Browsing by Author "Ferroudji, Hicham"

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3D numerical and experimental modelling of multiphase flow through an annular geometry applied for cuttings transport
(Elsevier, 2022) Ferroudji, Hicham; Rahman, Mohammad Azizur; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Ofei, Titus Ntow; Khaled, Mohamed Shafik; Rushd, Sayeed; Gajbhiye, Rahul Narayanrao
Accurate estimation of volume fraction and pressure gradient is considered indicating parameters of efficient cuttings transportation. It is vital, in this regard, to consider all parameters that can affect cuttings volume fraction and pressure drop during enrollment of the drilling process. The analysis was conducted based on the turbulent flow of a power-law fluid through an annular domain by employing the Finite Volume Method. In addition, dimensional relationships were developed with the Buckingham-π theorem. Before carrying out simulations, the numerical schemes were validated using actual measurements made with the flow loop system available in Texas A&M University at Qatar. The simulation results demonstrated the followings: (i) using a power-law type drilling fluid with a shear-thinning character would reduce energy consumption for an inclination greater than 45°; (ii) inclination angles from 45° to 60° would be least desirable for an effective cuttings transportation with a turbulent Ostwald-de Waele fluid
Diagnosis of a Leaky Pipeline Carrying Multiphase Flow under Plug Flow Conditions
(Avestia Publishing, 2025) Ferroudji, Hicham; Al-Ammari, Wahib A.; Barooah, Abinash; Hassan, Ibrahim; Hassan, Rashid; Hassan, Rashid; Gomari, Sina Rezaei; Rahman, Mohammad Azizur
Multiphase flows are crucial to the oil and gas industry since most petroleum companies produce and transport both gas and oil simultaneously. Pipeline leaks are frequently caused by corrosion, aging, and metal deterioration. After an incident, the energy sector not only loses money but also raises environmental and safety concerns. Therefore, developing a successful tool for instantaneous leakage identification in pipelines becomes crucial. In the current work, a leaky pipeline carrying multiphase flow is numerically simulated using Ansys-Fluent under plug flow conditions. The obtained numerical results were validated against experimental data collected from an experimental setup. After that, Probability Density Function (PDF), Wavelet Transform (WT), and Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) methods were applied to the obtained time series signals. On the other hand, the analysis is complemented by the application of several machine learning models like Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN). For instance, it is observed that the Empirical Mode Decomposition exhibits better performance in leakage identification
Dimensionless data-driven model for optimizing hole cleaning efficiency in daily drilling operations
(2021) Khaled, Mohamed Shafik; Khan, Muhammad Saad; Ferroudji, Hicham; Barooah, Abinash; Rahman, Mohammad Azizur; Hassan, Ibrahim; Hasan, A. Rashid
Poor cuttings transport in deviated wells limit drill rate, induce excessive torque and drag, or in severe cases result in a stuck pipe. This paper presents a generalized data-driven model that utilizes statistical techniques for optimizing hole cleaning efficiency under different drilling conditions in deviated and extended reach wells. For this purpose, the model is constructed based on three approaches including extensive experiments conducted in our flow loop of 5-m horizontal length (4.5in. × 2in.), a validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was developed, and experimental data were collected from the literature to develop a reliable predictive tool that can estimate cuttings concentration in deviated wells. The developed model utilized a non-linear regression method, and was trained with 75% of the gathered data and validated with the remaining 25% to ensure the capability of the proposed model for accurate estimation of cuttings accumulation under different conditions. Unique dimensionless parameters were developed to shift the model results from lab-scale to field-scale applications. Findings revealed that the developed model provides promising results in estimating cuttings accumulation in deviated wells (20–90° from vertical). Predicted points lay in between 30% error margin in most cases, and the relation between estimated and measured cuttings accumulation has an adjusted R2 = 0.9. The proposed model outperforms the Duan, and Song models and introduces new dimensionless parameters to characterize hole cleaning efficiency during daily operations. The developed model proves to be a robust tool for simulating cuttings transport in real-time, monitoring cuttings accumulation, improving drilling efficiency, and avoiding Non-Productive Time (NPT) related to hole cleaning issues
Effect of drill pipe orbital motion on non-Newtonian fluid flow in an eccentric wellbore : a study with computational fluid dynamics
(Springer, 2021) Ferroudji, Hicham; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Ofei, Titus Ntow; Gajbhiye, Rahul Narayanrao; Rahman, Mohammad Azizur; Qureshi, M. Fahed
