15.

Rotary Assemblies - Building Assembly, Holding Assembly and

Dropping Assembly
Rotary Assemblies, as the name suggests, the assemblies which are
driven by rotary table at the surface. Actually these are the bottom
hole assemblies (BHA's) designed to drill a well directionally (build
or hold or drop) without the use of downhole motors.
he designing of the various rotary assemblies is based on the
principle that as we shorten the active length of drill collar, it gives
rise to fulcrum effect (which helps in building), when we increase
the active length of drill collar it gives pendulum effect (which helps
in dropping, condition! optimum "#B) and the combination of the
two principle gives rise to holding.
$arious Rotary Assemblies have been designed till date by placing
stabili%ers at various positions in a BHA and observing the result
thus produced.
Here & am to going to discuss few such Assemblies which are useful
in building, holding and dropping the inclination of a wellbore.
A 'uestion arises here is that when we have downhole motors
easily available, then whats the need of using such old techni'ues (
)o, & should tell you that the #perator companies proving *irection
*rilling )ervice charges for the their tool on either day rate basis or
hourly basis. )ince the rental charges for downhole motors along
with the survey tools (+"*, -"*) becomes a costly affair, rotary
assemblies are prefered after the well is .ic.ed off or after
acheiving a desired tra/ectory.
&ts all upto you to decide whether at a prevailing situation the
Rotary Assembly would be more cost effective or a downhole
motor (
0igure below shows some of the common rotary assemblies
currently being used !
Building, Holding and *ropping Assemblies
-ets .ic. off our discussion with Building Assembly ..
BUILDING ASSEMBLY
As said above, building assembly works on fulcrum principle.
&t is used after the well is .ic.ed off using a deflection tool to
eliminate the use of e1pensive downhole mud motors.
Here we use a near bit stabilizer which acts as a pivot or fulcrum for
the lever. he drill collar portion above the near bit stabilizer to the
first point of contact with the lower side of the wellbore acts as
lever.
As we apply "#B, the bit is pressed towards the high side of the
hole due to fulcrum effect and thus increases the inclination.
2ow, here is something interesting ! As we increase the "#B, there
is bending of drill collar and the first contact point of drill string
above the stabili%er with wellbore slides downwards. his results in
decrease in lever length or 3a decrease in active drill collar length3.
As & have discussed above, as the active drill collar length reduces,
it increases the fulcrum effect and thus we get higher building rate.
hus, an additional string stabili%er can be used to reduce the
length of lever and hence increasing the build rate.
he addition of stabili%ers other then the near bit stabili%er (2B))
modifies the build rate to match the re'uired well tra/ectory.
Assemblies A and B respond well in soft or medium formations.
he inclusion of an undergauge stabili%er in assembly 4 will build
slightly less angle. By bringing the second stabili%er closer to the
near5bit stabili%er, the building tendency is increased.
&n hard abrasive roc.s, the problems of bit wear are significant.
o maintain gauge hole, the near5bit and second stabili%er should be
replaced by roller reamers.
he build rate should be .ept below 67 per 899 ft to reduce the ris.
of dog5legs.
he amount of "#B applied to these assemblies will also affect their
building characteristics.
oo much "#B will cause rapid build5up of angle.
ypical building assemblies (A,B,4) are shown in the figure above.
NOTE : 30 FEET = 1 SINGLE OF DRILL COLLAR
HOLDING ASSEMBLY OR PACKED ASSEMBLY
he holding or pac.ed assembly uses pac.ed hole stabili%ation
principle to maintain the inclination and direction.
#nce the inclination has been built to the re'uired angle, the
tangential section of the well is drilled using a holding assembly #R
pac.ed assembly. he ob/ect here is to reduce the tendency of the
BHA to build or drop angle. Actually this is dificcult to acheive, since
formation effects and gravity may alter the hole angle.
he pac.ed BHA relies on the principle that two points will contact
and follow a sharp curve, while three points will follow a straight
line as shown below !
wo :oint contact hree :oint
4ontact
o eliminate building and dropping tendencies, stabili%ers should be
placed at close intervals, using pony collars if necessary.
Assembly * in figure above has been used successfully in soft
formations.
he undergauge stabili%er in assembly ; builds slightly to counter
gravity.
&n harder formations the near5bit stabili%er is replaced by a reamer.
<enerally only three stabili%ers should be used, unless differential
stic.ing is e1pected.
4hanges in "#B will not affect the directional behaviour of this
type of assembly, and so optimum "#B can be applied to achieve
ma1imum penetration rates.
2ote ! A pac.ed hole assembly with several stabili%ers should not be
run immediately after a downhole motor run.
DROPPING ASSEMBLY OR PENDULUM ASSEMBLY
As & said earlier, *ropping Assemblies are based on pendulum
principle. he pendulum techni'ue is used to drop angle especially
on high angle wells where it is usually very easy to drop angle.he
pendulum techni'ue relies on the principle that the force of gravity
can be used to deflect the hole bac. to vertical.
&n directional wells, only an ) shape profile re'uires a planned drop
in angle. he other application of a dropping assembly is when the
inclination has been increased beyond the intended tra/ectory and
must be reduced to bring the well bac. on course.
&t is best to drop angle in a section of softer formation, since the
response to a pendulum type assembly in hard roc. is very slow.
0igure above gives some typical dropping assemblies (0 and <).
hese are more effective in high5angled holes. &f hole angle does
not reduce, the "#B can be reduced, although this will also reduce
the penetration rate.
BLOG ENDS
Posted by Deepak Choudhary at 3:29:00 PM
Labels: Building Assembly Dire!tional Drilling Dropping Assembly "ul!rum
#$$e!t %olding Assembly Pendulum #$$e!t &otary Assemblies