Adaptive Observer for Bottomhole Pressure During Drilling

Abstract

To satisfy the increasing petroleum consumption on a world wide basis there is a need to find new resources. As mature fields are drained, reservoir pressure falls, which again leads to tight pressure margins. To reduce down time due to hole stability problems (e.g. kicks) there is a demand for accurate control of the pressure profile in the well. As the pressure profile is not known and depends on unknown factors such as friction loss there is a need to estimate the pressure. In this thesis an observer that adapts to unknown factors, such as friction and density changes, and estimates the bottomhole pressure is presented. Furthermore, a parameter estimator for the bulk modulus in the annulus is developed as an extension to the observer to facilitate for future control design. Both designs are based on a third order model and provide rigid proofs of stability and convergence of the estimated pressure and parameters. The pressure estimate from the observer is shown to converge to the true pressure under reasonable conditions. For parameter estimates to converge to their true values conditions on excitation are presented. The observer and parameter estimator are tested in simulations and also on log data from a well drilled at the Grane field in the North Sea. Simulation results show that the observer performs very well during typical drilling procedures affecting choke valve opening, pump flows and drill string movements. The observer shows promising behavior when tested on log data from the Grane field.