DC170271 DOI: 10.
2118/170271-PA Date: 30-December-15 Stage: Page: 310
Managing Suspension Characteristics of
Lost-Circulation Materials in a Drilling Fluid
Sandeep D. Kulkarni, Dale E. Jamison, Kushabhau D. Teke, and Sharath Savari, Halliburton
Summary
Lost-circulation materials (LCMs) are often used to mitigate the
loss of drilling fluids into subterranean formations. Well-known
LCMs include ground marble, graphitic carbon, and cellulosic
particulates. The carrier fluid’s ability to suspend the LCMs (min-
imize settling) is critical in high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/
HT) or inclined wells. This study provides methods to help deter-
mine and manage suspension characteristics of LCMs in the fluid
with the aid of certain suspending agents (e.g., fibers).
A detailed experimental study was conducted to evaluate the
suspension of a range of LCMs in various drilling fluids and
investigate the effects of suspending agents (e.g., fibers) on LCM
suspension. On the basis of the experimental data, semiempirical
models were developed to help predict the influence of fibers on
LCM suspension. The design parameters used in these models
included fiber concentration, fiber density, number of fibers per
unit volume, and average fiber length and diameter. The modeling
work discussed in this study also provides methods for tailoring
the suspending-agent properties necessary for achieving effective
LCM suspension in the fluid.
The uniform suspension of LCMs in the carrier treatment or
drilling fluid is necessary during LCM pill preparation and during
wellbore applications, such as a hesitation-squeeze operation.
Thus, the use of fibers to manage the suspension characteristics of
LCMs in carrier fluids can help ensure efficient use of LCMs for
lost-circulation control. This method is particularly important in
severe-loss zones where large-sized LCMs are used, as well as in
HP/HT or inclined wells, where maintaining LCM in suspension
can be challenging.
Introduction
Addition of lost-circulation materials (LCMs) to drilling fluids is
the most frequently used method for lost-circulation control. A
variety of LCMs are used within the industry depending on the
loss rate of the drilling fluid and material availability. Different
types of LCMs include particles, flakes, cement gunk, and chemi-
cal sealants. Three prominent aspects that influence the efficiency
of an LCM application have been studied in literature.
LCM properties, or the material properties of LCMs such as
crush strength or resiliency, have been studied by Kumar et al.
(2010), Growcock et al. (2012), and Scott et al. (2012).
Formation properties, including fracture-width estimation by
use of formation properties such as Young’s modulus and Pois-
son’s ratio, have been studied by Alberty and McLean (2004), van
Oort et al. (2003), Dupriest (2005), and Kumar et al. (2011).
LCM/fluid interaction has been studied for the effect of LCM
addition on equivalent circulating density (Whitfill et al. 2006)
and for the ability of the drilling fluid to suspend LCMs (Kulkarni
et al. 2014).
This study focuses on the LCM/fluid-interaction aspect, and
provides novel methods to address the suspendability challenge
for large LCM particulates that had been demonstrated in previ-
ous literature (Kulkarni et al. 2014). The novel methods presented
in this study involve experiments and modeling to show that sus-
Copyright V
C 2015 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 170271) was accepted for presentation at the SPE Deepwater Drilling and
Completions Conference, Galveston, Texas, 10-11 September 2014, and revised for
publication. Original manuscript received for review 5 July 2014. Revised manuscript
received for review 19 May 2015. Paper peer approved 22 July 2015.
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pending agents, such as fibers, of specific characteristics can
reduce the settling tendencies of the large LCM particulates. The
reduction of settling tendencies of LCMs (or improved suspend-
ability) can help ensure uniform suspension of LCMs in the pill-
preparation tank and proper suspension of LCMs in a wellbore
annulus during a lost-circulation control operation.
Rajabian et al. (2005) illustrated that the addition of fibers in
smaller concentrations (less than 1 vol%) into the fluid does not
significantly alter its fluid rheology. Studies in oilfield literature
(Ahmed and Takach 2008) agree with these findings, where no
significant effect on fluid rheology was observed when fibers were
added in small concentrations (viscosity increase less than 5%).
