Introduction

Theory :

The pressure exerted by a static mud column depends on both the

density and the depth. by the equation :

Hp=0.052*ρ*depth

The density of the drilling fluid must be controlled to provide

adequate hydrostatic head to prevent inflow of formation fluids, but
not so high as to cause loss of circulation or adversely affect the
drilling rate and damaging the formation.

The hydrostatic pressure gradient of formation fluids varies from

0,43 psi/ft to over 0.52 psi/ft (0.1 to 0.12 kg/cm2/m), depending on
the salinity of the water.

In order to prevent the inflow of formation fluids and to lay down a

thin, low permeability filter cake on the walls of the hole, the
pressure of the mud column must exceed _the pore pressure_ the
pressure exerted by the fluids in the pores of the formation by at
least 200 psi (14 kg/cm2). The pore pressure depends on the depth
of the porous formation, the density of the formation fluids, and the
geological conditions.

There is two types of geological conditions affect pore pressure:

1) normally pressured formations, which have a self-supporting

structure of solid particles (so the pore pressure depends only on
the weight of the overlying pore fluids) and,
2) abnormally pressured or( geopressured) formations, which are
not fully compacted into a self-supporting structure (so the pore
fluids must bear the weight of some or all of the overlying
sediments as well as the weight of the overlying fluids).

The bulk density of partially compacted sediments increases with

depth, but an average Sp.g of 2.3 is usually accepted, so that the
overburden (or geostatic or litholostatic) pressure gradient is about
1 psi/ft (0.23 kg/cm2/m), and the pore pressure of geopressured
formations is somewhere between the normal and the overburden
pressure gradients, depending on the degree of compaction.
Besides controlling pore fluids, the pressure of the mud column on
the walls of the hole helps maintain borehole stability.
In the interest of well safety, there is a natural tendency to carry a
mud density well above that actually needed to control the
formation fluids, but this policy has several major disadvantages. In
the first place, excessive mud density may increase the pressure on
the borehole walls so much that the hole fails in tension. This failure
is known as induced fracturing.

The problem, is how to maintaining mud density high enough to

control formation fluids, but not so high as to induce a fracture,
becomes acute when normally pressured and
geopressured formations are exposed at the same time.

From mud density test in laboratory we can studying the density, and how
we can control it as the drilling process need

Material gram/ Ib/gal lb/ft3 Ib/bbl kg/m3

Unit cm3

Water 1.0 8.33 62.4 350 1000

Oil 0.8 6.66 50 280 800
Barite 4.3 35.8 268 1500 4300
Clay 2.5 20.8 156 874 2500
Salt 2.2 18.3 137 770 2200

Down hole pressure analysis:-

 The hydrostatic pressure is the weight of water from the bottom of the well
to the surface.
 Hydrostatic pressure increase with increase mud density, for example
figure1 shown below: -
mud weight Lap Test procedures :-
1- clean the mud balance & let it to dry
2- start with mud balance calibration:-
Fill the mud balance cup with water , close the
cup tightly until water expelled from the hole in the cap
( to free the trapped air ), place the beam on the
support and balance it by moving the rider along the
graduated scale. The beam is horizontal when the
.bubble is on center line. (Calibration point)
3- Read the values at each side of the rider.
4- Empty the cup & repeat step2 but refill the cup with the new
mud
5- Read the values again including calibration.
6- Add 10gm of Barite to the mud.
7- Repeat step4 & step5.
8- add 20 gm of Barite to the mud.
9- Repeat steps 4,5
10- Add 30gm of Barite to the mud
11- Finally Clean all equipments & tools.

3-Lab test results :-

In this test we run 5 tests to evaluate increase mud density by
adding barite , we use 10gm,20gm,and30gm of barite to increase
mud weight as shown at table 1:-

Table 1,Lap test results:-

Mud type Sp.gr PPG Ib/ft^3 Psi/1000ft

Premix mud 1.02 8.6 64.5 445

Mud+20gm barite 1.065 8.9 66.5 461

Mud+30gm barite 1.09 9.1 67.8 468

Mud+40gm barite 1.1 9.13 68.9 473

 psi/1000ft

473 475
468 470
465
461 460
pressure gradiant

455
450
445 445
440
435
430

mud + mud + baraite mud + baraite premix mud

baraite40gm 30gm 20gm
Axis Title

PPG
9.2
9.1
9
8.9
8.8
8.7
9.13 9.1 8.6
8.9 8.5
8.6 8.4
8.3

mud + mud + baraite mud + baraite premix mud

baraite40gm 30gm 20gm
 lb/ft^3
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62

mud + mud + baraite mud + baraite premix mud

baraite40gm 30gm 20gm

Types of mud weighting Materials

Description:

The Mud Balance as shown below is used to determine density of

the drilling fluid. The instrument consists of a constant volume cup
with a lever arm and rider calibrated to read directly the density of
the fluid in ppg (water 8.33), pcf (water 62.4), specific gravity
(water = 1.0) and pressure gradient in psi/1000 ft. (water 433
psi/1000 ft.)
Calculation

Q1#
W1=9.5 ppg

W2=12 ppg

1490(w 2−w 1)
X= ( 35.5−w 2) x= 158.5 pound

158.5∗50 3602.2
X= 2.20 x=3602.2 kg x= 1000
=3.60tons

Q2#
W1=8.5 ppg

W2=11 ppg

1490(w 2−w 1)
X= ( 35.5−w 2) x=152.04 pounds
152.04∗50 3455.47
x= 2.20 x=3455.47kg x= 1000
=3.45tons