DRILL STRING DESIGN

S.Swarna Raju, SE(P),ONGC

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DRILL STEM / STRING
 Drill stem is an important part of rotary
drilling process.
 It consists of
Kelly
Drill pipe
BHA (drill collars, jars, stabilisers, reamers, shock
sub, bit sub etc.)

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DRILL STRING

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Kelly
Kelly is a hexagonal steel pipe
transmits the rotating force through the drill
string to the bit
 Torque imparted on Kelly tends to tighten
rather than back off each section.
 Length 11 to 16.5 m
 5 ¼” square or hexagonal 3” ID
 Two pressure safety valves on each end
upper kelly cock and lower kelly cock
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Kelly failure

 Crooking or bending
 Fatigue in the drive section
 Rounding of the drive corners

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Drill pipe

 Drill pipe is a steel pipe used to transmit

the rotational power and the drill fluid to
the bit at the bottom of the hole.
 Drill pipe having OD’s from 2 3/8” to 6 5/8”

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Grades of Drill pipe

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Yield / Tensile / Collapsable strength
 Minimum yield strength is the force needed
to stretch or compress the drill pipe until is
permanently distorted.
 Minimum tensile strength is the force
necessary to pull the pipe apart untill it
snaps
 Collapsable strength is the force needed to
crush the sides of the pipe until it caves in
itself
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 Torsional yield strength of a drill pipe is
the amount of twisting force a pipe can
with stand before twist off.
 Burst strength of a drill pipe is internal
pressure that can cause a new pipe to
burst and spring a leak.
 Internal Upset (IU)
 External Upset (EU)

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Drill pipe failures

 Most drill pipe failures are of fatigue.

 Wash out
 Twist off
 Handling of drill pipes

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Drill pipes

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Tool joints of drill pipes

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HWDP
 High bending stresses
 Deviated wells best suitable
 Joint above the drill collars
 Reduces the stress level
 9 or 10 for normal conditions
 12 – 16 for large hole conditions
 Major benefits
• Increase performance for small rigs in
shallow drilling areas
• Directional drilling decreasing torque and
directional control

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Drill collars
 They are heavy, thick walled steel pipes
with thread connections cut on both ends
 Provides weight to the drill bit
 Keeps drill pipe in tension and maintains the drill stem to
reduce the buckling forces
 Minimize directional control problems by maintaining
stiffness to BHA
 Minimise bit stability problems like vibrations, wobbling
and bouncing
 Spiral to reduce pressure differential in the hole
 3 1/8” to 11” round, square, triangular and spiral grooved
 Make up torque, handling and safety factors
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Other Drill stem equiment
 Drill stem sub
 Kelly saver sub
 Cross over sub
 Vibration dampeners
 Lifting subs
 Stabilisers and reamers
 Pipe wipers and mud boxes
 Thread protectors/ Bettis protectors
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DRILL STRING DESIGN
 Parameters that must be considered:
 Anticipated total depth of the string
 Expected mud weight
 Hole size
 Desired safety factor in tension and/or margin of over
pull
 Desired safety factor in collapse
 Length of Drill collars, OD, ID and total weight of drill
collars based on intended maximum weight on bit
 Desired drill pipe sizes and inspection class

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SELECTION OF DRILL PIPES

Drill pipes are generally subjected to three types of

loadings.
 Tension Loading
 Drill pipes are generally designed in tension.
 The design of drill string for static tensile load ensures
sufficient strength in the topmost joint of each size, support
the buoyed weight of the hanging pipes, collars and bit
 If the drill string is to consist of more than one size the pipe
having the lowest capacity should be placed just above the
drill collars

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 Collapse Loading
 Drill pipe may be subjected to an external
pressure which is greater than the internal
pressure resulting in collapse of drill pipe.
 Condition may arise during a drill stem test in
which the drill pipe may be empty or filled with
a fluid of low density compared to the
surrounding fluid.
 Allowable collapse pressure (Pac)

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 Torsional Strength
 Torsional strength of drill pipe is critical when drilling in
deviated holes, deep holes, reaming or when the pipe is stuck.
 The actual torque applied to the pipe during drilling may be
approximated by the following equation.

T = Torque applied to drill pipe, kg-m

HP = Horse power used to rotate the pipe
RPM = Revolutions per minute.

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SELECTION OF DRILL COLLARS
 Weight on bit
 Before attempting to design complete drilling assembly, the
maximum weight intended to be applied on bit should be
decided.

 Total weight of drill collars

 Based on the weight to be applied on the bit, total weight of drill
collars necessary can be estimated by the following formula :

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 Size of drill collars
 The size of the drill collars should be as
large Because
 weight concentration
 deviation control
 fewer connection problems

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DRILL STRING OPERATION IN H2S
ENVIRONMENT

 H2S SOURCES
 Inflow of sour formation fluids into borehole,
 Thermal degradation of certain drilling fluid
 Bacterial decomposition of sulphates in drilling
fluids.
 HYDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT
PHENOMENON
 Hydrogen embrittlement is a phenomenon by which
a ductile steel fails in brittle manner in an
environment containing nascent or free Hydrogen.

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DRILL STRING FAILURE IN H2S
ENVIRONMENT

 Corrosion:
• H2S forms a weak acid with water that attacks drill string
materials
 Embrittlement:
• In drilling environment hydrogen may generate in atomic state
and migrates to the highest stressed point causing a brittle
failure
 REMEDIAL MEASURES TO CHECK H2S EXPOSURE TO
METAL:
 Controlling drilling fluid parameters
 Controlling rate of hydrogen generation
 Using Non-Destructive Testing Techniques.
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