However, the addition of fibers in those small amounts signifi-
cantly affects the settling tendencies of the particulates (i.e.,
LCMs in a fluid, as presented in this work).
Management of suspension properties of the LCMs with the
help of carefully engineered suspending agents (i.e., fibers) can
provide a significant improvement to LCM technology. This can
minimize corresponding downtime as well as help prevent well-
bore-stability-related issues. This work can also be a part of a dril-
ling-fluid design and help reduce costly and time-consuming trial-
and-error attempts to design LCM treatments.
Theory: Suspendability Modeling
Derived from the literature (Chhabra 2007), a suspendability
index has been defined for measuring the degree of suspension of
a lost-circulation-material (LCM) particle (ability to resist set-
tling) in an unsheared (or weakly sheared) viscoplastic drilling
fluid, as shown in Eq. 1:
Si ¼ f ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ
where f signifies LCM properties, including qp ; dp ; sfp , and fluid
properties, including q; s0 .
LCM Properties. qp is the density of the particle, and dp is parti-
cle diameter. The typical nonspherical shapes of the LCMs are
accounted for by the shape factor sfp, which is dependent on the
particle aspect ratio. It was considered that the particle con-
centration was low enough to have no collective influence on the
fluid properties.
Drilling-Fluid Properties. The drilling-fluid density is denoted
by q. Because temperature and pressure can affect the fluid den-
sity, the respective effects of thermal expansion and compressibil-
ity of the drilling fluid on its density were considered when
modeling suspendability. The yield stress of the fluid is denoted
by s0. The s0 value in Eq. 1 can be obtained for the LCM-carrying
drilling fluids in various ways:
• The 10-second or 10-minute gel strength obtained from a
viscometer, such as conventional Fann 35
• Low shear yield point obtained by applying Bingham plastic
model to low shear data from the viscometer
• Herschel-Bulkley yield stress obtained by modeling the
shear-stress vs. shear-rate data from the viscometer
Note that the values depend on the temperature and pressure of
the carrier drilling fluid. Therefore, this parameter was also meas-
ured or adjusted to the desired temperature and pressure condi-
tions. In general, a rheometer may also be used to obtain the
yield-stress property of the drilling fluid.
December 2015 SPE Drilling & Completion
 DC170271 DOI: 10.2118/170271-PA Date: 30-December-15
LCMT
Aged cell
LCMB
Fig. 1—Snapshot of aged cell (glass liner) after aging for 2
hours at 150 F.
Suspendability Index Si. Si is defined as the ability of the LCM
particulates to resist settling in a drilling fluid. In the earlier work
by Kulkarni et al. (2014), several experimental suspendability
tests (the test method described in the Methodology section in this
study) were carried out on various LCM/fluid combinations and
then the experimental data were incorporated in Eq. 1, to derive
semiempirical models that predict the suspendability of an LCM
in a given drilling fluid. The models suggest that the Si parameter,
calculated for a given LCM/fluid system, is indicative of the LCM
suspendability in that fluid. If Si > Sicirt , where Sicirt is the criti-
cal value of the determined Si value from the experimental study,
the particle will not settle in the suspending viscoplastic drilling
fluid. However, if Si < Sicirt , particle settling would begin. The
value of Sicirt is expected to vary with the method of determining
yield stress. The semiempirical models derived by Kulkarni et al.
(2014) and the criteria shown in Table 1 for the Si parameter can
be used to help predict suspendability of an LCM in a given fluid.
For several drilling fluids carrying large and/or high-density
LCM, weak or no suspendability was observed (i.e., Si < 1). In
this work, methods/models are provided to help improve suspend-
ability in those LCM/fluid systems. When fibers are added to the
fluid, they act as suspending agents for the LCM. Thus, the for-
mula for suspendability index must be modified to take into
account the effect of fiber characteristics:
Si ¼ f ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
where f is LCM properties, fluid properties, and suspending agents
such as fiber properties, and the fiber properties are /f ; lf ;
df ; qf ; and sf . The suspendability of the LCM would be influenced
by various fiber characteristics: vol% fiber concentration (/f),
fiber length (lf), fiber diameter (df), fiber density (qf ), fiber number
density (nf), and fiber stiffness (sf). The scaling parameters [e.g.,
fiber-length to LCM-particle-size ratio (lf / dp] and fiber-diameter/
particle-size ratio (df / dp) can also affect fiber contribution to the
LCM suspendability.
