SOME INVESTIGATIONS ON ROCK DRILLING USING PDC BITS

Abstract

A recent development in the field of oil exploration is the advent of new generation tool material i.e. Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) •Bits made of PDC provide higher rate of penetration and last longer. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the performance of PDC bits under a wide range of cutting conditions to determine their suitability for cutting different formations. The dissertation work is devoted to the setting up of a complete experimental setup including fabrication of drilling tool using PDC bits and evolution of a test procedure to conduct experiments on Rock drilling using PDC bits under laboratory conditions. Regression analysis has been applied to develop mathematical models for force, torque, rate of penetration (ROP) as functions of cutting speed, flow rate, weight on bit and type of formation using design of experiment technique. The effect of process parameters on force, torque and ROP has also -been discussed. Some studies on wear of PDC bits have also been conducted