Directional Surveying

Introduction
The well path is assumed
to be a straight line with
orientation of the
tangential vector (i2, α2).
For this method the well
path is assumed to be
approximated by two
straight lines of equal
length (L/2) where the first
line has the orientation of
the tangential vector (i1,
α1) and the second line has
the orientation equal to
(i2, α2).
The well path is assumed to be
approximated by one straight line
that intersects both upper a lower
survey points by averaging both
the inclination and the azimuth
angles. So the line will have
inclination of (i1+i2)/2 and azimuth
of (α1+α2)/2.
 This method assumes that the well path is a
circular arc where the arc is tangential to the
two survey points directional vectors (ix, αx).
Further the arc between the survey points can
be projected as two different arc’s one in the
vertical and one in the horizontal plane. For
the projected vertical arc the angle will be:

Where rv is the radius of curvature of the vertical projected curve. The vertical depth change
can be written as;

We can substitute for rv to get the final version of ΔV as;

The length of line EB which is the is the change in horizontal extension ΔH

For the horizontal projected curvature the angle will be:

The north length can then be determined when substituted

for rh and ΔH;

cosθ , θ=target bearing-atan( E/ N), TVD=360 L

( )
The minimum curvature method assumes that the
actual well path is approximated by two straight lines,
and the error caused by the straight lines is corrected by
replacing the two lines with a circular arch and the
difference in result called ratio factor (RF) is multiplied
to the results of the balanced tangential method. The
angle is the dog leg angle which takes both inclination
change and azimuth change in one angle which can be
calculated as (derivation not shown here):

The ratio factor is the ratio between the two lines (AB and
BC) and the arc AC:
Dog leg severity

The dog leg severity (DLS) is the change of dog leg angle per 100 ft. The dog leg severity can
be calculated as:
References:
API Bulletin D20, 1985, Directional Drilling Survey Calculation Methods and Terminology.

Hussain Rabia, 2001, Well Engineering & Construction.

Bourgoyne, A., et al. 2009. Applied Drilling Engineering, SPE text book series V 2.

Inglis, T.A. 2007. Directional Drilling, V. 2, in: Petroleum Engineering and Development
Studies, Graham & Trotman Oxford, Great Britain.