Experimental Study: Materials
Drilling Fluid. Lost-circulation-materials (LCMs) and fibers were
tested by use of several fluids in this study; tests conducted with a
Size Sieving Mesh LCM Size dp (µm)
1 –30 mesh +35 mesh 500–600
2 –18 mesh +20 mesh 850–1000
3 –12 mesh +14 mesh 1410–1680
Table 2—Ground-marble LCM particles of different sizes retained
between corresponding sieving meshes.
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Si < 0.5 No suspendability
0.5 ≤ Si < 1 Weak suspendability
Si ≤ 1 Good suspendability
Table 1—Si parameter to determine LCM suspendability in LCM/
fluid systems.
representative fluid are discussed next. Appendix A (Table A-1)
shows formulation for the water-based drilling fluid. After formula-
tion, the drilling fluid was hot-rolled at 150 F for 16 hours before
performing the suspendability tests with the LCM and fibers.
LCM Particulates. LCM particles (ground marble) of specific
size ranges were obtained by sieving different grades of ground
marble, as shown in Table 2. The sample was obtained by use of
a sieving process with US mesh standard test sieves. The density
of the selected ground-marble material was observed to be 2.7 g/
cm3, as obtained from a helium ultrapycnometer.
Fibers. Polypropylene fibers of various lengths (3, 4, 6, 8, and 12
mm) were used in this study. The diameter of these fibers was 21
mm. The poplypropylene density was 0.9 g/cm3. The fibers were
added to the fluid in the amounts of 0.5 to 6 lbm/bbl (ppb).
Experimental Methodology
Fann 35 Viscometer Rheology and Mud Weight. The rheology
of the hot-rolled drilling fluid was measured at 150 F (Appendix B,
Table B-1). It is typically reported in lb/100 ft2. The low shear yield
point was measured as [2(dial reading at 3 rev/min) – (dial reading
at 6 rev/min)]. The 10-second and 10-minute gel strengths were
also measured after leaving the presheared sample under static con-
dition for 10 seconds and 10 minutes, respectively, and then obtain-
ing the maximum dial reading at a 3-rev/min condition. The mud
weight of the fluid was measured by use of a standard mud balance.
Lost-Circulation Material (LCM)/Fiber Uniform Mixing With
Fluid. A selected size of the LCM at a specific concentration (40
ppb, or 4–5 vol%) and the polypropylene fibers of a specific size
and concentration were added to the drilling fluid (of given den-
sity and rheology) and the mixture was mixed thoroughly with a
spatula. The uniform mixture was then poured in a glass liner,
which was kept in a stainless-steel aging cell.
Suspendability Test. The stainless-steel aging cell containing
the LCM/fiber/fluid mixture in a glass liner was placed in the
static oven at 150 F and aged for 2 hours (Fig. 1). After aging, the
system was allowed to cool down in a water bath for 10 minutes.
The distribution of the LCM in the static-aged mixture was
investigated by separating the mixture in the glass liner in two
equal sections: the top and bottom halves. The fluid in the top half
of the liner was slowly poured out to cause minimum disturbance
in the fluid. The LCM quantities in each section were separated
from fluid mixture by filtering it through a 50-mesh US standard
test sieve and washing the LCM/fiber on the sieve with water to
remove any adhered mud. Usually, the fibers are also washed
away with mud during cleaning. The separated LCM particles
were dried in an oven at 220 F and then cooled and weighed.
