Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Drilling fluids processing glossary D

Darcy. A unit of permeability. A porous medium has a permeability of 1 darcy when a pressure of 1 atm on a sample 1 cm long and 1 sq cm in cross section will force a liquid of 1 cP viscosity through the sample at the rate of 1 cc per sec. See: millidarcy, permeability.
Decanter. See: decanting centrifuge.
Decanting centrifuge. A centrifuge that removes solids from the feed slurry and discharges them as damp underflow. Ultra-fine colloidal solids are discharged with the liquid overflow. The decanting centrifuge has an internal auger that moves the solids that have been settled to the bowl walls, out of a pool of liquid, and to the underflow. See: centrifuge.
Deck. The screening surface in a shale shaker basket.
De-duster. A tank at the end of the blooie line in air or gas drilling in which water is injected to settle the dust caused by drilling.
Deflocculant. Chemical that promotes deflocculation. See: thinner.
Deflocculation. (1) The process of thinning the drilling fluid by bonding with (neutralizing or covering) the positive electrical charges of drillingfluid additives to prevent one particle of drilling fluid from being attracted to another particle. (2) Breakup of flocs of gel structures by use of a thinner.
Defoamer. Any substance used to reduce or eliminate foam by reducing the surface tension of a liquid. See: antifoam. degasser. A device that removes entrained gas from a drilling fluid, especially the very small bubbles that do not float readily in viscous drilling fluid.
Dehydration. Removal of free or combined water from a compound.
Deliquescence. The liquification of a solid substance due to the solution of the solid by absorption of moisture from the air, for example, calcium chloride deliquesces in humid air.
Density. Mass per unit volume expressed in pounds per gallon (ppg), grams per cubic (g/cc), or pounds per cubic ft (lb/cu.ft). Drilling-fluid density is commonly referred to as mud weight.
Desand. To remove most API sand (>74 microns) from drilling fluid.
Desander. A hydrocyclone with an inside diameter of 6 inches or larger that can remove a very high proportion of solids larger than 74 micrometers.Generally,
desanders are used on unweighted muds. See: cyclone, hydrocyclone, hydroclone, desilter.
Desilt. To remove most silt particles greater than 15–20 microns from an unweighted fluid. The desilter is not normally not used on weighted drilling fluids because it can remove large amounts of barite.
Desilter. A hydrocyclone with an inside diameter less than 6 inches. It can remove a large fraction of solids larger than 15–20 microns.See: cyclone, hydrocyclone, hydroclone, desander.
Destabliziation. A condition in which colloidal particles no longer remain separate and discrete, but contact and agglomerate with other particles.
Diatomaceous earth. A very porous natural earth compound composed of siliceous skeletons. Sometimes used for controlling lost circulation and seepage losses and as an additive to cement.
Diesel oil plug. See: gunk plug.
Differential angle deck. A screen deck in which successive screening surfaces of the same deck are at different angles.
Differential pressure. The difference in pressure between two points. It is usually the difference in pressure at a given point in the well bore between the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling-fluid column and the formation pressure. Differential pressure can be positive, zero, or negative with respect to the formation pressure. See: backpressure.
Differential pressure sticking. Sticking that occurs when a portion of the drill string (usually the drill collars) becomes embedded in the filter cake resulting in a nonuniform distribution of pressure around the circumference of the pipe. The conditions essential for sticking require a permeable formation and a positive pressure (from well bore to formation) differential across a drill string embedded in a poor filter cake. See: stuck.
Diffusion. The spreading, scattering, or mixing of material (gas, liquid, or solid).
Dilatant fluid. Opposite of shear thinning. A dilatant or inverted plastic fluid is usually made up of a high concentration of welldispersed solids that exhibit a nonlinear consistency curve passing through the origin. The apparent viscosity increases instantaneously with increasing shear rate. The yield point, as determined by conventional calculations from the direct-indicating viscometer readings, is negative. See: apparent viscosity, viscosity, Bingham model, plastic viscosity, yield point, gel strength.
Diluent. Liquid added to dilute or thin a solution or suspension.
Dilution. (1) Decreasing the percentage of drilled-solids concentration by addition of liquid phase. (2) Increasing the liquid content of a drilling fluid by addition of water or oil. Dilution fluid may be a clean drilling fluid or the liquid phase of a drilling fluid.
Dilution factor. The ratio of the actual volume of drilling fluid required to drill a specified interval of footage using a solids-removal system versus a calculated volume of drilling fluid required to maintain the same drilled-solids fraction over the same specified interval of footage with no drilled-solids removal.
Dilution rate. The rate, in gpm or bbl/hr, at which fluids and/or premix is added to the circulating system for the purpose of solids management.
Dilution ratio. Ratio of volume of dilution liquid to the volume of raw drilling fluid in the feed prior to entering a liquid/solids separator.
Dilution water. Water used for dilution of water-based drilling fluid.
