Experimental Study of Drilled Cuttings Transport Using Common Drilling Muds

Experiments are conducted with actual drilling muds to study the behavior of drilled cuttings in a vertical annulus. The effect of parameters such as particle size, flow rate, apparent viscosity, and yield point to plastic viscosity ratio on mud-carrying capacity are studied. The applicability of a semiempirical transport model developed by Zeidler also is investigated. It has been shown that in vertical annuluses, the fluid annular velocity has a major effect on the carrying capacity of muds, while the other parameters have an effect only at low to medium fluid annular velocities. We also conclude that Zeidler's semiempirical formulations for the prediction of drilled cuttings behavior are valid with certain limitations.