Abstract

The calculation and analysis of torque and drag play an important role in drilling and well design. Different models (soft, stiffness, mixed and finite element) have been used to calculate the torque and drag. This paper introduces a practical FEA (Finite Element Analysis) model of the drill string which can reflect working behavior, including interaction between the drillstring and borehole wall, computational model of torque and drag, and verification with examples. The sensitivity analysis to some key input and output parameters has been conducted. The calculated hook load shows a good match to the rig recorded values. The drillstring displacements calculated by the FEA model matches those from an analytical method. The program developed and discussed in this paper can be used for torque and drag analysis, dynamic behavior analysis, and friction coefficient back-calculation. The FEA program of the drillstring presented herein will benefit in preplanning and real-time simulation of oil and gas well drilling operations.

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