Systems and methods for monitoring and validating cementing operations using connection flow monitor (CFM) systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10125569-B2
Application number	US-201314648491-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2013
Priority date	Jan 28, 2013
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A fluid monitoring system comprises a data acquisition and control interface and one or more fluid measurement devices communicatively coupled to the data acquisition and control interface. The one or more fluid measurement devices are configured to detect amounts of fluids pumped into or exiting the well bore during cementing. The data acquisition and control interface receives a first set of data comprising calculated volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids exiting a model well bore over a predetermined period of time based in part on a heat of reaction produced by the curing of a cement composition, and a second set of data comprising volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids pumped into or exiting the well bore from the one or more fluid measurement devices. The data acquisition and control interface uses the first and second sets of data received to determine one or more characteristics of the cement composition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fluid monitoring system comprising:
a data acquisition and control interface; and
one or more fluid measurement devices communicatively coupled to the data acquisition and control interface that are configured to detect amounts of fluids pumped into or exiting a well bore;
wherein the data acquisition and control interface receives a first set of data comprising calculated volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids exiting a model well bore over a predetermined period of time based in part on a heat of reaction produced by the curing of a cement composition, and a second set of data comprising measured volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids pumped into or exiting the well bore from the one or more fluid measurement devices; and
wherein the data acquisition and control interface compares the first and second sets of data received to determine one or more characteristics of the cement composition.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data acquisition and control interface is communicatively coupled to an external communications interface that permits data from the data acquisition and control interface to be remotely accessed by a remote information handling system communicatively coupled to the external communications interface.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first set of data comprises a reference curve based on the calculated volumes and/or pressures of the flow of one or more fluids exiting the model well bore.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the reference curve includes one or more markers indicating one or more points in time at which the monitoring step may be stopped.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a choke to regulate the volumes and/or pressures of the flow of one or more fluids to a set point, and wherein the first set of data comprises a reference curve based on the choke position.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the cement composition comprises one or more of whether at least a portion of the cement composition has cured, the location of the cement composition in the well bore, and the height of a cement column.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data acquisition and control interface uses the first and second sets of data received to further detect downhole phenomena, and wherein the downhole phenomena includes one or more of channeling, washouts, and/or borehole enlargement.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data acquisition and control interface accesses the first and second sets of data from a remote location.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more fluid measurement devices comprises one or more of the following devices: acoustic sensors, nuclear sensors, coriolis meters, doppler radar, vortex flow meters or sensors, calorimetric flow meters or sensors, magnetic flow meters or sensors, electromagnetic meters or sensors, differential pressure meters or sensors, and open channel meters or sensors.

10. A method for obtaining information about a cement composition in a well bore penetrating a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
providing a first set of data that comprises calculated volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids exiting a model well bore over a predetermined period of time based in part on a heat of reaction produced by the curing of the cement composition;
monitoring a second set of data that comprises measured volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids exiting a well bore over a predetermined period of time wherein a cement composition is present in the well bore;
comparing the first set of data to the second set of data; and
determining one or more characteristics of the cement composition based in part on the comparison of the first and second sets of data.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first set of data further comprises a reference curve based on the calculated volumes and/or pressures of the flow of one or more fluids exiting the model well bore.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the reference curve comprises one or more markers indicating one or more points in time at which the monitoring step may be stopped.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first set of data comprises a reference curve based on the position of a choke used to regulate the volumes and/or pressures of the flow of one or more fluids to a set point.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the monitoring, comparing, and determining steps are performed substantially in real-time.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first set of data is further based on a change in temperature of the cement composition.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the fluids exiting a well bore comprise fluids introduced into the well bore during a subterranean operation.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising accessing the first and second sets of data from a remote location.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the cement composition comprises one or more of whether at least a portion of the cement composition has cured, the location of the cement composition in the well bore, and the height of a cement column.

19. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of detecting downhole phenomena based in part on the comparison of the first and second sets of data, and wherein the downhole phenomena includes one or more of channeling, washouts, and/or borehole enlargement.

20. A method of cementing comprising:
introducing a pipe string into a well bore such that an annular space is defined between the pipe string and a wall of the well bore;
introducing a cement composition into the annular space;
introducing one or more fluids into the well bore;
providing a first set of data that comprises calculated volumes and/or pressures of a flow of one or more fluids exiting a model well bore over a predetermined period of time based in part on a heat of reaction produced by the curing of the cement composition;
monitoring a second set of data that comprises measured volumes and/or pressures of a flow of the one or more fluids exiting the well bore over a predetermined period of time wherein the cement composition is present in the well bore;
comparing the first set of data to the second set of data; and
determining one or more characteristics of the cement composition based in part on the comparison of the first and second sets of data.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Marland Christopher
• Mitchell Ian
• Lovorn James Randolph

Classifications

• E21B33/14 Primary

  for cementing casings into boreholes · CPC title

• E21B47/005

  Monitoring or checking of cementation quality or level · CPC title

• E21B47/10

  Locating fluid leaks, intrusions or movements · CPC title

• E21B47/0005

  Fixed Constructions · mapped topic