IPM IDPT

Well Engineering Module

Drill Bit Technology

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 Drill Bit Technology
 Lecture Contents;,
 Lecture Objectives,
 Drill Bit Types,
 Bit Design,
 Bit Selection,
 Bit Evaluation,
 Bit Performance,

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 Drill Bit Technology
 Lecture Objectives;
 By the end of this lecture YOU should be able to:
 Recognize different bit types,
 Describe various process of bit design with respect to
roller cone bits and PDC bits,
 Select bits for various formation types and drilling
conditions,
 Grade bits using the IADC Dull Grading System,
 Utilize the IADC code to describe and compare bits,
 Identify important operational aspects that effect bit
performance,
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 Drill Bit Types
 Roller Cone Bits: Milled tooth bits,

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 Drill Bit Types
 Roller Cone Bits: Inserts bits,

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 Drill Bit Types
 Natural Diamond Bits:

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 Drill Bit Types
 PDC (Polycrystalline Diamond Compact) Bits:

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 Drill Bit Types
 TSP (Thermally Stable Polycrystalline) Bits:

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Bearing Assembly:
 A bearing is a device that sits between the cone and its
attachment to the leg of the bit to reduce the force of
friction as the cone rotates.
 Roller cone bit bearings must operate under severe
conditions temperature and loads,
 Roller cone bits use three types of bearing in the
bearing assembly:
 Ball bearings;
 Roller bearings;
 Journal bearings.
 Some roller cone bits use all three and some use only
roller and ball bearings.
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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Bearing Assembly:
 Roller and Ball Bearing Bits:

This bit also uses ball

bearings,as well as another set
of smaller roller bearings near
the end, or nose,of the cone.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Bearing Assembly:
 Roller and Ball Bearing Bits:

Some roller bearing bits do not

use roller bearings in the nose.

Instead, they use a plain,or

journal bearing.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Bearing Assembly:
 Journal Bearing Bits:

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Bearing Assembly:
 Sealed Bearing Bit
Lubrication:

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Cone Design:
 All the three cones have the same shape with the No 1 cone
having a spear point,
 The basic factor to be decided is the journal or pin angle,
 The journal angle is formed between the axis of the journal
and the horizontal,
 One important factor which affect the journal angle is the
degree of meshing or interfit, (the distance that the crests of
the teeth of one cone extended into the grooves of the other.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cone Design:

#1 Cone
CCW

#3 Cone #2 Cone

Cones Set-up

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cone Design:

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cone Design:

heel
inner
cone
B A

Cone Slippage

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cone Design:
 Cone Offset:

Soft Formation Hard formation

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Cutting Structure:

 Soft Formation bits:

 These types require deep penetration into the rock so the teeth
are long, thin and widely spaced (to prevent balling),

 The long teeth take-up space, so the bearing size must be

reduced. This is allowable since the loading should nit be
excessive in soft formation.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

 Medium Formation Bits:

 These types required to withstand heavier loads so teeth height
is decrease and their width increased,

 these bits rely on scraping/gouging action with only limited

penetration,

 The spacing of teeth must still be sufficient to allow good

cleaning.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

 Hard Formation Bits:

 These do not rely on tooth penetration so the teeth are shorter
than those used for softer formations

 the teeth must be strong enough to withstand the

crushing/chipping action and sufficient numbers of teeth should
be used to reduce the unit load,

 Spacing of teeth is lees critical since the ROP is reduced and

the cuttings tend to be smaller.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure: Comparison;

Soft = = = = = = = = = = ==> Hard

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

 The cutting structure for insert bits follows the same pattern as for
milled tooth bits,

 Long chisel shaped inserts are required for soft formation,

 Short inserts are used for hard formation bits,

 There is little change in the cutting structure of an insert bit due to

wear. This allows an insert bit to be used over a wider range of
formation types than is usually impossible for a milled tooth bit.

