Lab Testing and Finite Element Method Simulation of Hole Deflector Performance for Radial Jet Drilling

Radial jet drilling (RJD) is an efficient approach for improving the productivity of wells in low permeability, marginal and coal-bed methane (CBM) reservoirs at a very low cost. It uses high-pressure water jet to drill lateral holes from a vertical wellbore. The length of the lateral holes is greatly influenced by the frictional resistance in the hole deflector. However, the hole deflector frictional resistance and structure design have not been well studied. This work fills that gap. Frictional resistances were measured in a full-scale experiment and calculated by numerical simulation. The structure of the hole deflector was parameterized and a geometric model was developed to design the hole deflector track. An empirical model was then established to predict the frictional resistance as a function of the hole deflector structure parameters and an optimization method for designing the hole deflector was proposed. Finally, four types of hole deflectors were optimized using this method. The results show good agreement between the numerical simulation and the experimental data. The model error is within 11.6%. The bend radius R and exit angle β are the key factors affecting the performance of the hole deflector. The validation test was conducted for a case hole deflector (5½ in. casing). The measured frictional resistance was decreased from 31.44 N to 23.16 N by 26.34%. The results from this research could serve as a reference for the design of hole deflectors for radial jet drilling.