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Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321
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Research Article

A new real-time hole cleaning monitoring method based on downhole multi-

point pressure measurement and data driven approach*
Feifei Zhanga,b, Baixue Lia,b, Chen Yuc, Jun Chend, Tao Penge & Xi Wanga,b,*
a
College of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan, Hubei 430100, China
b
Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Drilling and Production Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan, Hubei 430100, China
c
Engineering Technology Research Institute, CNPC Bohai Drilling Engineering Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300450, China
d
No. 1 Drilling Engineering Company, CNPC Bohai Drilling Engineering Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300450, China
e
Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute, Sinopec Jianghan Oilfield Company, Wuhan, Hubei 430223, China
Received 2 December 2022; accepted 25 February 2023
Available online 13 June 2023

Abstract

During the construction of long horizontal wells and extended reach wells, inadequate hole cleaning can lead to a series of drilling problems.
Traditional hole cleaning analysis is simply based on theoretical models or surface vibrating screen data, and cannot accurately assess downhole
cuttings distribution and existing problems. This paper introduces a novel research idea that combines the traditional drilling hydraulic model
with the artificial intelligence method. A downhole true cuttings distribution technology based on measurement data, the inversion of flow
characteristics from pressure in the hole cleaning field, and a new method for quantitatively evaluating the dynamic distribution of downhole
cuttings using along-string measurement (ASM) data were proposed. The results depict that, the relationship between hole cleanliness and
annular pressure loss in different hole sections under different working conditions is proportional. Second, under given flow conditions, a
pressure-driven hole-cleaning model exerted a reverse pressure drop by inferring the effect of cuttings on the borehole. Third, downhole
multipoint measurement indicated an accurate evaluation of the hole cleaning condition and provide detailed downhole information that avoided
and solve inadequate hole cleaning of long horizontal wells and extended reach wells. In conclusion, the combination of these methods can
overcome the defects of traditional hole cleaning analysis. The integrated approach is helpful in improving the practical technique in hole
cleaning and promotes the large-scale application in the oil and gas industry.
© 2023 Sichuan Petroleum Administration. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co. Ltd. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: Pressure-driven; Hole cleaning algorithm; Intelligent drilling; Hydraulic model; Intelligent drill pipe; Along-string measurement (ASM)

*
Project supported by the Project of the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China “Research on the coupling mechanism of dynamic cuttings
migration and drill string force during extended reach well drilling” (No.
51874045), the Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project
“Research on dynamic hole cleaning mechanism and intelligent monitoring
algorithm for shale gas extended reach wells” (No. 2019CFA093), and the
Research Project of the Department of Education, Hubei Province “Intelligent
drilling theory research and system development” (No. T2021004).
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: 201771172@yangtzeu.edu.cn (Xi Wang.).
Peer review under responsibility of Sichuan Petroleum Administration.
1. Introduction
Inadequate hole cleaning can lead to a series of drilling
problems, such as sticking, reduced rate of penetration, and
increased equivalent circulation density. Problems related to
hole cleaning are especially serious in long horizontal wells
and extended reach wells. Current hole cleaning research
generally involves experimental study and model optimization
of transient cuttings migration [1e6], focusing mainly on

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ngib.2023.05.008
2352-8540/© 2023 Sichuan Petroleum Administration. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co. Ltd. This is an open access
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321 313

