is this Differential
Pressure that affects drilling rate when mud density is considered. High
Differential Pressure opposes cuttings removal thus causing regrinding of drill
cuttings and retardation of Penetration Rate. It also leads to the strengthening of
the rock and causes Chip- Hold – Down. Mud weight is calculated by sum of
weights over sum of volumes. It is increased by adding solid materials and
decreased by adding water, oil or aerating the fluid.

Many mud properties vary with its solids content. Though solids slow down
drilling rate the prevailing drilling conditions necessitates addition of Bentonite
and weighting materials like Barite, Ilmenite etc. to increase mud density and
ensure mud’s stability in transporting cuttings to the surface. Solids are controlled
by installing solids removal equipment at the rig and also adding Polymer
materials like Sodium Carboxyl-Methylene Cellulose (CMC) to minimize
Bentonite requirement in the mud and make for increased drilling rate.
mud density is so important because :-
Mud has many functions<including :
-transporting cutting
- Serves as a medium for formation logging
-transmitting power to bit nozzles or turbines
-cooling and lubrication of bit and drill string.
-reducing formation damages
-protecting cutting
- Supports the weight of pipe and casing
One of its most important function is to provide the hydrostatic pressure to balance
formation pressure

We can change the density of mud to control the well and avoiding kicks and blow
out.

Driving forces, produced by a density difference between the two fluids, influence
the breakdown of gel structure of the drilling fluid and, therefore, may enhance the
stability of displacement. For vertical well, greater density difference can obtain
good displacement effect when meeting anti-leak condition. For slim well and

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horizontal well, increasing density difference will result in slurry advancing on the
annular low side and slurry advancing happens on the upper annular
side under smaller density difference. Therefore, there exists an appropriate density
difference to make the interface length minimum for a certain casing’s eccentricity,
which is views expressed in the context.
Density difference is the key factor to affect displacement interface stability. Many
scholars have concluded that increasing density difference is beneficial for
enhancing displacement effect in vertical well by the method of theoretical studies
and laboratory experiments. However, for slim and horizontal well, the conclusion
may not be correct considering
complex loading conditions. The reasons are as follow:

1) The casing eccentricity. Casing tends to move toward the low side of a wellbore
due to gravity, which creates a narrow annular clearance. Because of greater
resistance for fluid flow through the narrow clearance, it is easy for cement slurry
to advance through a wide clearance on the
upper side of the wellbore. As a result, the interface will become longer and more
complex.

2) The density difference between cement slurry and drilling mud. Heavy slurry
tends to flow toward the lower side in the wellbore and light drilling mud always
gathers in the upper side, leading to the advancement of cement slurry in the upper
side of the wellbore and drilling-mud retention in the lower side of the wellbore.
Therefore, a non-density-difference cementing technique is advised to use in the
horizontal well when the casing is central.

The position and extent of displacement interface fingering depend on the relative
relationship between resistance caused by casing eccentricity and buoyancy caused
by density difference. If the density difference is greater, the buoyancy will be
more than the resistance. As a result, the slurry advances in the lower side of the
wellbore. However, if the density difference is smaller, the opposite results will be
obtained. Therefore, either too large or too small in density difference will give rise
to the instability of displacement interface for cementing eccentric annulus of
horizontal wells. It is obvious that greater density difference may not result in
better cementing quality, which is significantly different from the vertical well.
There exists an optimum density difference for a given casing eccentricity, and the
created buoyancy can balance out the resistance in annular clearance. As a result, a
stable displacement interface and optimum displacement efficiency are achieved in
cementing. In recent studies, a few scholars have analyzed this phenomenon, but
they did not successfully find the matching relationship between casing
eccentricity and density differences in horizontal well cementing. As a result, they

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could not provide an effective design scheme of displacing fluids in the eccentric
annulus of horizontal wells.
The comprehensive influence of resistance and buoyancy effects on the interface is
studied in the paper. The displacement interface shape under various eccentricity,
density difference and rheological parameters has been simulated and analyzed
using the method of 3D numerical simulation. In
order to enhance the stability of displacement interface, reduce the intermixing
extent of two-phase fluids and minimize the interface length, a realistic matching
relationship between casing eccentricity and density difference in the horizontal
well has been obtained in this study. In addition, the effects of shear thinning
index, consistency index and yield point of the cement slurry on the optimal
density difference with respect to various casing eccentricity values has been
analyzed.