Direct-indicating viscometer. Commonlycalleda‘‘V-Gmeter.’’The directindicating viscometer shears fluid between a rotating outer cylinder and a stationary cylindrical bob in the center of the rotating cylinder. The bob is constrained from rotating by a spring. The spring reads the drag force on the bob, which is related to the shear stress. The rotational speed of the outer cylinder and the spacing between the bob and the cylinder the shear rate. Viscosity is the ratio of shear stress to shear rate, so this instrument may be used to determine viscosity of a fluid at a variety of shear rates. Gel strengths may also be determined after a quiescent period of a drilling fluid between the bob and the cylinder. See: API RP 13B.
Discharge. Material removed from a system. See: effluent.
Discharge spout. Extension at the discharge area of a screen. It may be vibrating or stationary. Also called discharge lip.
Dispersant. (1) Any chemical that promotes the subdivision of a material phase. (2) Any chemical that promotes dispersion of particles in a fluid. Frequently, a deflocculant is inaccurately called a dispersant. Caustic soda is a dispersant but not a deflocculant.
Disperse. To separate into component parts. Bentonite disperses by hydration into many smaller pieces.
Dispersed phase. The scattered phase (solid, liquid, or gas) of a dispersion. The particles are finely divided and completely surrounded by the continuous phase.
Dispersion. (1) Process of breaking up, scattering (as in reducing particle size), and causing to spread apart. (2) Subdivision of aggregates.Dispersion increases the specific surface of the particle, which results in an increase in viscosity and gel strength.
Dispersoid. A colloid or finely divided substance.
Disassociation. The splitting of a compound or element into two or more simple molecules, atoms, or ions. Applied usually to the effect of the action of heat or solvents upon dissolved substances. The reaction is reversible and not as permanent as decomposition; that is, when the solvent is removed, the ions recombine.
Distillation. Process of first vaporizing a liquid and then condensing the vapor into a liquid (the distillate), leaving behind nonvolatile solid substances of a drilling fluid. The distillate is the water and/or oil content of a fluid.
Divided deck. A deck having a screening surface longitudinally divided by partition(s).
Dog leg. The elbow caused by a sharp change of drilling direction in the well bore.
Double flute. The flutes or leads advancing simultaneously at the same angle and 180 apart. See: flute, flight, blade.
Downstream venturi. See: venturi.
Drill bit. The cutting or boring element at the end of the drill string.
Drill stem test (DST). A postdrilling and preproduction test that allows formation fluids to flow into the drill pipe under controlled conditions, to determine whether oil and/or gas in commercial quantities have been encountered in the penetrated formations.
Drill string. The column of drill pipe with attached tool joints that transmits fluid and rotational power from the kelly to the drill collars and bit.
Drilled solids. Formation solids that enter the drilling-fluid system, whether produced by a bit or from the side of the borehole. See lowgravity solids, cuttings.
Drilled-solids fraction. The average volume fraction of drilled solids maintained in the drilling fluid over a specified interval of footage.
Drilled-solids removal system. All equipment and processes used while drilling a well that remove the solids generated from the hole and carried by the drilling fluid, that is, settling, screening, desanding,desilting, centrifuging, and dumping.
Drilling fluid. Term applied to any liquid or slurry pumped down the drill string and up the annulus of a hole to facilitate drilling. See: drilling mud, mud.
Drilling-fluid additive. Any material added to a drilling fluid to achieve a particular effect.
Drilling-fluid analysis. Examination and testing of the drilling fluid to determine its physical and chemical properties and functional ability. See: API RP 13B.
Drilling-fluid cycle time. The time necessary to move a fluid from the kelly bushing to the flowline in a borehole. The cycle, in minutes, equals the barrels of drilling fluid in the hole minus pipe displacement divided by barrels per minute of circulation rate:
Drilling-fluid engineer. One versed in drilling fluids, rig operations, and solids and waste management, whose duties are to manage and maintain the drilling-fluid program at the well site.
Drilling-fluid program. A proposed plan or procedure for application and properties of drilling fluid(s) used in drilling a well with respect to depth. Some factors that influence the drilling-fluid program are the casing program and formation characteristics such as type, competence, solubility, temperature, pressure, etc.
Drilling in. The drilling operation starting at the point of drilling into the producing formation.
Drilling mud. See: drilling fluid, which is the preferred term.
Drilling out. The operation of drilling out of the casing shoe after the cementing of a casing or liner in place. Drilling out of the casing is done before further hole is made or completion attempted.
Drilling rate. The rate at which hole depth progresses, expressed in linear units per unit of time (including connections) as feet/minute or feet/hour. See: ROP, rate of penetration, penetration rate.
Dry bottom. An adjustment to the underflow opening of a hydrocyclone that causes a dry beach, usually resulting in severe plugging. See: dry plug.
Dry plug. The plugging of the underflow opening of a hydrocyclone caused by operating with a dry bottom.
Dryer. A shale shaker with a fine mesh screen that removes excess fluid and fine solids from discarded material from other shale shakers and hydrocyclones. Typically, this is used to decrease the liquid waste from a drilling fluid to decrease discarded volumes. See mud cleaner.
Dual wound motors. Motors that may be connected to either of two voltages and starter configurations.
Dynamic. The state of being active or in motion, as opposed to static.

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