analysis of the cuttings bed height (or cuttings concentration) measured actual pressures can be used to inversely calculate
under different drilling conditions using experiments or theo- the real-time downhole distribution of the cuttings. Finally, the
retical models. Such studies can be divided broadly into three above two parts were combined to obtain a quantitative
categories: ① study of cuttings migration using empirical method for the analysis of hole cleaning based on full hole
formulas based on experimental data [4,7,8], ② derivation of pressure measurement data. The overall process of the pro-
mechanical models based on the law of conservation [5], and posed technique is shown in Fig. 1.
③ numerical analysis based on computational fluid dynamics
[9]. However, relevant technology that can measure directly 2. Effect of hole cleaning on pressure drop
the distribution of cuttings in the hole annulus remains
lacking. During the drilling process, cuttings in the hole have
Cuttings in a hole cannot be measured directly. However, important influence on the wellbore pressure distribution [10].
because cuttings have important influence on the annular flow The reasons for the influence of cuttings particles on the flow
pressure, theoretically, the cuttings distribution could be ob- pressure drop in the hole are summarized as follows: ① the
tained indirectly from changes in annular flow pressure within mixing of cuttings and drilling fluid changes the density of the
the hole (this is also the theoretical basis for field-based fluid in the wellbore, ② the formation of a cuttings bed or a
approximate evaluation of hole cleanliness through consider- cuttings mound reduces the effective circulation area of the
ation of equivalent circulation density changes). Therefore, if hole annulus, and ③ cuttings particles change the friction
the mechanism via which cuttings in the hole affect annular factor of the flow. In this study, the ratio of the pressure drop
pressure could be elucidated, the real cuttings distribution in (SF) of cuttings-containing fluid to that of cuttings-free fluid
the hole could be obtained indirectly by measuring the real- was used to denote the effect of cuttings on flow pressure drop.
time pressure distribution of the full hole during drilling For convenience of analysis, hydrostatic pressure is subtracted
[10,11]. from the flow pressure drop to eliminate the influence of fluid
The development of measurement-while-drilling, logging- gravity:
while-drilling, and seismic-while-drilling technologies and
DPc  DPhyd
intelligent drill pipes can provide an increasing number of SF ¼ ð1Þ
downhole measurement-while-drilling parameters. Currently, DPnc  DPhyd
the most widely used and reliable full hole multipoint mea-
where DPc, DPnc, and DPhyd denote the static pressure
surement method is the intelligent drill pipe (also called the
gradient of fluid with cuttings, fluid without cuttings, and pure
wired drill pipe or the with-cable drill pipe). An intelligent
drilling fluid, respectively (Pa/m), and SF denotes the ratio of
drill pipe realizes transmission of information and electric
the pressure loss caused by cuttings to the pressure loss caused
power via a cable embedded in the drill pipe, and obtains
by pure drilling fluid flow at the same equivalent flow velocity,
measurements of parameters such as pressure, temperature,
which can be used to represent the influence of cuttings on
and vibration using installed sensors. Various oil companies
wellbore pressure.
such as BP and Equinor ASA have applied this technology to
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship
key offshore drilling projects [12e16]; however, it has rarely
between SF and cuttings volume concentration, and then to
been used in large-scale land-based drilling projects, espe-
derive the hole cleaning status from the pressure data. How-
cially in China. Two main factors limit wide application of
ever, under the same cuttings concentration, many factors
intelligent drill pipes: ① the high operating and maintenance
costs, and ② the fact that the measurement data obtained
using intelligent drill pipes are mainly processed manually.
Consequently, large-scale application of this technology in
general drilling construction is not cost effective.
To overcome the shortcomings of traditional hole cleaning
analysis, which relies solely on theoretical models, and to
avoid or resolve the problem of inadequate hole cleaning of
extended reach wells and long horizontal wells, improve the
utilization value of measurement data of intelligent drill pipes,
and promote the development and application of this type of
technology within the industry. The downhole real-time mul-
tipoint pressure measurement data were obtained using along-
string measurement. The basis of along-string measurement
realization is a wired drill pipe. Using sensors installed on the
drill pipe, measurements of the annulus pressure, internal
pressure, temperature, rotation, and triaxial vibration along the
drill string are collected and transmitted to the ground at high
speed [17]. Therefore, detailed downhole information can be
obtained using multipoint distributed sensors, and the Fig. 1. Flow chart of the proposed technique.
314 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321
affect SF. To fully understand the relationship between cuttings
concentration and SF, a large number of experimental data
related to cuttings migration and wellbore pressure measure-
ment have been collected, including different inclination an-
gles, different types and sizes of cuttings, different densities
and properties of drilling fluids, and parameters such as flow
