Study on Wellbore Stability of Shallow Sediments in Deepwater Drilling
Method: In this paper, the shallow formation around the borehole is divided into plastic zone and elastic zone considering it under nonuniform in-situ stress. The collapse pressure formula of shallow formation is derived by taking the shrinkage rate of the borehole as the instability criterion. The fracturing pressure calculation model of shallow sediment under non-uniform in-situ stress is derived by combining the theory of excess pore pressure and hydraulic fracturing.
Experimental Evaluation of Separation Methods for a Riser Dilution Approach to Dual Density Drilling
A dual gradient, deepwater drilling system based on dilution of riser mud requires economically separating the riser mud into a low density dilution fluid and a higher density drilling fluid. This study investigated the practicality of accomplishing this separation using hydrocyclones and centrifuges and examined the possible benefits and efficiency of each. The separation experiments were conducted using a laboratory centrifuge and 2 inch hydrocyclones. The laboratory centrifuge was able to separate the riser mud into near ideal densities for dilution and drilling fluid. However, the dense slurry retained in the centrifuge had lower emulsion stability than the feed stream. The hydrocyclones achieved much less contrast in density between the low and high density discharges, but consistently resulted in a beneficial increase in the stability of the mud emulsion in all of the flow streams and had more desirable rheological properties. A qualitative comparison indicates that the hydrocyclone separation system may offer a feasible and desirable alternative to centrifuge separation system.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Routine quantitative phase analysis of niobium-bearing lateritic ores
Routine quantitative analyses by Rietveld full-pattern fitting have been carried out on more than one thousand niobium ore samples originating from four pyrochlore deposits: Lueshe and Bingo (D.R. Congo), Mabounie (Gabon), and Sokli (Finland). The ore samples were characterized by a highly variable mineral content, the presence of mineral phases with a wide range of compositions and a high amorphous content. An analytical procedure was established which addressed several problems: creation of an appropriate crystallographic parameter database, specimen preparation, check for preferred orientation and measurement of the amorphous content by the internal standard method.