The present disclosure relates to directional drilling. More specifically, aspects of the disclosure relate to providing a minimum strain energy waypoint following controller arrangement and method for directional drilling applications.
As the future of directional drilling moves toward the exploitation of increasingly complex reservoirs, there is a desire and a need for automating rig operations as much as possible. The implications and advantages of such automated rig operations would enable rig operation teams to focus on higher levels of decision making, hence increasing safety and economic return.
Current drilling controllers, for example, have significant drawbacks that include inaccurate controlling capability and inability to minimize strain energy on drilling components. In addition to these drawbacks, conventional systems require constant maintenance and attention by personnel. There is a need to provide a drilling controller to solve these issues and to provide a superior controlling methodology and apparatus compared to conventional controllers.
Aspects described present, in one non-limiting embodiment, the application of Optimized Geometric Hermite (“OGH”) curves as a method for real-time path planning and following for directional drilling tools which have the ability to hold inclination and azimuth. In the embodiments presented, different drilling apparatus may be controlled, such as a drill string or coiled tubing drilling, as non-limiting embodiments. In embodiments presented, the method and apparatus rely on a target position in space ahead of the drill bit with an associated target attitude. These targets, or waypoints, may be used as a sequence of points with attitudes corresponding to a well plan which is to be followed, or, in an alternative embodiment, they may be a finite number of points in space which may correspond to strategic points in a pay zone (a reservoir or portion of a reservoir that contains economically producible hydrocarbons is known as a pay or pay zone). In additional applications, this method and apparatus may be used with look-ahead, look-around geosensor technology to dynamically choose and assigned targets as an outer loop to the method presented in this patent application. In the aspects described, increases in economic payback for drilling activities is significantly enhanced solving long sought problems in the industry. Such activities described herein may be used with other drillstring control activities to provide for more autonomous control of drilling activities. Such interface may be with emergency response systems, as a non-limiting embodiment, in order to provide higher margins of safety for operators.
In one embodiment, information pertaining to a tool instantaneous position measured from the tool sensor set (gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers) is obtained and a path is determined to the next target. This path is periodically recalculated and provides a sequence of inclination and azimuth instructions which steer the tool or drillbit towards that target. Such method steps are described below in accordance with
In aspects described, the use of Optimized Geometric Hermite Curves for generating the correction path from the tools instantaneous position to the well-planned trajectory is described.
The controller is first introduced, in
A closed-loop scheme for following a trajectory for direction drilling operations is depicted in
The trajectory arrangement (controller) 110 estimates a tool's current position and attitude xm, xm′ along with the position and attitude of the next waypoint target xwp(i), xwp′(i) and together with the OGH curve generator 112, an interpolated cubic polynomial space curve designed to produce the lowest strain energy on the drilling structure. From this interaction, a new reference demand attitude for the IAH controller is produced, which is defined as the “inner loop” and which controls the tool's direction. As will be understood, the trajectory arrangement (controller) 110, the OGH curve generator 112 and the kinematic plant model 116 as well as the converter arrangement 118 may be separate computer assemblies or the individual parts may be configured to operate as a single unit, such as a microprocessor or a computer arrangement. Each of the trajectory arrangement (controller) 110, the OGH curve generator 112 and the kinematic plant model 116 as well as the converter arrangement 118 are illustrated as being in close proximity to one another so that the entire arrangement is positioned in a field location. Alternative configurations are possible where remote processing capabilities for each of the components 110, 112, 116 and 118 are combined to control drilling activities.
The kinematic plant model 116 used to describe the changes in the direction of the drill is derived from kinematic considerations. The angular azimuth and inclination responses are given in terms of tool face and curvature inputs as:
{dot over (θ)}inc is the inclination angle in radians,
{dot over (θ)}azi is the azimuth angle in radians,
Utf is the tool face angle control input in radians,
Udis is the ‘dog leg severity’ or curvature in radians/meter,
Vdr is the drop rate bias disturbance in radians/meter,
Vtr is the turn rate bias disturbance in radians/meter,
Vrop is the rate of penetration and is an uncontrolled parameter in meters/second.
Using the following transformations, the control toolface angle and steering ratio that guide the tool towards its target azimuth and inclination are found according to Equations 3 and 4.
Utf=arctan(Uazi/Uinc) Equation 3
Udls=Kdls√{square root over (Uazi2+Uinc2)} Equation 4
where Uazi and Uinc are transformed control inputs. Ignoring the distances, the plant model is transformed to:
The above equations are, therefore, simpler than the model given by Equation 1 and Equation 2. The following PI controllers are defined to control the tool attitude:
Uinc=kpieinc+kii∫0teincdt Equation 7
Uazi=kpaeazi+kia∫0teazidt Equation 8
where einc=θincd−θinc and eazi=θazid−θazi are the inclination and azimuth errors, respectively, and θincd and θazid are the inclination and azimuth reference demands, respectively. By linearizing the transformed plant model, the PI controller gains can be chosen to provide the closed-loop system with specified closed poles.