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

Soft Formation Inserts

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

Medium Formation Inserts

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

Hard Formation Inserts

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

Cutter Hardfacing

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Cutting Structure:

Gauge Protection

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Fluid Circulation:

Jet Nozzle

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 Drill Bit Design
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Fluid Circulation:

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;
 Cutter Material:
 The cutter material are formed with high pressure and
temperature process,
 The first stage in the process is to manufacture artificial
diamond crystals,
 The second stage is to mix the artificial diamond crystals with
catalyst/binder in a temperature exceeding 1400oC and
pressure of 750,000 psi.

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;
 Cutter Material:

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;
 Bit Body Material:

Steel Body
High Precision,
Simple Repair,
Rapid manufacture

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;
 Bit Body Material:

Tungsten Carbide Matrix

Erosion Resistant

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;
 Cutter Rake:

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;
 Profile:

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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;

 Cutter Density:

 This is a compromise between reducing the amount of load per

cutter by increasing the number of cutters and yet keeping the
number of cutters small enough to allow efficient cleaning of
the face of the bit,

 Cutter Exposure:
 This is important to ensure good cleaning of the bit face,
 Full exposure provides more space between the bit body and
the formation,
 Partial exposure provide good back-up therefore support the
cutters.
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 Drill Bit Design
 PDC Bits;

 Fluid Circulation:

 Circulation across the bit face must be designed to remove

the cuttings efficiently and also cool the bit face,

 These requirements may be satisfied by increasing the fluid

flowrate,

 The increased fluid flowrate may however cause excessive

erosion of the face and premature bit failure.

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 Drill Bit Selection
 Roller Cone Bits;
 In order to select the best bit for a particular application,
comparison charts are often used,
 These charts contain bit availability from the major
suppliers,
 They have been designed in accordance with the IADC,
 The position of each bit in the chart is defined by three
numbers and one character,
 The sequence of numeric characters defines the following:
 Series,
 Types,
 Bearing Features.
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 Drill Bit Selection
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Series:
 Series 1-3 apply to milled tooth bits and classified as soft,
medium or hard,
 Series 4-8 apply to insert bits and are classified as soft,
medium, hard and extra hard.
 Types:
 Each series is divided into 4 types according to the hardness
application of the bit,
 For example type 3 is harder bit than a type 2 within the
same series

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 Drill Bit Selection
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Bearing Features:
There are slight variation in the categories depending on the
comparison chart used for example:
“1” Means a standard roller bearing,
“2” Means air cooled roller bearing,
“3” Means a roller bearing bit with gauge protection,
“4” Means sealed roller bearings are included,
“5” Means both sealed roller bearings and gauge protection included,
“6” Means sealed friction bearing included,
“7” Means both sealed friction bearings and gauge protection
included.

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 Drill Bit Selection – comparison chart

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 Drill Bit Selection
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Additional Design Features:

 This character is used to define additional features of the bit

for example:

 If a bit is classified as 1-2-4-E, this means the bit is a soft

formation milled tooth bit with sealed roller and extended
nozzles.

 The term soft , medium and hard are very broad

categorization of the geological strata.

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 Drill Bit Selection
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Formation Types:

 Soft Formations:
 Unconsolidated clays and sands and large flowrate
recommended (500-800 GPM),
 The can be drilled with low WOB (3000 - 5000 lbs/in of bit
diameter) and high RPM (125-250),

 Medium Formations:
 This may include shale, gypsum, shaley lime, sand and
Siltstone,
 Generally low WOB (3000 - 6000 lbs/in of bit diameter and (100
- 150 RPM.
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 Drill Bit Selection
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Formation Types:
 Hard Formations:
 This may include limestone, anhydrite, hard sandstone and
dolomite,
 High WOB may be required (6000-10000 lbs/in of bit diameter),
 A slower RPM (40 - 100 ) this slower RPM is to help
grinding/crushing action.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 Why Evaluation?
 As each bit is pulled out from the hole, its physical
appearance is inspected and graded according to the wear
it has sustained,

 The evaluation is useful for the following reasons:

 Improve bit type selection,

 Identify the affect of drilling parameters,

 Gain experience on bit life and when to pull before

failure,

 Evaluate bit performance and help their design.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 Why Evaluation?

