Time/amplitude domain reflectometry as a technique for measurement of surface wettability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017292902-A1
Application number	US-201415516660-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 13, 2014
Priority date	Nov 13, 2014
Publication date	Oct 12, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A surface wettability measurement method for determining the surface wettability of a surface for operations that require the removal of oil-based fluid such as cementing operations in an oil/gas environment. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements are used to measure the wettability in a wellbore downhole during operations or in a lab environment when fluid flow is present. A surface wettability measurement system for determining the surface wettability of a surface located either in a wellbore downhole or in a laboratory setting using time domain reflectometry for measurements during operations when fluid flow is present.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A surface wettability measurement method comprising:
providing first and second electrodes on a surface, said electrodes electrically insulated from each other; coating the surface with a first fluid; displacing the first fluid off of the surface using a second fluid; at least once during or after said displacing, sending an electrical pulse to the first and second electrodes and measuring the reflected pulse using time domain reflectometry (TDR) techniques; and determining, based on the reflected pulse, whether the surface has been wetted by the second fluid.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising ceasing said displacing in response to determining that the surface has been wetted.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising increasing the fluid flow rate of the second fluid in response to determining that the surface has not been wetted.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an attribute of the second fluid in response to determining that the surface has not been wetted.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting or updating a displacement time interval in response to determining that the surface has been wetted.

6 . The method according to any one of claims 1 - 5 , further comprising commencing cementing operations in response to determining that the surface has been wetted.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid is oil-based.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second fluid is water-based.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface is part of a surface wettability test apparatus located at the earth's surface.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface is an exterior surface of a casing deployed downhole in a wellbore.

11 . A surface wettability measurement system, comprising:
a first and second electrode integrated with a surface, said electrodes electrically insulated from each other; a signal generator; and a time domain reflectometry (TDR) controller coupled to the first and second electrodes, wherein the TDR controller obtains a TDR measurement while or after a displacing fluid moves over a surface, wherein the TDR measurement indicates a surface wettability of the surface.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the first and second electrodes are positioned along an outside surface of a casing in a downhole environment.

13 . The system of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of electrode pairs positioned along an outside surface of a casing in a downhole environment to enable wettability measurements at multiple positions along the outside surface of the casing.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the surface is a component of a surface wettability test apparatus located at earth's surface.

15 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the test apparatus further includes a rotating bob to cause the displacing fluid to flow across the surface.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the test apparatus further includes a rotating container to cause the displacing fluid to flow across the surface.

17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the test apparatus further includes at least one fluid pump to cause the displacing fluid to flow across the surface.

18 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising a cementing controller that initiates a cementing operation in response to the TDR measurement indicating that the surface has been wetted.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Bardapurkar Sameer
• Palla Venkata Gopala Rao
• Deshpande Abhimanyu Pramod

Classifications

• G01N13/00 Primary

  Investigating surface or boundary effects, e.g. wetting power; Investigating diffusion effects; Analysing materials by determining surface, boundary, or diffusion effects (scanning-probe techniques or apparatus G01Q) · CPC title

• G01N27/221

  by investigating the dielectric properties (using microwaves G01N22/00; measuring loss factors or dielectric constants per se G01R27/26) · CPC title

• E21B47/01

  Devices for supporting measuring instruments on drill bits, pipes, rods or wirelines; Protecting measuring instruments in boreholes against heat, shock, pressure or the like · CPC title

• E21B49/003

  by analysing drilling variables or conditions (E21B49/005 takes precedence; systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions E21B44/00) · CPC title