DrillComputer2 - Drill faster, further and straighter

Oil-well drilling is a very complex operation that includes transferring rotational energy from the surface to the drill bit by the use of a slender pipe that is called a drillstring. In this project we are developing a drillstring simulator that computes all stresses and motions in the drillstring at any time in real-time. This simulator, that is called the DrillComputer, is used together with surface measurements to better interpret the drilling process and therefore improve decision making. Depending on where drilling is performed, the drillstring can be up to 10 kilometers long and have a weight of up to 200 tons. The wellbores can take a variety of geometrical shapes including horizontal wellbores for several kilometers. Even though the drillstring is of solid steel it is very flexible. This is because the thickness to length ratio is at the same level as a human hair. Consequently, in drilling operations vibrations in axial, torsional and lateral directions are often present. These vibrations can cause a variety of problems, such as early bit wear, tool failures and hole integrity problems. In fact it is estimated that about 30 percent of the total time is non productive due to unexpected problems related to the drilling process. The DrillComputer is already adressing problems related to drilling optimization and hole cleaning. It is expected that the DrillComputer will be an important ingredient in any effort for making the drilling process fully automatic.