A robustness analysis of the proposed control system provided in
The outer trajectory-following loop in
In one embodiment, autonomous drill bit on/off bottom detection is available. This capability of autonomous drill bit on/off bottom detection enables anti-windup to be implemented on the PI controllers of the IAH. Based on the surface measured depth measurement, hereinafter defined “MD”, an estimate of the tool Vrop is obtained. It is assumed that a reliable estimation of the tool position is subsequently available.
In fitting a path between the tools current position and the target, it is aimed to minimize the geometric strain energy of the interpolated spline, thereby minimizing stresses on the accompanying drilling equipment. In one embodiment, for a well, the shape of the curve has an impact on the drillstring leading up to the bottom hole assembly. Since axisymmetric cylindrical drillpipes are in an unstrained configuration prior to being used for drilling, work is done over the drilling operation by the borehole on the drillstring to bend the pipes to fit the shape. Similarly, in completing the well, a section of casing would experience the same forces.
Developing a borehole to minimize the strain energy from the tool to its target can improve fatigue life of threaded stand sections of the drillpipe. Also, reducing contact forces on the drillpipes and casing would reduce the sliding friction and would be beneficial for extended reach and increased Vrop drilling.
Using Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, an axisymmetric beam is assumed with a constant cross-sectional area and uniform mass distribution, as a general model for the drillpipe and section of casing.
The relationship between the local curvature to the bending moment M is given by:
where I is the second area moment and E is the module of elasticity of a section of casing or drillpipe. In one embodiment, both of these values are assumed constant.
When deflected into a space curve f(t), the work done on an element f(t+δt)−f(t) is given by ½M∂θ where tε[0,1] parameterizes the curve f(t) from the start position to the end position, and M is the moment acting on the element dt deflecting it by an angle ∂θ where
The curvature at f(t) is given by
The total strain energy over the length of the curve which is wished to minimize is given by:
To fit a curve from the tool's current measured position to the target, a cubic spline is chosen as this is the lowest order polynomial curve that includes an inflection point, and, for fitting a feasible trajectory to a target position and attitude ahead of the bit, a smooth curve can be obtained.
Given the tool's current position xm and current attitude xm′ a cubic spline is constructed to a target position xwp and attitude xwp′, with respect to four Bezier control points xm,
xwp where the space curve given in terms of Bernstein polynomials is:
The cubic Bernstein polynomial coefficients are given by the relationship
In one embodiment, the Optimized Geometric Hermite curve is a cubic Hermite curve which as the smallest strain energy amongst all cubic Hermite curves that satisfy the endpoint conditions.
Putting the cubic Hermite curve into the form given by Equation 13, a minimal strain energy curve can be found by varying the two intermediate control points given the corresponding terms of the b1 and b2 Berstein coefficients. Since the start and end points, xm and xwp are fixed in space, the free parameters are the magnitudes of the tangent vectors xm′ and xwp′ and Equation 13 is rewritten as:
The values for constants a0 and a1 that provide the Optimized Geometric Hermite Curve are found from the theorem provided below.
Given xm and xwp and two endpoint tangent vectors xm′ and xwp′ and Optimized Geometric Hermite Curve f(t) tε[0,1] is obtained at a0=a0* and a1=a1* where
Using the values for a0 and a1 from Equation 16 and 17, the Optimized Geometric Hermite Curve from Equation 15 gives a path for the tool to follow to get its target.
The scheme is implemented in a similar manner to a multipass curve scheme but with a fixed horizon rather than a receding horizon. Thus, the position is periodically measured, and the attitude reference demand for the first portion of the Optimized Geometric Hermite Curve is passed to the inner-loop IAH controller 114 shown in
To allow for the lags in the IAH controller 114, the gradient of the Optimized Geometric Hermite Curve a small arbitrary fixed distance I ahead of the bit is calculated. The arc length L of the whole Optimized Gradient Hermite Curve from the tools measured position to the target is calculated numerically using:
Where n is the number of discretization points. The attitude demand vector can be found from:
Hence the inclination θincd and azimuth θazid reference demand values for the inner IAH loop can therefore be determined from
and unit vectors i, j, k as defined.
The trajectory-following architecture shown in
The resulting space curve from the simulated run is shown in
It can be seen in
xerror′=∥xm′−xwp′∥ Equation 22
Where xm′ is a unit vector representing the measured attitude of the drill at any instant in the simulation and xwp′ is the attitude of the nearest target.
