Tribological Characterization of Drilling Fluids - Friction and Wear Behavior

Drilling shafts into the earth's surface is common practice for mining or extracting resources such as water, oil, natural gas, etc. This process involves drilling fluids, commonly known as muds. The current study describes the testing of the friction and wear performance of additives for drilling fluids at laboratory or model scale. The effect of additives on the tribological performance of drilling fluid (mud) was investigated with an MCR Tribometer.

Introduction

Drilling shafts into the earth's surface is common practice for mining or extracting resources such as water, oil, natural gas, etc. This process involves drilling fluids, commonly known as muds, whose primary functions include:

  • to cool and lubricate the drill string and the drill bit
  • to transport drilled cuttings to the surface
  • to provide hydrostatic pressure to prevent collapse of the hole
  • to transfer hydraulic power to the drill bit

So that the drilling fluid can fulfill these multiple roles, different additives, each targeted to a particular need, are added to the drilling fluid. Reliable and optimal performance of these drilling fluids is essential for the entire drilling process; their failure can lead to catastrophic losses of time and money. Therefore, adequate testing of the stability and performance of these additives is necessary before they are used in real-life applications.

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