Wet-granular rheology to measure cuttings-bed strength

Abstract

Drilled cuttings-bed formation is a natural process during wellbore drilling operations, although it is not desired. To optimally remove the drilled cuttings out of the wellbore it is important to break the formed beds. Wet-granulated material such as the drilled cuttings behave differently depending on the applied stress and particle concentration, it can behave as solid when is at rest or under low energy input, or it can flow like a fluid when a certain energy is reached. Here it is studied how a wetting fluid can modify the motion and properties of the cuttings-bed by using powder rheology.