The quantities of LCM in the retained top- and bottom-half
sections of the glass liner were indicated as LCMT and LCMB,
respectively. The degree of LCM suspendability is quantified in
Eq. 3 in terms of percentage of LCM retention in the top-half sec-
tion of the glass liner (percentage of LCMT) obtained after the
aging of the sample:
LCMT
Percentage of LCMT ¼  100: . . . . . . . ð3Þ
LCMT þ LCMB
In a situation where there is no (zero) settling of LCM particles
during aging, suspension in the glass liner would remain
311
 DC170271 DOI: 10.2118/170271-PA Date: 30-December-15
T T
LCM Size dp (µm) LCM After Aging (%) Si
500–600 4 8. 5 1. 6
850–1000 45 1 8 m m , 0 .5 p p b
1410–1680 7 0. 57
Table 3—Percentage of LCM retention in top-half section of glass
liner (percentage of LCMT) and Si for suspension of different sizes of
LCM in the selected drilling fluid (17 lbm/gal and low shear yield
point 5 5).
completely uniform (i.e., LCMT  LCMB, or percentage of
LCMT  50%). On the contrary, when all the LCM particles sink
to the bottom during aging, LCMT  0 or percentage of
LCMT  0%. If some partial settling occurs during the aging pro-
cess, then 0% < percentage of LCMT < 50% (considering no
upward motion of LCM in the fluid, because LCM is generally
considered to be heavier than the fluid). For the LCM distribution
after aging, it was considered that a condition of 40% <
percentage of LCMT  50% indicates a good-suspendability con-
dition. Conversely, 5% < percentage of LCMT  40% was con-
sidered to be a weak-suspendability condition and percentage of
LCMT  5% indicated no-suspendability condition. The same
tests were repeated for different sizes/concentrations of the fibers
added along with the LCM particulates to the drilling fluids. The
repeatability of the test results was checked and the observed
standard deviation for the experimental error while measuring the
percentage of LCMT was 6 2%.
Results and Discussion
Lost-Circulation-Material (LCM) Suspension in the Drilling
Fluid (No Fibers Added). First, the ground-marble LCM par-
ticles were tested for suspendability in the selected drilling fluid.
Table 3 shows experimentally obtained percentages of LCMT for
the three different-sized ground marbles added to the drilling fluid
in the amount of 40 ppb. Consistent with the qualitative observa-
tions, small-sized 500- to 600-mm particles and medium-sized
850- to 1000-mm particles demonstrated good suspendability
(40% < percentage of LCMT  50%) in the given fluid. The
large-sized 1180- to 1400-mm particles showed weak suspendabil-
ity (percentange of LCMT  7%).
Table 3 also shows values of the suspendability index Si by
use of Eq. 1 and dependent on the properties of the ground marble
(density and size/shape) and the selected drilling fluid (yield stress
and mud weight) used for the previously discussed experiments. It
was evident that Si  1 for smaller- and moderately sized LCM
showed good suspendability, whereas the suspendability index
was much smaller (Si  0.57) for the larger-sized LCM that
showed weak suspendability. This analysis confirms correlations
developed in the previous work (Kulkarni et al. 2014).
To improve the suspendability of the large ground-marble par-
ticles (1410–1680 mm) in the selected drilling fluid, addition of
fibers was attempted. Several experiments were conducted with
various sizes and concentrations of polypropylene fibers to inves-
tigate the ability of fibers to improve LCM suspendability. The
experimental data were analyzed to develop correlations (by use
of Eq. 2), which could be used to predict LCM suspendability in
the presence of fibers on the basis of fiber characteristics, such as
fiber length/concentration.
Fiber Length and Concentration
T
LCM After Aging (%) Si
6 mm, 1 ppb 7 .9 % 0 .7 5
6 mm, 2 ppb 4 7% 1.1
3 mm, 3 ppb 2 0% 0.8
3 mm, 6 ppb 4 8% 1 defined as nf  l3f , where nf is fiber number density and lf is fiber
Table 5—Experimentally obtained percentage of LCMT and Si for
addition of different amounts of fibers to the LCM/fluid system of
ground-marble LCM (1410–1680 mm) and selected drilling fluid (17
lbm/gal and low shear yield point 5 5).
