Drill bit

The rate at which the drill bit penetrates the formation gives qualitative information about the lithology being drilled. For example, in a hard shale the rate of penetration ROP) will be slower than in a porous sandstone. 

We will now consider the rotary rig in operation, visiting all parts of the system starting at the drill bit. 

Earlier on when we described the cutting action of the drill bit we learned about the drilling fluid or mud. The mud cools the bit and also removes the cuttings by carrying them up the hole outside the drill pipe. At the surface the mud runs over a number of moving screens, the shale shakers (Fig. 3.11) which remove the cutting for disposal. The fine particles which pass through the screens are then removed by desanders and desilters, usually hydrocyclones. 

As in the construction industry, piling of the conductor is done by dropping weights onto the pipe or using a hydraulic hammer until no further penetration occurs. In an offshore environment the conductor is either piled (e.g. on a platform) or a large diameter hole is actually drilled, into which the conductor is lowered and cemented. Once the drill bit has drilled below the conductor the well is said to have been spudded. 

If a shallow kick off in soft formation is required (e.g. to steer the borehole away underneath platforms) a technique using jet bit deflection or badgering is employed (Fig. 3.16). A rock bit is fitted with two small and one large jet. With the bit on bottom and oriented in the desired direction the string is kept stationary and mud is pumped through the nozzles. This causes asymmetric erosion of the borehole beneath the larger jet. Once sufficient hole has been jetted, the drill bit will be rotated again and the new course followed. This process will be repeated until the planned deviation is reached. 

Considerable effort will be made to predict the onset of overpressures ahead of the drill bit. The most reliable indioations are gas readings, porosity - depth trends, rate of penetration and shale density measurements. 

Besides large-diameter pipes, ultrasonic testing is used for checking the welded joints of drill bits, components of wind-driven electric plants, welded joints of light alloys and non-metallic materials, for an integrated inspection of various objects. A range of training aids developed at the Institute allows the operators to be trained effectively. 

Niobium carbide is used as a component of hard metals, eg, mixtures of metal carbides that are cemented with cobalt, iron, and nickel. Along with tantalum carbide, niobium carbide is added to impart toughness and shock and erosion resistance. The spiraling rise in the price of tantalum has spurred the development of a hafnium carbide—niobium carbide substitute for tantalum carbide (68). These cemented carbides are used for tool bits, drill bits, shovel teeth, and other wear-resistant components turbine blades and as dies in high pressure apparatus (see Carbides). 

Both macrocrystalline WC and the fused WC—W2C eutectic (Fig. 1) are important in the manufacture of diamond drill bits used in the mining, oil and gas, and constmction industries, and in hardfacing rods and electrodes. The properties of WC are Hsted in Table 1. 

A composite material used for rock-drilling bits consists of an assemblage of tungsten carbide cubes (each 2 fcm in size) stuck together with a thin layer of cobalt. The material is required to withstand compressive stresses of 4000 MNm in service. Use the above equation to estimate an upper limit for the thickness of the cobalt layer. You may assume that the compressive yield stress of tungsten carbide is well above 4000 MN m , and that the cobalt yields in shear at k = 175 MN m . What assumptions made in the analysis are likely to make your estimate inaccurate ... 

Bohrer, m. borer, perforator, gimlet, auger, drill, bit drill (the machine). 

The drill string, consisting of a drill bit, drill collars, drill pipe, and kelly, is assembled and lowered into the conductor pipe. Drilling fluid, better known as drilling mud, is circulated through the kelly and... 

Today s conventional drill bit utilizes three revolving cones containing teeth or hardened inserts that cut into the rock as the bit is revolved. The teeth or inserts chip off fragments of the rock which are carried to the surface with the drilling fluid. The frag-... 

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