rate, rotation speed, and rate of penetration commonly used in
drilling operations (Table 1).
Fig. 2 shows the relationship between cuttings concentra-
tion and SF of different types of drilling fluids at different
rotation speeds when the inclination angle is between 30 and
90 and when the rate of penetration is 15 m/h. Fig. 3 shows
the relationship between SF and cuttings concentration when
testing with different sizes of cuttings particles.
Fig. 2 shows that when the flow rate is constant, the cuttings
concentration increases with increase in the inclination angle,
and the change trend of the SF value is different; when the
inclination angle is constant, the SF value increases with
reduction in the average flow rate, and the SF value is closely
related to the cuttings concentration.
In Fig. 2-a, the SF test results with drill pipe rotation are
slightly higher than those without drill pipe rotation. At low
flow rate and low dip angle (e.g., 0.57 m/s and 30 , respec-
tively), the cuttings distribution state is characterized by
accumulated dunes, resulting in higher mixing density, smaller
cross-sectional flow area, and a higher SF value. As the flow
rate increases, loose cuttings are more likely to become sus-
pended in the fluid. As the inclination angle increases, loose
cuttings transform into a fixed cuttings bed. The change in
cuttings distribution state changes the average density and
effective flow area of the fluid in the hole, thereby affecting the
value of SF.
The experimental result for a non-Newtonian fluid, shown
in Fig. 2-b, presents a change trend similar to that of the
experimental result using water as the drilling fluid. However,
owing to the high viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid, the SF
value of the non-Newtonian fluid is smaller than that of water
under the same conditions. The above results show that the
influence of cuttings on wellbore pressure depends on many
factors such as inclination angle, fluid property, flow rate, and
rotation speed. For any given case, when the cuttings con-
centration is used to invert the SF value, all important influ-
encing factors should be considered.
Fig. 3 shows that for different sizes of cuttings and a spe-
cific inclination angle, the SF value is closely related to the
cuttings concentration, and the trend of proportionality is
Table 1
Collected parameters.
Parameter Range
Inclination angle/( ) 0e90
Type of drilling fluid Water-based drilling
fluid, PAC þ Bentonite
Average flow rate/(m$s1) 0.6, 1.2
Rotation speed/(r$min1) 50, 100
Rate of penetration/(m$h1) 15, 30
Data source: References [10,18e20].
obvious, which makes it possible to establish a mathematical
model for inversion of the cuttings concentration from the SF
value under given conditions. The method of inverting the
cuttings distribution from the wellbore pressure is called the
pressure-driven hole cleaning model.
3. Pressure-driven hole cleaning model
The relationship between the cuttings concentration and the
SF value is not one to one, and it is impractical to only use SF
to invert the cuttings concentration. Owing to the complex
relationship between the cuttings concentration and SF,
studying the mechanical model based on physical laws is very
difficult. Owing to the availability of experimental data, the
use of a machine learning algorithm to develop a regression
method based a prediction model becomes very attractive.
The purpose of using regression is to conclude and sum-
marize the regularity contained within the data, and then to use
SF and other input parameters to establish a mathematical
model to predict the cuttings concentration. First, the input
parameters of the model were determined, including average
flow rate (vF), inclination angle (I ), rotation speed (RPM ), rate
of penetration (ROP), relative pellet density (rr), equivalent
fluid viscosity (me), and the derived output is the cuttings
volume concentration (Cc). Then, an appropriate model
training method was selected to fit the data set. Finally, the
new data were used to evaluate the trained model. According
to specific needs, the supervised learning method [21] was
selected to establish the prediction model in this study. Many
supervised learning algorithms are commonly used, including
regression analysis, decision tree methods, support vector
machine, and neural network methods. Because the available
data sets are limited, small data sets require a low-complexity
(or high-deviation) model to avoid overfitting of the models
and the data. Therefore, the generalized linear regression
method with low complexity and strong priors [22] was
selected for use in this study. To avoid overfitting, the elastic
net regularization technique [23] was used in the algorithm.
Notably, any other training algorithm that can provide a reli-
able model could be tried at will. To improve the accuracy of
the training model, a five-fold cross-validation method [24]
was used in the training process, and the mean square error
(MSE ) was used to evaluate the effect of model fitting, as
shown by the following equation:
1X n
MSE ¼ ðyi  ybi Þ2 ð2Þ
n i¼1
where yi denotes the measured cuttings concentration
(dimensionless), ybi denotes the model-predicted cuttings
concentration (dimensionless), and n denotes the total amount
of data (dimensionless).
After training using the data of the parameters listed in
Table 1, the MSE of the model was 0.05. The plot of the
training data and the prediction data in Fig. 4 shows that the
trained model captures the overall trend of the actual data
without overfitting.
 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321 315