What will happen if there is insufficient drilling fluid density?

Well control

The well will be in an underbalanced condition so any formation of fluids – gas,

oil, and water- will enter into the wellbore.

Wellbore collapse (wellbore instability)

Mud weight will provide pressure to hole back formation. If mud weight is too
small, wellbore may collapse.

What will happen if the mud weight is too high?

Lost circulation

If the hydrostatic pressure from mud column exceeds formation strength, it will
cause a formation to break. Once the formation is broken, drilling fluids will be
lost into the induced formation fractures.
Decrease in rate of penetration
Heavier mud weight will result in slower ROP because of hold down effect.
Practically, while drilling, low mud weight is used at the beginning and mud
weight will be increased, as the well is drilled deeper in order to optimize ROP and
mitigate well control.

Deferentially Stuck Pipe

Since there are differences between formation pressure and hydrostatic pressure,
there will be a lot of chances that a drill string will get deferentially stuck across
permeable rocks.

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Formation damage

The more mud weight that is in the well, the more mud filtration invades into
porous formations. The invaded mud will cause damage to formation rocks.

9. Conclusion

-In Our experiment we must be clean all the device before our works
because if they are dirty ,they will be cause error in our experiment.

-If the water is not clean(dirty)to prepare this mud we have some
error to equilibrium this balance,you must balanced this mud
balance with the water(standard solution)in first stage and after
that you balanced the bentonite mud with respect to density of the
water and we put this mud (barite) to increase the density of the
mud (to controlled the formation).

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 -In this experiment we want to recalculate the density of the
mud,first we weight 45 g of the bentonite in the weight
balance and mixed it with 350 ml of water,then we put it in the
mixture tool,in fact we could not make the mud balance our
bentonite in the lab was bad ,so our result was mistaked.

The temperature effected on density of liquid, so we should be do this

experiment in room temperature to get an accuracy result

The factors of getting errors in our experiment

*if you don’t use pure water content a many impurity that effected on
density

* Quality of Bentonite

*accuracy of the mud balance and weighting balance

10. References

Mud Balances - FANN®. 2015. Mud Balances - FANN®. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.fann.com/fann/products/drilling-fluids-testing/mud-balances/df-
mudbalance.page?node-id=hlz0hxo5. [Accessed 17 November 2015].

Mud balance - Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary . 2015. mud balance - Schlumberger

Oilfield Glossary . [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/en/Terms/m/mud_balance.aspx. [Accessed 18
November 2015].

Well Control - Apps for Drilling & Workover Operations. 2015. Well Control - Apps for
Drilling & Workover Operations. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wellcontrol.com.br/?
pag=kicktolerance. [Accessed 19 November 2015].

Mud Weight Marsh Funnel Viscosity And pH - Drilling Engineering. 2015. Mud Weight
Marsh Funnel Viscosity And pH - Drilling Engineering. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.netwasgroup.us/engineering-3/mud-weight-marsh-funnel-viscosity-and-

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ph.html. [Accessed 19 November 2015].

Well Kill Using Wait and Weight Method (Balanced Method). 2015. Well Kill Using Wait
and Weight Method (Balanced Method). [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.wipertrip.com/well-control/secondary-control/486-well-kill-using-wait-and-
weight-method-balanced-method.html. [Accessed 19 November 2015].

http://www.drillingformulas.com/mud-weight-and-its-importance-in-
drilling/

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