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 IADC Dull Grading System:
 Column 1- Inner Cutting Structure (I):

 Report the condition of the cutting structure on the inner

2/3rds of the bit for roller cone bits and inner 2/3rds radius of
a fixed cutter bit,

 Column 2 - Outer cutting Structure (O):

 This report the condition of the cutting structure on the outer

1/3rd of the bit for roller cone and outer 1/3rd radius of a
fixed cutter bit.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 IADC Dull Grading System:
 Column 2 - Outer cutting Structure (O):

 In column 1 and 2 a liner scale from 0 to 8 is used to

describe the condition of the cutting structure as follows:
 Steel Tooth Bits: a measure of the lost tooth height,
 0 - indicates no lost in tooth height,

 8 - indicates total loss of tooth height.

 Insert Bits: a measure of total cutting structure reduction due to

lost, worn and/or broken inserts:
 0 - indicates no lost in tooth height,

 8 - indicates total loss of tooth height.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 IADC Dull Grading System:
 Column 2 - Outer cutting Structure (O):

 Fixed Cutter: a measure of the cutting structure wear:

 0 - indicates no loss of cutter or diamond height,

 8 - indicates total loss of cutter or diamond height.

 Column 3- Cutting Structure Dull characteristics (D):

 Report the major dull characteristic of the bit cutting
structure.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 IADC Dull Grading System:

 Column 4 - Cutting Structure Location (L):

 Report the location of the face of the bit where the major
cutting structure dulling characteristics occur,
 This may be reported in the form of letter or number code,

 Column 5 - Bearing Condition (B):

 Report the condition of roller cone bits,
 The grading will depend on the type of bit,
 This space will always be occupied by an X for fixed cutter.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 IADC Dull Grading System:

 Column 6 - Gauge (G):

 Report on the gauge of the bit,

 The letter “I” is used if the bit has no gauge reduction,
 If the bit has gauge reduction it is reported in 1/16 of an inch.

 Column 7 - Remarks (O):

 Report any dulling characteristics of the bit in addition to that
reported for the cutting structure in column 3.

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 Drill Bit Evaluation (Dull Grading)
 IADC Dull Grading System:

 Column 8 - Reason for pulling (R):

 Report the reason for pulling out of the hole.

 Generally:
 Part of the bit description in the daily drilling report as Tooth
Bearing & Gauge (T B G),
 For half used rock bit, the description will be [4,4, O 1/16”],
 For fixed cutter and core bits, the description will denote the
percentage recovered (e.g. Rec. 80%).

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Bit performance is judged on:
 How much footage it drilled,
 How fast it drilled (ROP),
 How much it cost to run ( the capital cost of the bit plus
the operating costs of running it in the hole) per foot of
hole drilled.
 The best method of assessing bit performance is by
the cost:

C = Overall cost $/ft,

C 
Cb  ( Rt  T t ) Cr Cb = Bit cost ($),
Rt = Rotating hrs,
F Tt = Round trip time hrs,
Cr = Rig spread cost ($)
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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bit:
 Penetration rate is function of many parameters including:

 WOB,

 RPM,

 Mud properties,

 Hydraulic efficiency.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Weight on Bit:

 WOB is required to overcome the compressibility of the

formation,
 Once this threshold is exceeded, penetration rate increases
with WOB,
 WOB Limitations:
 Hydraulic Horsepower (HHP) at the bit: If HHP at bit is not
sufficient, the ROP is reduced by:

 Bit Balling: Where the grooves between the teeth of the

bit are clogged by formation cuttings (mostly in soft
formation).
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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Weight on Bit:
 WOB Limitations:

 Bottomhole Balling: Where the hole gets clogged-up with fine

particles (occurs mostly with grinding action of hard formation bits).