The value of the tool attitude error can be seen to diminish towards any given target waypoint as can be seen from
To demonstrate the use of OGH curves for reaching and following a well path plan in the pay zone that has been defined, a transient simulation was run using Equation 1 and Equation 2 as the plant model, the operating point parameters listed in Table II and the path following architecture shown in
In the embodiments described, OGH curves are used for online path planning to generate inclination and azimuth demand signals. The use of OGH space curves in this way enables a correction path in the form of a minimum strain energy cubic polynomial to be constructed between the instantaneous tool position and a succession of paypoints, each targeted in turn. The path-following architecture consists of an inner attitude-hold feedback loop and an outer loop to generate IAH attitude reference demands, as described in relation to
The advantage of using OGH space curves in this application is that for the generation of a correction path, the resulting curve is described by a readily differentiable polynomial that enables evaluation of the strain energy applied as the drillstring is bent along the projected correction path. The minimal strain energy OGH correction-path curve fitted in this way therefore promotes the reduction of wellbore friction and hence it is anticipated will be beneficial for extended reach drilling. Additionally, simulation shows that the minimal strain energy OGH space curve fit approach is able to reach and follow a path defined by a sequence of waypoints.
Referring to
In step 910, a query may be provided to determine if the desired endpoint has been reached. If the desired endpoint has been reached or is the tool measured to be within stopping distance of the target, the method may stop in step 912 or the next target may be chosen. Such stopping may entail stopping of further drilling. Such termination may be automatic or an alert may be provided to an operator that the end point has been reached. If the desired endpoint has not been reached, a feedback may be accomplished to step 902 and the method may continue. As will be understood, the curve developed may also be used to maximize a path along a hydrocarbon stratum to maximize chances for hydrocarbon recovery. The method and apparatus may be achieved such that any type of optimized spline may be used.
In one embodiment, a method of controlling drilling is provided comprising: ascertaining a current position and attitude of a drilling structure, obtaining a desired end point for the drilling structure, creating an optimized geometric hermite curve path for the drilling structure from the current position and attitude of the drilling structure to the desired end point for the drilling structure and controlling a drilling of the drilling structure from the current position and attitude of the drilling structure to the desired end point for the drilling structure along the optimized geometric hermite curve path. As will be understood, in a non-limiting embodiment, the drilling structure may be a drill string and/or a specific component in a drill string such as a drill bit. Obtaining a desired end point for the drilling structure may by through query of an operator or through a preplanned map determined before
The method may further comprise checking the current position and attitude of the drilling structure to determine when the desired end point for the drilling structure is reached.
In a further method, the method may further comprise stopping the drilling of the drilling structure when the desired end point for the drilling structure is reached.
In a further method, the method may further comprise checking the current position of the drilling structure to determine when the desired end point for the drilling structure is reached.
In a further method, the method may further comprise checking the attitude of the drilling structure to determine when the desired end point for the drilling structure is reached.
In a further embodiment, an apparatus is presented comprising an arrangement configured to obtain a reference trajectory of a drilling apparatus, an arrangement configured to produce an optimized geometric hermite curve from a reference trajectory to a desired end point for the drilling apparatus, a kinematic plant modeling arrangement and an inclination and azimuth hold arrangement configured to control a drill bit of a drilling structure during drilling.
In a further embodiment, an apparatus is presented further comprising a spherical to Cartesian coordinate arrangement configured to obtain data from the kinematic plant model and convert the data from a spherical coordinate system to a Cartesian coordinate system.
In a further embodiment, the apparatus may further comprise a feedback loop configured to provide information on a measured attitude obtained from the kinematic plant model to the inclination azimuth hold arrangement.
The apparatus may further comprise a second feedback loop to provide data on a measured position and measured attitude from the spherical to Cartesian coordinate arrangement and provide the data to the arrangement configured to provide a optimized geometric hermite curve for a planned drill path trajectory.
In an additional embodiment, the apparatus may be configured wherein the feedback loop is further configured with a sensor configured to obtain the information on the measured attitude.
In a further embodiment, the apparatus may be configured wherein the second feedback loop is configured with a sensor and a sampler, wherein the sensor and the sampler are configured to obtain data on a measured position and measured attitude. As presented, all methods may be incorporated into articles of manufacture to control apparatus as necessary through the methods presented. In the illustrated embodiments, the methodologies may be performed on a computer, as a non-limiting example for carrying out the instructions provided. In the illustrated embodiments, the method steps and information may be transformed such that the data is visually represented to a user for feedback. Methods and apparatus illustrated may be incorporated in drilling operations to facilitate drilling objectives as defined by an operator.
While aspects have been disclosed with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skills in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover such modifications and variations as within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130048383 A1 | Feb 2013 | US |