Mud settlement detection technique by non-destructive ultrasonic measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9719965-B2
Application number	US-201514907982-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2015
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods of determining settlement characteristics of a drilling mud are disclosed. Conditions under which heavier elements of the drilling mud settle under the influence of gravity can be determined. Samples of drilling mud can be placed in testing cells, and ultrasonic test pulses can be transmitted through the samples. Responses to the test pulses can be detected and compared to other responses detected at different vertical positions within the testing cell. Settlement can be detected when the responses from different vertical positions are generally dissimilar. An environmental temperature of the testing cell can be changed over a testing time interval, and a settlement temperature can be determined by detecting a divergence in the responses from different vertical positions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of characterizing settlement characteristics of a drilling mud, the method comprising:
disposing a sample of the drilling mud in an aging cell such that he sample of the drilling mud extends along a vertical axis of the aging cell;
imparting a plurality of main pulses of energy to the sample of drilling mud, wherein each of the main pulses of energy is spaced over a testing time interval;
recording upper responses and lower responses to the main pulses of energy from respective upper and lower vertical positions along the vertical axis, wherein the upper vertical position is disposed above the lower vertical position;
determining that a first upper response and a first lower response recorded first response time within the testing interval are generally equivalent; and
determining that a second upper response and a second lower response recorded at a second response time within the testing interval subsequent to the first response time are generally dissimilar; and
estimating a settlement time, based on the first response time and the second response time, at which settlement of heavier elements of the sample of drilling mud settle toward the lower vertical position.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing an environmental temperature of the drilling mud along a predetermined schedule for the testing interval and determining a settlement temperature based on the settlement time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein imparting the plurality of main pulses of energy to the sample of drilling mud comprises imparting acoustic test pulses to the sample of drilling mud.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein recording upper responses and lower responses comprises recording acoustic transducer response signatures received by acoustic transducers disposed at the upper and lower vertical positions.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising selecting a monitoring window from within a resonance portion of the acoustic transducer response signatures following a main pulse portion of the acoustic transducer response signature, and comparing the acoustic transducer response signatures within the monitoring window to determine that the second upper response and the second lower response are generally dissimilar.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein comparing the acoustic transducer response signatures comprises comparing at least one of the group consisting of frequency, propagation speed, wavelength, amplitude power and intensity of the acoustic transducer response signatures.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein recording upper responses and lower responses comprises recording transducer response signatures received by upper and lower transducers supported by the aging cell spaced vertically from one another along the vertical axis.

8. A method of characterizing settlement characteristics of a drilling mud, the method comprising:
disposing a sample of the drilling mud in an aging cell such that the sample of the drilling mud extends along a vertical axis of the aging cell;
changing an environmental temperature of the drilling mud along a predetermined schedule over a testing time interval;
imparting a plurality of main pulses of energy to the sample of drilling mud, wherein each the main pulses of energy is spaced over the testing time interval;
recording upper responses and lower responses to the main pulses of energy from respective upper and lower vertical positions along the vertical axis, wherein the upper vertical position is disposed above the lower vertical position; and
determining a settlement temperature along the predetermined schedule at which settlement of heavier elements of the sample of drilling mud settle toward the lower vertical position by determining a time within the testing time interval at which the upper responses and lower responses recorded generally diverge.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined schedule comprises an initial constant temperature portion and a subsequent increasing temperature portion.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the settlement temperature is determined to be within the increasing temperature portion of the predetermined schedule.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein recording upper responses and lower responses comprises recording transducer response signatures from upper and lower transducers supported by the aging cell spaced vertically from one another along the vertical axis.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising recording intermediate transducer response signatures from one or more intermediate transducers supported by the aging cell spaced vertically between the upper and lower transducers.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the upper and lower transducers are acoustic transducers, and wherein recording upper responses and lower responses comprises recording acoustic transducer response signatures from the upper and lower transducers.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein imparting a plurality of main pulses of energy to the sample of drilling mud comprises imparting the plurality of main pulses from the upper and lower transducers.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising selecting a monitoring window from within a resonance portion of the acoustic transducer response signatures following a main pulse portion of the acoustic transducer response signatures, and wherein recording upper responses and lower responses to the main pulses comprises recording an ultrasonic parameter of the upper and lower responses from the monitoring window, and wherein the ultrasonic parameter comprises at least one of the group consisting of frequency, propagation speed, wavelength, amplitude power and intensity.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein selecting the monitoring window comprises selecting the monitoring window dependent on an aspect of one or more of the acoustic transducer response signatures.

17. A testing system for characterizing settlement characteristics of a drilling mud, the system comprising:
an aging cell defining a vertical axis therealong;
a plurality of transducers supported by the aging cell and spaced vertically along the vertical axis, the transducers operable to record responses to main pulses of energy imparted to a sample of drilling mud disposed within the aging cell from respective upper and lower vertical positions along the vertical axis; and
a processor coupled to the plurality of transducers and operable to receive the responses from the plurality of transducers;
a heater operably coupled to the processor; and
a non-transitory memory including instructions thereon to cause the heater to change an environmental temperature of the testing cell along a predetermined schedule including an initial constant temperature portion and a subsequent increasing temperature portion, to cause the processor to receive the responses from the plurality of transducers simultaneous with the increasing temperature portion, to compare the responses from the upper and lower vertical positions, and to determine whether the responses from the upper and lower vertical positions are generally equivalent or generally divergent.

18. The testing system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of transducers comprises a plurality of ultrasonic transducers.

19. The testing system of claim 17 , wherein the non-transitory memory further includes instructions to cause the plurality of transducers to impart a plurality of main pulses of energy to the sample of drilling mud spaced over a testing time interval.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Mandal Batakrishna
• Ghosh Shubhajit

Classifications

• G01N2291/02881

  Temperature · CPC title

• G01N29/02 Primary

  Analysing fluids (using acoustic emission techniques G01N29/14 {; constructional or flow details for analysing fluids G01N29/222; optoacoustic fluid cells G01N29/2425}) · CPC title

• G01N2291/02836

  Flow rate, liquid level · CPC title

• G01N29/024 Primary

  by measuring propagation velocity or propagation time of acoustic waves · CPC title

• G01N29/4409

  by comparison · CPC title