Circulating temperature

When neither measurement nor simulation is possible, an estimating

-method of circulating bottom-hole temperature is available by API RP
10B. The API method is based on drilling data of limited areas with a typical
surface temperature of 80°F. This method is not recommended for untypical
wells and not directly applicable to predicting temperature during the
.cementing jobs
Many numerical solutions for wellbore temperature in circulation are
developed. Based on a series of simulations, charts can be created and used
for an easy prediction of BHCT for oil- and water-based mud of different
densities for wells of different depths. For example, Raymond (1969) presented charts of
,temperature change of annulus fluid, defined as TbhfToutlet
versus flow rate from 150 to 450gpm. It was shown that the difference of
temperature reduces as the circulating rate increases. As annulus outlet temperature is often
measurable on the rig, the chart can be used for estimating
BHCT. The temperature change of oil-based mud is 220°F at 150 gpm and
quickly reduces to around 100°F if increasing the flow rate to 450gpm for a
deep well of 25,000ft. This temperature difference becomes small for
ft well and in which case the change of flow rate shows less impact-10,000
because heat exchange between formation and the wellbore fluid is insufficient owing to short
of travel distance. It is also observed that low-density
oil-based mud displays apparently lower temperature difference than the
heavier mud. This conclusion is reversed for water-based mud, in which
case, the difference between 10- and 18-ppg water-based mud is mainly
found at a low pumping rate and for deeper wells, and low-density fluid
has greater temperature change. By the previous discussion, we may consider all water-based
mud have similar volumetric heat capacity; therefore
.the difference is possibly contributed by convective heat transfer coefficient
,Lighter water based mud is thinner and has higher Reynolds number and
thus, higher heat transfer coefficient at the borehole face; therefore a higher
.temperature at the bottom and a lower temperature at the outlet are seen
,However, when the pumping rate or Reynolds number is high enough
.low fluid viscosity does not enhance convective heat transfer further