Fig. 2. Relationship between cuttings concentration and SF value under different test conditions.

Fig. 3. Values of SF and cuttings concentration of medium-viscosity fluid at rate of penetration of 10 m/h.

The pressure-driven hole cleaning model proposed in this
study is based on the influence of the cuttings on wellbore
pressure. The SF discussed above is obtained from the differ-
ence between the theoretical wellbore pressure and the
measured wellbore pressure without cuttings, and then the
cuttings concentration is inverted. To ensure the accuracy and
practicability of the model, the following conditions should be
met in its application: ① it must be able to accurately
calculate the theoretical wellbore pressure without cuttings,
and ② it should fully consider other factors that can cause
changes in the wellbore pressure to avoid obtaining misleading
results.
The specific implementation process of the model is as
follows. First, the wellbore information (wellbore trajectory
and well profile), drill string information (drill string design
and sensor position), and real-time well depth and bit depth are
input into the wellbore grid division algorithm. Then, the grid
division algorithm divides the wellbore into multiple sub-
regions (a subregion is a hole section between two adjacent
sensors) according to the positions of the sensors, and
generates multiple grids for each region according to the
change in inclination angle, and the inner and outer diameter
of the annulus.
To consider dynamic change in the annulus geometry along
the wellbore with changes in bit depth and well depth, a real-
time wellbore grid division method was proposed in this study.
The wellbore grid model can also be used to determine the
real-time position of each sensor along the string, and to divide
the entire wellbore into multiple sections to evaluate pressure
changes. Meanwhile, by means of combining the traditional
drilling hydraulic model with the machine learning method, a
self-correcting drilling hydraulic model that can be automat-
ically calibrated was developed (as detailed in the following
section). The wellbore grid model and the self-correcting
model can be used to meet the requirements of the first
aspect, i.e., accurate real-time calculation of the theoretical
pressure drop between two measuring points.
This study also proposed a pressure change evaluation
method to analyze the change in wellbore pressure drop
caused by different factors such as hole shrinkage, hole
316 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321

