Bottom hole assembly for deploying an expandable liner in a wellbore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9470059-B2
Application number	US-201213565247-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2012
Priority date	Sep 20, 2011
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A bottom hole assembly carrying an expandable tubular is disposed in a portion of a wellbore having a lost circulation zone, and the tubular is radially expanded to isolate the wellbore from the formation across the lost circulation zone. The expandable tubular is made up of a rolled up sheet like member and mounts along the outer periphery of a portion of the bottom hole assembly. A bladder on the bottom hole assembly is inflated for expanding the tubular radially outward against the wellbore wall. A drill bit and underreamer are included with the bottom hole assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bottom hole assembly for remediating a fissure in a wall of a wellbore comprising:
a mandrel having an upper end selectively connected to a drill string and a lower end coupled with a drill bit;
a channel axially projecting through the drill string and the mandrel;
a tubular seal comprising a solid planar member that is spiral wound into a tubular roll and that is mounted on the mandrel that is rotatable with respect to the mandrel;
a means for mounting the roll to the mandrel comprises upper and lower running tools set on the mandrel at opposing ends of the roll, the upper and lower running tools each having an end plate mounted on the mandrel;
shear pins selectively rotatingly coupling the end plates to the mandrel;
end mounts engaging distal ends of the roll that rotate with the roll;
a thrust bearing disposed between each adjacent end mount and end plate so that the end mounts are rotatable with respect to each adjacent end plate; and
a selectively inflatable bladder mounted on the mandrel in a position circumscribed by the tubular seal and that projects radially outward in response to an increase of pressure in an annular space between the bladder and the mandrel to radially expand the tubular seal outward and into sealing engagement with an inner surface of the wall of the wellbore.

2. The bottom hole assembly of claim 1 , wherein more than one layer is formed along a radius of the tubular seal by rolling the planar member into a tubular roll.

3. The bottom hole assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an under reamer assembly that includes cutters for excavating a wider diameter wellbore than the drill bit.

4. The bottom hole assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a bladder inflation system comprising a sleeve in the channel that is axially moveable from a blocking position that blocks flow from within the channel to the annular space to an open position that communicates flow from within the channel to the annular space.

5. The bottom hole assembly of claim 4 , further comprising a port projecting through a sidewall of the mandrel, wherein the sleeve is between the port and the channel when in the blocking position and wherein a terminal end of the sleeve is offset from a path between the port and the channel when in the open position.

6. A method of treating a lost circulation zone in a wellbore comprising:
providing a drill string comprising;
a drill bit on an end of drill pipe,
a mandrel,
a tubular that circumscribes the mandrel and that is formed by rolling a solid planar member so that the tubular has a spiraling cross section of multiple layers of the planar member,
an upper running tool on the mandrel at an end of the tubular and having an end plate attached to the mandrel with a shear pin,
a lower running tool on the mandrel at an end of the tubular opposite from the upper running tool, and having an end plate attached to the mandrel with a shear pin,
end mounts engaging opposing ends of the tubular,
a thrust bearing between each adjacent end mount and end plate, so that the end mounts rotate with rotation of the tubular;

excavating in the wellbore with the drill string;
disposing the tubular in the wellbore adjacent the lost circulation zone; and
rotating one of the upper or lower running tools with respect to the other to radially expand the tubular radially outward into sealing engagement with a wall of the wellbore adjacent the lost circulation zone thereby forming a seal between the lost circulation zone and wellbore.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising further excavating the wellbore at a location past the lost circulation zone.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein winding the planar sheet into the tubular defines multiple layers of the member that are disposed along a radius of the tubular.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising underreaming the wellbore adjacent the lost circulation zone.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein rolling the planar member so that the tubular has a spiraling cross section of multiple layers of the planar member forms internal stresses in the planar member, the method further comprising maintaining the internal stresses within the tubular to store a potential force in the planar member.

11. A bottom hole assembly comprising:
a mandrel insertable in a wellbore;
an inflatable bladder mounted on the mandrel; and
a radially expandable roll that comprises a solid planar member that is wound into a tubular configuration to have a spiral cross section with multiple layers, and that is mounted on the mandrel and circumscribing the bladder, so that when the bladder is inflated the bladder extends outward into contact against the roll to unwind the roll and expand the tubular roll radially outward to isolate flow between the wellbore and a formation around the wellbore;
a fastener that radially intersects more than one of the layers and maintains the solid planar tubular member wound into the tubular configuration; and
a means for mounting the roll to the mandrel that comprises upper and lower running tools set on the mandrel at opposing ends of the roll, the upper and lower running tools each comprising an end plate mounted on the mandrel, shear pins selectively rotatingly coupling the end plates to the mandrel, end mounts engaging distal ends of the roll that rotate with the roll, a thrust bearing disposed between each adjacent end mount and end plate so that the end mounts are rotatable with respect to each adjacent end plate.

12. The bottom hole assembly of claim 11 , further comprising a drill bit on an end of the mandrel and an underreamer mounted on the mandrel.

13. The bottom hole assembly of claim 11 , wherein when the planar member is wound into the tubular configuration, the planar configuration defines layers that make up the spiral cross section, the bottom hole assembly further comprising a retainer to keep the roll in an unexpanded configuration and that consists of an element selected from the group consisting of a fastener that radially intersects more than one of the layers, a belt that circumscribes the roll, and combinations thereof.

14. The bottom hole assembly of claim 11 , further comprising bearings between the end mounts and the mandrel.

15. The bottom hole assembly of claim 11 , further comprising a means for inflating the bladder that comprises a sleeve axially moveable within an axial bore in the mandrel from a first position to a second position, wherein when the sleeve is in the first position the sleeve blocks communication between the axial bore in the mandrel and ports formed through a sidewall of the mandrel, where the ports extend radially between the axial bore in the mandrel and an annulus formed between an outer surface of the mandrel and inner surface of the bladder, and wherein when the sleeve is in the second position, at least a part of one of the ports is in communication with the axial bore in the mandrel.

16. The bottom hole assembly of claim 11 , wherein the roll comprises more than one layer along a radius of the roll, and wherein the more than one layer exists along the radius of the roll when the tubular roll is in a retracted mode and exists when the tubular roll is in a deployed mode.

17. The bottom hole assembly of claim 11 , wherein the number of layers along the radius of the roll when the roll is in the deployed mode is less than the number of layers along the radius of the roll when the roll is in the retracted mode.

Assignees

• Zhou Shaohua
• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Zhou Shaohua

Classifications

• E21B33/127 Primary

  with inflatable sleeve (E21B33/122, E21B33/124 take precedence) · CPC title

• E21B43/108

  Expandable screens or perforated liners · CPC title

• E21B43/10

  Setting of casings, screens, liners {or the like} in wells · CPC title

• E21B23/04

  operated by fluid means, e.g. actuated by explosion (E21B23/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B21/003

  Means for stopping loss of drilling fluid (plastering the borehole wall E21B33/138) · CPC title