 The HHP at the bit is calculated by:

Pb . Q Q = Flowrate (gpm),
HHPb  Pb = Pressure drop across the bit (psi),
1714

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Weight on Bit:

High HHP @ Bit

ROP Medium HHP @ Bit
Low HHP @ Bit

WOB
ROP vs. Hole Cleaning

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Weight on Bit:
 WOB Limitations:

 Formation Types: WOB is limited in soft formation where

excessive weight will only bury the teeth into the rock and
cause an increased torque with no ROP increase.

 Hole Deviation: In some areas WOB will produce bending in

the drillstring leading to crooked hole. The drillstring should be
properly stabilized to prevent this happening.

 Bearing Life: the greater the load on the bearings, the shorter
their operational hours. WOB must be balanced against bearing
life.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Weight on Bit:
 WOB Limitations:

 Tooth Life: In hard formations, with larger compressive

strength, excessive WOB will cause the teeth to break. This
may be sign that a bit with shorter, more closely packed teeth
or inserts is required. The last resort is to use either diamond or
PDC bits.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Rotary Speed:

 The rotary speed will depend on time taken for an individual

tooth to exceed the threshold, penetrate and remove the
cuttings. The RPM applied to the bit will be function of:
 Type of Bit: In general, lower RPMs are used for insert bits
than for milled tooth bits. This is to allow the inserts more time
to penetrate the formation. The insert crushes a wedge of rock
and then forms a crack which loosens the fragment of rock.

 Type of Formations: Harder formations are less easily

penetrated and so require low RPM. A high RPM may cause
damage to the bit or the drillstring.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Rotary Speed:

Soft Formation
ROP Hard Formation

RPM
ROP vs. RPM

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;

 Mud Properties:

 In order to prevent an influx of formation fluids into the

wellbore, mud hydrostatic pressure should be slightly higher
(safety margin),

 The overbalance forces the liquid part of the mud into the
formation and deposit the solids part as filter cake,

 In porous formation this will lead to a thick plaster being

formed which prevents any further entry of fluids to the
formations,

 this also happens at the bottom of the hole where plaster

affects cutting removal.
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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Mud Properties:
 When the tooth penetrates the surface, the compressive strength
of the rock is exceeded, cracks develop which loosen small
fragments or chips from the formation,

 The plastering effect covers up the cracks and prevents mud

pressure being exerted below the chip,

 The differential pressure on the chip therefore is tending to keep

the chip against the formation,

 This is known as the Static Chip Hold down Effect and leads to
lower ROP.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Mud Properties:
 To reduce the hold down effect:

 Reduce the safety margin (within acceptable level to prevent a

kick),

 Reduce the solids content (both clays and drilled solids. Solids
removal is essential to increase drilling efficiency.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Mud Properties:

HP

Tooth
Chip

Pore
Pressure

Static Chip Hold Down Effect

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Mud Properties:
 Dynamic chip hold down effect is not significant since the
filter cake is much thinner,

 The hold down may occur when cracks form around the chip,
mud enters the cracks to equalize the pressure,

 In doing so pressure drop is created which tends to hold the

chip against the bottom of the hole,

 In general both static and dynamic hold down effects cause

bit balling and hence reduce the ROP.

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 Drill Bit Performance
 Roller Cone Bits;
 Mud Properties:

Tooth
Chip

Cracks

Dynamic Chip Hold Down Effect

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 Drill Bit Performance
 PDC Bits:
 WOB/RPM:
 The basic trend is that PDC bits drill faster with low WOB
and high RPM,
 They also require higher RPM than roller cone bits,
 The general recommendation is that the highest RPM that
can be achieved should be used
 PDC bits drill with more torque and RPM than roller cone
bits. And the WOB should be sufficient enough to avoid
premature failure.
 Generally, When RPM is increased WOB should be reduced.

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 Drill Bit Technology
 Now YOU should be able to:
 Identify different bit types,
 Describe various process of bit design with respect to
roller cone bits and PDC bits,
 Select bits for various formation types and drilling
conditions,
 Grade bits using the IADC Dull Grading System,
 Utilize the IADC code to describe and compare bits,
 Identify important operational aspects that effect bit
performance.

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