to consider only the steady-state conditions and the incom-

pressible drilling fluid. The advantage of the method is that it
covers the most used rheological models, e.g., the Bingham
plastic model, power law model, and yield power law model.
Moreover, it also considers the influence of annulus
eccentricity.
The generalized Reynolds number is defined as follows
[25,27]:
0 0
d n v2n r
ReG ¼ eff ð3Þ
8ðn0 1Þ K 0
3n0 þ1
u0 d w n 0
deff ¼ n0 þ1
ð4Þ
1
ðds þ dw Þdhn0 K 0 n0
Fig. 4. Verification of pressure-driven hole cleaning model.
ðn0 þ1Þ n0 1 ðn0 þ1Þ
in which u0 ¼ ð1  l2 Þ n0  s n0 ðl2  s2 Þ n0 , and where
enlargement, lost circulation, and inadequate hole cleaning. deff denotes the effective diameter of the eccentric annulus
The algorithm considers the differences in pressure change (m); v denotes the mean velocity (m/s); n' and K0 denote the
patterns caused by different factors, in addition to the differ- parameters of the generalized power law model, whereby n'
ences in response to operating parameters (e.g., flow) and time denotes the flow index (dimensionless) and k' denotes the
changes. For example, when the hole is enlarged, the open consistency coefficient (Pa$sn), and the corresponding detailed
area of the downhole fluid is expanded, the flow rate is reduced value method of the commonly used rheological model can be
correspondingly, and the pressure drop is reduced. When hole found in Ref. [25]; r denotes fluid density (kg/cm3); dw de-
cleaning is inadequate, cuttings accumulation occurs, the notes wellbore diameter (m); dh denotes hydraulic diameter
formed open area is reduced, and the pressure drop is (m); ds denotes drill string diameter (m); u0 denotes the ec-
increased. Moreover, the position of the influence caused by centricity coefficient of the annulus (dimensionless); l denotes
the change in hole diameter is reasonably static and would not the radial position of the maximum fluid velocity (dimen-
change with measured depth, whereas the position of the sionless); s denotes ddws (dimensionless); and e denotes eccen-
pressure change caused by the cuttings would change with tricity (dimensionless).
migration of the cuttings in the hole annulus. By analyzing the
R0 ¼ 1  0:101 9en0 s0:4675  1:615 2e2 n0
0:085 0:787 5
relationship between the mode and time of the pressure s þ ð5Þ
1:143 4e3 n0
0:054 7 1:165 5
anomaly and other operating parameters, the cause of the s
pressure anomaly can be obtained, thereby identifying whether
where R0 denotes the eccentricity coefficient of the annulus
the pressure change is caused by the cuttings. The model can
(dimensionless).
be used to meet the requirements of the second aspect, i.e., to
Equation (6) is used to obtain the fluid flow pressure
determine the reason for the difference between the theoretical
gradient in the hole:
pressure and the measured pressure without cuttings. Finally,
under given wellbore and flow conditions, the above pressure- Dp 2ff rv2
driven-based hole cleaning model was used to invert the cut- ¼ xc ð6Þ
DL deff
tings concentration from SF. The inversion process is shown in
Fig. 5. where ff denotes the friction factor, and xc denotes the ntro-
duced correction factor. For laminar flow, the friction factor is
4. Intelligent drilling hydraulic model obtained from ff ¼ Re 16
G
; for turbulent flow, many empirical
formulas are commonly used to obtain the friction factor
Many assumptions have been made in the derivation and [10,25]. In this study, the empirical formula presented as Eq.
establishment of the traditional drilling hydraulic model, (7) was used, where ε denotes wall roughness:
which might differ from reality. Additionally, there are certain
differences between the input parameters and the actual
downhole conditions. Therefore, there is no perfect model that
 0 1:2 
can accurately calculate wellbore pressure in any application 1 0:27ε 1:26ðn Þ
pffiffiffi ¼  4 lg þ ð7Þ
scenario. 0 ðn0 Þ
0:75
ff deff 1n
To improve the accuracy of wellbore pressure calculation, ReG ff 2
the traditional drilling hydraulic model was combined with a
machine learning algorithm in this study to establish a com-
posite drilling hydraulic model. In the traditional hydraulic Most empirical formulas are obtained under laboratory
model, the method of the generalized power law model is used conditions. Field application proves that no empirical
 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321
Fig. 5. Overall work flow of the model.
formula can be applied to all actual drilling conditions. In
practical engineering, a more realistic method is to combine
the hydraulic model with a machine learning algorithm, and
to use actual measurement data to adjust the hydraulic model
to improve the accuracy of the prediction results. In other
words, the machine learning algorithm is used to customize
the friction factor of the hydraulic model based on the spe-
cific application conditions. By adopting the combined hy-
draulic model and machine learning algorithm method, the
measured data are used to inversely calculate the model pa-
rameters, which reduces the dependence of the model pa-
rameters on calculation parameters such as specific
formation, lithology, well type, well diameter, and tempera-
ture to a certain extent, and enhances the expansibility of the
model. Meanwhile, the inverse calculation model parameters
of the same block can customize an individualized parameter
library, and the model parameters of which can be called
directly for wellbore pressure calculation when applied in
similar wells.
The main challenge in real-time downhole condition
monitoring is the uncertainty of the input parameters of the
drilling model. As the well depth increases, the uncertainty of
these parameters increases. Therefore, the uncertainty of the
input parameters is reduced by reducing the length of the hole
section, thereby improving the accuracy of the drilling model.
317
Traditional drilling hydraulic analysis or hole cleaning anal-
ysis usually uses a single model to perform calculations for the
entire wellbore, resulting in large differences between the
calculated values and the actual downhole conditions. One of
the advantages of using intelligent drill pipe data is that the
entire wellbore can be divided into multiple sections, thereby
reducing the well length needed to be covered by the drilling
model and improving its accuracy.
In the process of model implementation, a hydraulic model
is customized for each section between the two measuring
points along the drill string, as shown in Fig. 6 [26].
For the divided wellbore, each section is divided into
multiple grids based on the change of inclination angle of the
well profile and the drill string geometry. The grid division
principles of the sectional hole are as follows: all parameters
(e.g., inclination angle, inner diameter, outer diameter, and
wall roughness) are uniform in one grid, each grid is a
calculation unit, and the maximum length of the grid should
meet the requirement for maintaining the accuracy of these
parameters after uniform assumptions. For example, the grid
length in the kick off section or the drop off section of a hole
with a rapid change in inclination angle is shorter than that in
the vertical hole section.
The selection criteria used for the reference data for the
machine-learning-based composite hydraulic model training
318 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321