To ensure an effective drilling operation of an explored well, the associated hydraulics program should be established care- fully based on the correct prediction of a drilling fluid’s pressure drop and velocity field. For that, the impact of the drill string orbital motion should be considered by drilling engineers since it has an important influence on the flow of drilling fluid and cuttings transport process. In the present investigation, the finite volume method coupled with the sliding mesh approach is used to analyze the influence of the inner cylinder orbital motion on the flow of a power-law fluid (Ostwald-de Waele) in an annular geometry. The findings indicate that the orbital motion positively affects the homogeneity of the power- law axial velocity through the entire eccentric annulus; however, this impact diminishes as the diameter ratio increases. In addition, higher torque is induced when the orbital motion occurs, especially for high values of eccentricity and diameter ratio; nonetheless, a slight decrease in torque is recorded when the fluid velocity increases
The effect of orbital motion and eccentricity of drill pipe on pressure gradient in eccentric annulus flow with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids
(Inderscience, 2020) Ferroudji, Hicham; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Ntow Ofei, Titus; Rahman, Mohammad Azizur
The correct prediction of the pressure gradient is the fundamental parameter to establish an effective hydraulics program, which enables an optimised drilling process. In the present work, the effect of the orbital motion of the drill pipe on the pressure drop in an eccentric annulus flow with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids is studied numerically for both laminar and turbulent regimes using finite volume method (FVM). Furthermore, the effect of eccentricity when the inner pipe makes an orbital motion is evaluated. Different behaviours are observed in laminar and turbulent regimes. In the laminar regime, the simulation results showed that an increase of the orbital motion speed causes a considerable increment of the pressure gradient for the Newtonian fluid. For the power-law, non-Newtonian fluid in the laminar regime, on the contrary, a decrease of the pressure gradient is observed due to the shear-thinning effect. In the turbulent regime the mentioned trends are predicted to be much weaker. As eccentricity increases, the pressure drop of the non-Newtonian fluid decreases with a more pronounced diminish in pressure drop when the drill pipe is in orbital motion for both laminar and turbulent flow regimes.
The impact of orbital motion of drill pipe on pressure drop of non-newtonian fluids in eccentric annulus
(Penerbit Akademia Baru, 2020) Ferroudji, Hicham; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Azizur Rahman, Mohammad; Hassan, Ibrahim; NtowOfei, Titus; Haddad, Ahmed
For all drilling operation method used to explore a well, the hydraulics program design associated to the well must be carried out carefully. A wrong estimation of pressure drop of the drilling fluid in the annular space can induce several problems, like: stuck pipe, lost circulation and insufficient hole cleaning. ANSYS Fluent 18.2code based on the finite volume method (FVM) is employed to evaluate the orbital motion impact ofdrill pipe on frictional pressure drop of non-Newtonian fluids (Ostwald-de Waele and Herschel-Bulkley models) flowing in laminar and turbulent regimes where the inner cylinder (drill pipe) makes an orbital motion around the centre of the outer cylinder (casing) and pure rotation around its own axis. Moreover, impact of the eccentricity on frictional pressure drop is discussed. Numerical results exhibit that as the Reynolds number increases, effect of the orbital motion speed of the inner cylinder becomes more severe on frictional pressure drop of the Ostwald-de Waele fluid for laminar regime. However, after a certain speed, frictional pressure drop begins to decrease. In addition, increase of the eccentricity induces a decrease of frictional pressure drop of the Ostwald-de Waele fluid in which this effect is more pronounced when the inner cylinder makes orbital motion for both laminar and turbulent regimes
Modeling surge pressures during tripping operations in eccentric annuli
(Elsevier, 2021) Belimane, Zakarya; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Ferroudji, Hicham; Rahman, Mohammad Azizur; Qureshi, M. Fahed
The aim of this paper is to present a new numerical model to study the drilling fluid flow through eccentric annulus during tripping operations and to investigate the effect of the eccentricity on the annular velocity and apparent viscosity profiles. Many published works studied surge and swab phenomenon using simplified numerical models that do not consider the azimuthal variation of the shear stress in the eccentric annuli. In this paper, the developed numerical model takes into consideration this variation. Non-orthogonal, curvilinear coordinates were used to generate a body-fitted elliptic mesh that maps the irregular complicated eccentric annulus into a simple rectangle where flow equations can be discretized using the finite difference method then solved numerically. Besides, a commercial software (ANSYS Fluent 19R3) was used to support the findings of the numerical model. Results of these models were validated against the experimental data from literature where good agreement was observed with an average relative error of 2.6%, 3.8%, and 6.8% for the three Herschel-Bulkley fluids studied in the eccentric case. The profiles of velocity and viscosity were plotted, the contours showed that we cannot use an average velocity or a single value for the apparent viscosity to describe the drilling fluid flowing through an eccentric annulus, but, the whole profile should be used, instead. The developed numerical model was used in a parametric study to investigate the effect of eccentricity on the relationship between surge pressure and the relevant drilling parameters namely tripping velocity, annular geometry, and fluid rheological properties. The results showed that the eccentricity decreases the surge pressure independently of the previous parameters and that the rate of decrease varies from one parameter to another. The outcome of this parametric study was used to construct a surrogate model using Random Forest Regressor. Predictions from the surrogate model fit the numerical data very well with R-squared of 0.99 and 0.97 for training and test data, respectively
