• norsk
    • English
  • English 
    • norsk
    • English
  • Login
View Item 
  •   Home
  • Fakultet for informasjonsteknologi og elektroteknikk (IE)
  • Institutt for teknisk kybernetikk
  • View Item
  •   Home
  • Fakultet for informasjonsteknologi og elektroteknikk (IE)
  • Institutt for teknisk kybernetikk
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Control of Distributed Damping Subs for Torsional Vibration Mitigation in Drilling

Nüsse, Pauline Marie
Doctoral thesis
Thumbnail
View/Open
Pauline Marie Nüsse_PhD.pdf (9.851Mb)
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3191968
Date
2025
Metadata
Show full item record
Collections
  • Institutt for teknisk kybernetikk [4086]
Abstract
Drill string vibrations are an important cause for extended costs in drilling. The field of vibration mitigation therefore has been very active. Two main approaches exist, either surface or downhole mitigation methods.

This thesis focuses on the control of a downhole vibration mitigation tool. The viscous damper is based on eddy current braking. A magnet is fixed to a nonrotating sleeve around the drill pipe, covered in a non-magnetic, conductive material. The relative angular movement between those two induces damping forces. The damping coefficient can be actively controlled by changing the position of the permanent magnet. Under certain circumstances, the sleeves can slip, possibly harming the borehole wall, casing, or the sleeve itself. Several damping subs can be used together, distributed along the drill string.

This work is based on simulations with an axial-torsional drill string simulator.

In the first contribution, we evaluate if active sleeves - as opposed to passive sleeves (where the magnet is fixed to one position) - are worth further investigation. For this, the controller is introduced and stability maps are created covering a broad range of operating conditions (feed rate and RPM). We found that active sleeves are superior to passive ones if only a few sleeves are used.

Building on this, some simulation assumptions are relaxed to make it more realistic. Without communication with the surface, the setpoint is unknown to the sleeves. A downhole setpoint estimation is added to cope with this. Also, measurement errors are introduced. A parameter study on the measurement errors showed the effects of its different components on the controller. We showed that the controller can reduce the vibrations also with reasonable measurement errors being present. From this point, two different ways were chosen.

Noticing frequent slipping of sleeves, we introduce an anti-slip logic. This works as an adaptive saturation on the controller output, reducing the applied damping force, and with this the harmful slipping motion of the sleeves, while the performance in dampening pipe vibrations is kept up. To adapt to different friction forces along the wellbore, an exploration strategy is needed. The results show that the controller performance can be kept at a similar level, while possible damages due to slipping can be reduced with the anti-slip logic.

The second path led to evaluating if the sleeves can also be beneficial when there is already a stick-slip mitigation system in place at the top drive. For this, the stiff top drive controller is replaced by a tuned PI controller. Here the effects of both methods are investigated at different bit depths. We figured that a combination of both mitigation methods can be beneficial in wells with high side forces.
Has parts
Paper A: Nüsse, Pauline Marie; Ambrus, Adrian; Aarsnes, Ulf Jakob Flø; Aamo, Ole Morten. Evaluation of distributed damping subs with active control for stick–slip reduction in drilling. Geoenergy Science and Engineering 2023 ;Volum 231.(Part A) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2023.212255 This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Paper B: Nüsse, Pauline Marie; Ambrus, Adrian; Aamo, Ole Morten. Decentralized Active Control of Distributed Damping Subs for Stick/Slip Reduction in Drilling. IADC/SPE International Drilling Conference and Exhibition 2024 Paper Number: SPE-217676-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/217676-MS CC BY

Paper C: Nüsse, Pauline Marie. Active Control of Distributed Subs With Anti-Slip Logic for Torsional Vibration Damping in Drilling. ASME 2024 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering https://doi.org/10.1115/OMAE2024-123992 Paper No: OMAE2024-123992, V008T11A003;

Paper D: Nüsse, Pauline Marie; Ambrus, Adrian; Aamo, Ole Morten. Decentralized Active Control of Distributed Damping Subs for Stick/Slip Reduction in Drilling. SPE Journal 2025 Paper Number: SPE-217676-PA https://doi.org/10.2118/217676-PA CC BY
Publisher
NTNU
Series
Doctoral theses at NTNU;2025:194

Contact Us | Send Feedback

Privacy policy
DSpace software copyright © 2002-2019  DuraSpace

Service from  Unit
 

 

Browse

ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypesJournalsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypesJournals

My Account

Login

Statistics

View Usage Statistics

Contact Us | Send Feedback

Privacy policy
DSpace software copyright © 2002-2019  DuraSpace

Service from  Unit