f Determination of Cuttings Transport Properties of Aerated Drilling Fluids

Two-phase (water-gas or water-cuttings) and three-phase (water-gas-cuttings) flow is studied in eccentric annular pipes. An annular pipe configuration with rotating inner pipe at different controllable speeds under different inclination angles is used. Experiments using different inclinations are implemented; flow videos, pressure drop values are collected. Liquid, gas flow rate, pipe inclination angles, cuttings penetration rate, inner pipe rotation speed are controllable parameters. Different flow patterns, liquid holdup, pressure drop, cuttings concentration and cuttings speed values are measured using different input values. Appropriate empiric and mechanistic models are developed. Also, a novel approach different than most studies in the literature is used by obtaining all mentioned flow properties except pressure drop by using flow images through implementing image processing techniques. There is a lack of research in literature for inclined annular pipe experiments for flow patterns identification, liquid holdup estimation, cuttings concentration estimation, cuttings transport characteristics using image processing models. The experimental data is tested using the models developed in this study, provided in literature, and some artificial intelligence techniques. Developed models had good overall performances.