Magnetorheological fluids and methods of using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10836949-B2
Application number	US-201414329436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2014
Priority date	Jul 11, 2014
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

Described herein are methods of cementing at least a portion of a well comprising feeding a magnetorheological cementitious slurry to a well and applying a magnetic field to the magnetorheological cementitious slurry concurrent with at least a portion of said feeding step to cause a mechanical response in said magnetorheological cementitious slurry in the well. Also disclosed herein are methods of temporarily blocking at least a portion of a well comprising providing a magnetorheological fluid in a well, applying a magnetic field to cause a mechanical response in said magnetorheological fluid thereby blocking at least a portion of the well, and removing the magnetic field to unblock the portion of the well. Also disclosed herein is a magnetorheological cement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of cementing at least a portion of a well, comprising the steps of:
feeding a magnetorheological cementitious slurry to a well including a casing, a wellbore, and an annulus between the casing and the wellbore, wherein said magnetorheological cementitious slurry comprises a hydraulic cement and a plurality of magnetic particles, and wherein the concentration of the magnetic particles in the magnetorheological cementitious slurry is from 30 to 80 percent by weight of cement;
moving the magnetorheological cementitious slurry through the annulus; and
controlling, using an electromagnet disposed in the casing, a magnetic field strength applied to the magnetorheological cementitious slurry moving through the annulus, wherein the applied magnetic field strength is selected from at least two different non-zero magnetic field strength values to selectively alter at least one of a viscosity and a yield strength of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry, wherein the magnetic field strength is from 0.01 to 1 Tesla.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength comprises increasing the magnetic field strength to increase the viscosity of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry thereby resulting in blocking at least a portion of the annulus.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength comprises increasing the magnetic field strength to direct the magnetorheological cementitious slurry to a location within the annulus to thereby block at least a portion of the annulus.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength comprises increasing the magnetic field strength to increase the yield strength of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength comprises increasing the magnetic field strength to direct the magnetorheological cementitious slurry to a location within the annulus to thereby displace at least one of a drilling fluid and a spacer fluid in the annulus.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic particles have a mean minimum dimension of from 2 μm to 200 μm.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic particles comprise magnetic fibers.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the magnetic fibers have a mean length of from 1 mm to 20 mm.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the magnetic particles in the magnetorheological cementitious slurry is from 30 percent to 55 percent by weight of cement.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field is a static magnetic field, a rotating magnetic field, an alternating magnetic field, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the magnetorheological cementitious slurry is free of surfactants and binding agents.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength includes:
applying a first magnetic field strength to a first portion of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry moving through the annulus to induce a first viscosity therein; and
applying a second magnetic field strength less than the first magnetic field strength to a second portion of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry moving through the annulus to induce a second viscosity therein, wherein the second viscosity is less than the first viscosity.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first viscosity is greater than or equal to a third viscosity sufficient to block at least a portion of the annulus, wherein the second viscosity is less than the third viscosity, and wherein the second viscosity is greater than or equal to a fourth viscosity sufficient to displace at least one of a drilling fluid and a spacer fluid.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first radial portion of the annulus has a first width and a second radial portion of the annulus has a second width different from the first width, wherein controlling the magnetic field strength comprises applying a first magnetic field strength to the first radial portion and applying a second magnetic field strength greater than the first magnetic field strength to the second radial portion.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength selectively directs a flow of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry away from the first radial portion and toward the second radial portion.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first width is greater than the second width.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the magnetic field strength comprises applying a rotating magnetic field to the magnetorheological cementitious slurry moving through the annulus to induce a radial circulation of the magnetorheological cementitious slurry.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the non-zero magnetic field strength values is generated by a static magnetic field.

Assignees

• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Van Oort Eric
• Cowan Kenneth M
• Nair Sriramya Duddukuri
• Ferron Raissa

Classifications

• E21B33/13 Primary

  Methods or devices for cementing, for plugging holes, crevices or the like · CPC title

• C09K2208/08

  Fiber-containing well treatment fluids · CPC title

• C09K8/032

  Inorganic additives · CPC title

• C09K8/40

  Spacer compositions, e.g. compositions used to separate well-drilling from cementing masses · CPC title

• C09K8/467

  containing additives for specific purposes · CPC title