the inflow fluid density (kg/m3); R denotes the actual rheo-

logical parameters of the fluid, e.g., yield value; and o denotes
other field parameters required by the model (e.g., drill string
eccentricity) that depend on the hydraulic model used.
The correction parameter vector x is expressed as follows:
 
xi ¼ x1c ; …; xic ; …xnc ð10Þ

where xic denotes the correction factor of hole type i, and n

denotes the total number of hole types in a specific section.
The reason for introducing multiple correction factors is to
improve the stability of the model. In practical situations, there
might be more than one type of hole, e.g., an open hole and a
casing hole. Because the friction factors of both the open hole
section and the casing hole section are markedly different, if a
correction factor is used for the entire hole section, when the
bit depth changes, the model prediction will deviate from the
actual value.
The Newton-CG method [28] is used to minimize the
Fig. 6. Section of a wellbore
objective function in Eq. (8). After training, the optimized
are as follows: ① the pressure measurement data should be hydraulic model is applied to adjacent wells or similar wells to
obtained under clean hole conditions, ② the discharge rate conduct calculation of dynamic wellbore pressure. The pres-
should be stable, and the gel effect and acceleration effect are sure change evaluation algorithm and the pressure-driven hole
neglected, and ③ each data set should include at least two data cleaning model are used to analyze the changes in calculated
points (one is the flow rate under static flow conditions used to and measured pressure drops, and provide real-time informa-
obtain the inflow fluid density, and the other is the flow rate tion on the cuttings distribution and the hole cleaning status
under normal drilling and circulation conditions), although along the wellbore.
additional data points are helpful for improving model
accuracy. 5. Case study
The essential problem in using measured data to train the
hydraulic model is the nonlinear regression problem: Drilling data of one extended reach well were selected to
conduct a case study of the model to analyze the migration of
1X m
the cuttings in the entire wellbore and the change process of
minimizex k zi  hðx; yi Þk2
2 i¼1 ð8Þ wellbore pressure, and in combination with actual pressure
measurement values, to verify the newly proposed pressure-
s:t: x2Rn driven hole cleaning analysis model. The maximum vertical
depth of the case study well (A1) is 1087 m, and its horizontal
where zi denotes the ith measurement data in the training data displacement is 4500 m. The profile of Well A1 is shown in
set, m denotes the total number of training data, h(x,yi) denotes Fig. 7. In the case study, the real-time hole cleaning status and
the hydraulic model of a given section (Fig. 6), yi denotes the the wellbore pressure in the drilling process of the
input parameter vector of the model, and x denotes the 4300e4500 m section were analyzed. The PDF-PLUS/KCl
parameter vector needed to be adjusted. drilling fluid with density of 1.07e1.18 g/cm3 was used, and
The expression of yi is as follows: the outer diameter of the drill pipe was 127 mm. Nine sensors
2 3
6 7
6 7
6 1 7
6 d ds1 Q r1f R1 o1 7
6 w 7
6 7
6 « « « « « « 7
6 j 7
yi ¼ 6
6 dw dsj Q rjf Rj oj 7 7 ð9Þ
6 7
6 « « « « « « 7
6 m 7
6d dwm dwm dwm dwm dwm 7
6 w 7
6 7
4 5