Numerical study of parameters affecting pressure drop of power-law fluid in horizontal annulus for laminar and turbulent flows
(Springer, 2019) Ferroudji, Hicham; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Haddad, Ahmed; Ofei, Titus Ntow
Efficient hydraulics program of oil and gas wells has a crucial role for the optimization of drilling process. In the present paper, a numerical study of power-law fluid flow through concentric (E = 0.0) and eccentric annulus (E = 0.3, E = 0.6 and E = 0.9) was performed for both laminar and turbulent flow regimes utilizing a finite volume method. The effects of inner pipe rotation, flow behavior index and diameter ratio on the pressure drop were studied; furthermore, the appearance and development of secondary flow as well as its impact on the pressure drop gradient were evaluated. Results indicated that the increment of the inner pipe rotation from 0 to 400 rpm is found to decrease pressure drop gradient for laminar flow in concentric annulus while a negligible effect is observed for turbulent flow. The beginning of secondary flow formation in the wide region part of the eccentric annulus (E = 0.6) induces an increase of 9% and a slight increase in pressure drop gradient for laminar and turbulent flow, respectively. On the other hand, the variation of the flow behavior index and diameter ratio from low to high values caused a dramatic increase in the pressure drop. Streamlines in the annulus showed that the secondary flow is mainly induced by eccentricity of the inner pipe where both high values of diameter ratio and low values of flow behavior index tend to prevent the secondary flow to appear
Numerical study of temperature and pressure effects of a yield-power law fluid flow on frictional pressure losses for laminar and turbulent regimes
(Taylor and Francis, 2024) Messaoud, Nadia; Hadjadj, Ahmed; Ferroudji, Hicham
The effective determination of pressure losses depends on accurate knowledge of the drilling fluid rheology. As the fluid circulates deeper around the wellbore, its rheological behavior undergoes significant alterations due to the variations in downhole conditions encountered. The present study investigates the effects of the rheological properties of Yield-power law fluid at various pressures and temperatures on annular pressure losses and velocity profiles. Simulations were performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics to examine the fluid flow in turbulent and laminar regimes. Comparison between numerical, experimental and slot approximation model results showed a good agreement. Results indicated that pressure losses have reduced in both regimes with increasing temperature, at a constant pressure. However the pressure has the opposite effect at a constant temperature. For a drilling fluid flow velocity of 1 m/s, the elevation of temperature from 25 °C to 90 °C, decreases the pressure drop gradient by (31% to 48%) at low and high- pressure conditions respectively. Whereas, the influence of increasing pressure on pressure losses is more apparent at 25 °C. Earlier transition from laminar to turbulent is observed with temperature rise. Therefore, the temperature effect on pressure losses in the turbulent region; is shown for different Generalized Reynolds numbers
Study of Ostwald-de Waele fluid flow in an elliptical annulus using the slot model and the CFD approach
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Ferroudji, Hicham; Hadjadj, A.; Rahman, M.A.; Hassan, I.; Maheshwari, P.; Odan, M.A.
Among consequences that can be induced by a non-uniform distribution of the stress and other causes during the drilling process is the elliptical shape of the well and consideration of this effect would improve the accuracy of the drilling fluid hydrodynamics prediction. In the present work, the elliptical shape of the annular space is simplified to apply the slot model taking into account the rotation of the inner cylinder. Moreover, the Slot model results are compared with the experimental data, as well as, with the CFD outcomes where a reasonable concordance is observed, especially for low ratios of the major and minor semi-axis. Also, the CFD results are validated with the experimental data from the flow loop setup. We concluded that the increase of the major and minor semi-axis ratio of the elliptical annulus results in a linear increase of the Ostwald-de Waele frictional pressure loss in the laminar regime for all considered rotation speeds of the inner cylinder. In addition, the increase of the eccentricity from 0 to 0.75 has a positive effect where the frictional pressure loss is decreased by almost 28% for all rotation speeds for the elliptical annulus ((Formula presented.))