Nonlinear multivariable modeling and stability analysis of vibrations in horizontal drill string

Nowadays, economical extraction of the oil and gas, and their products is an important problem. Up to now, vertical wells have been used for oil extraction but some wells exist that they cannot be reached by using the vertical drilling. Horizontal and directional drillings are some techniques to reach these wells. In this article, dynamics of the horizontal drill string is studied. According to the forces that affect the dynamics of drilling, its longitudinal vibration is analyzed. After determination of the boundary conditions and normal modes of the system with using mode summation method, displacement of the bit is obtained. Finally, dynamics of the horizontal drill string is simulated and the effect of increasing the number of modes and the mode convergence phenomenon is discussed. Through this study, while it is shown that four modes are sufficient for a reliable prediction of the stable and unstable conditions; five modes are included for the system analysis. Then, the effects of other parameters such as the mud frequency and constants of bit/rock interaction model are studied. Through the proposed parametric study, the stability of the system is investigated. Moreover, the dominant modes which cause the instability of the horizontal drilling process are determined. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.