where m denotes the number of grids in the given subregion, as

shown in Fig. 6; Q denotes the displacement (m3/s); rf denotes Fig. 7. Profile of well A1.
 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321
Fig. 8. Sensor distribution and hole sections.
were distributed uniformly along the drill string, which
divided the hole into nine sections, as shown in Fig. 8.
The actual drilling parameters of the hole section during the
drilling process from 17:00 on July 12 to 02:00 on July 13,
2020 are shown in Fig. 9.
The corresponding pressure changes with time at each
sensor position are shown in Fig. 10, with red dotted arrows
indicating the upward migration of the cuttings in the hole.
The transient cuttings migration and drilling hydraulic
model [29,30] were used to obtain the dynamic cuttings dis-
tribution and wellbore pressure profile during drilling, as
shown in Fig. 11. Four sets of results are shown: the actual
cuttings distribution, suspended cuttings distribution, SF values
of each section, and cuttings concentration of each section
inverted by the proposed pressure-driven hole cleaning model.
Fig. 9. Actual drilling parameters in July 12e13, 2020.
319
Fig. 10. Pressure at sensor position in July 12e13, 2020.
During the drilling, a short trip and sufficient circulation
were implemented before the well depth of 4300 m. There-
fore, in the early stage of drilling, except for a small amount
of cuttings bed accumulated at the bottomhole assembly,
most of the wellbore was clean and the SF value was 1.0
(Fig. 11-a). As drilling progressed, the newly generated
cuttings were transported to the ground (Fig. 11-b to d). The
cuttings were transported in two different ways in the well-
bore: as suspended cuttings and as the deposited cuttings bed.
The suspended cuttings moved much faster than the depos-
ited cuttings bed. If the cuttings concentration was <5%, then
only suspended cuttings existed in the hole section. The
cuttings waves that appear similar to dunes in the figure
represent the accumulation of the cuttings bed caused by
alternative drilling circulations. Fig. 11 also shows that the
change in SF value in each section was consistent with the
actual cuttings distribution. Because the SF value is deter-
mined from the pressures measured at both ends of each
section, it can only reflect the average pressure anomaly
caused by the cuttings. Moreover, because the SF value re-
flects the pressure drop between two adjacent sensors, the
inverted cuttings concentration reflects the average hole
cleaning status in a specific hole section. Obviously, a higher
number of along-string measurement sensors would produce
more accurate measurements, but the costs would also be
increased. The case study showed that the newly proposed
pressure-driven hole cleaning model is reasonable and ac-
curate, and suitable for application to monitoring of hole
cleaning.
320 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321

Fig. 11. Transient hole cleaning simulation of the case.

6. Conclusions quantitative method for assessing both the downhole cuttings

To address the problem of inadequate hole cleaning in
extended reach wells and long horizontal wells, this study
proposed a method that uses downhole multipoint measure-
ment data to evaluate both the actual cuttings distribution and
the hole cleaning status in the hole during drilling, thereby
realizing indirect measurement of the real cuttings distribution
in the hole during drilling.
The proposed pressure-driven hole cleaning model breaks the
traditional multiphase flow research, modeling mode while rep-
resenting an innovative method of inverting the flow character-
istics by combining flow pressure with constraints. Based on this,
The results showed that the model overcome the shortcomings of
traditional hole cleaning analysis that relies solely on theoretical
models or ground vibrating screen data, by establishing a
distribution and the hole cleaning degree based on measurement
data, and provide detailed downhole information for avoiding and
resolving the problems of inadequate hole cleaning in extended
reach wells and long horizontal wells.
Currently, the cost associated with the use of intelligent
drill pipes and other along-hole measurement technologies is
high; however, further scientific and technological de-
velopments and deepening of related research will reduce this
cost in the future. This study improved the practical impor-
tance of this type of technology in the drilling construction
process. Moreover, the study provides support for resolving
other common drilling problems using full hole measurement
technology such as intelligent drill pipes, which could promote
scaled application of this technology within the oil and gas
industry.
 F Zhang et al. / Natural Gas Industry B 10 (2023) 312e321
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgement
Thanks are extended to Equinor ASA for its financial and
technical support to this study.
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