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Fiber Length and Concentration LCM After Aging (%) Si
4 mm, 0.5 ppb 7.2 0.63
1 8 .7 0 .8
12 mm, 0.5 ppb 43 1 .1
T
Table 4—Experimentally retained percentage of LCM and Si for
addition of different-length fibers to the LCM/fluid system of ground-
marble LCM (1410–1680 mm) and selected drilling fluid (17 lbm/gal
and low shear yield point 5 5).
Effect of Fiber Length on LCM Suspendability. Table 4 illus-
trates that when the concentration of the polypropylene fibers in
the fluid was maintained (0.5 ppb), the length of the fibers signifi-
cantly influenced suspendability of the LCM particulates. With 4-
mm-long fibers, the ground-marble particles (1410–1680 mm)
exhibited effectively no improvement to suspendability (percent-
age of LCMT  7%). On the contrary, suspendability increased to
percentage of LCMT 18.7% when 8-mm-long fibers were used
at the same concentration. The suspendability was further im-
proved drastically—percentage of LCMT  43%, or good sus-
pendability—when 12-mm-long fibers were used (at the same
concentration). Thus, fiber length has significant influence on the
suspendability of LCM particulates.
Table 4 also shows values of the suspendability index Si by
use of Eq. 2, where the experimental data were used to develop
correlations to accommodate the effect of fiber characteristics.
The correlations successfully demonstrate the effect of fiber
length on LCM suspendability. Si only slightly increases (0.57 to
0.63) with the addition of 4-mm fibers (0.5 ppb) to the given
LCM/fluid system. However, with 8-mm-long fibers, Si increases
further (Si  0.80), which is consistent with the corresponding
increase in experimentally obtained percentages of LCMT. The
correlations are further verified where the Si calculations indicated
good suspendability (Si  1) upon the addition of 12-mm fibers of
the same concentration.
Effect of Fiber Concentration on LCM Suspendability. Table 5
shows that the concentration of the fibers significantly influences
the suspendability of the LCM particulates. The experimental data
showed that the suspendability of ground-marble particles
(1410–1680 mm) increased from percentages of LCMT  7.9% to
47% when the concentration of the 6-mm-long fibers increased
from 0.5 to 2 ppb. Similarly, the suspendability of the LCM was
observed to increase from percentages of LCMT  20% to 48%
when the concentration of the 3-mm-long fibers increased from 3
to 6 ppb.
Table 5 also shows values of the suspendability index Si by use
of Eq. 2, where the experimental data were used to develop correla-
tions to accommodate the effect of fiber characteristics. The corre-
lations successfully demonstrated the effect of fiber concentration
on the LCM suspendability. The Si calculations showed Si < 1
where addition of fibers with lower concentrations did not improve
the LCM suspendability significantly (percentage of LCMT 
40%). In addition, the Si calculations indicated good suspendability
(Si  1) where the addition of fibers in sufficient concentrations led
to percentage of LCMT > 40%. Note that the change in rheology
attributed to the addition of fibers in the discussed amounts was
less than 10%, as demonstrated in Appendix B.
The discussed work shows that LCM suspendability is influ-
enced by both the length and concentration (ppb or vol%) of
added fibers. The higher the fiber length (up to 12 mm), the lower
the amount of fibers (ppb or vol%) required to achieve good LCM
suspendability. This behavior is captured in modeling by correlat-
ing Si with characteristic dimensionless concentration of the fibers
length. Fig. 2 shows model predictions for how polypropylene
fibers can be used to achieve good LCM suspendability for 1410-
to 1680-mm ground-marble particles in the selected drilling fluid.
Fig. 2 shows that, if the fiber length is 5 mm, a concentration of 2
ppb of these fibers is required to achieve good suspendability of
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7 Conclusions

Fiber Concentration (ppb)

6 • The experimental work demonstrated that lost-circulation-mate-
5
rial (LCM) particles can settle severely in typical drilling fluids
in several cases. Therefore, determination and control of LCM
4 suspendability is important.
3 • LCM suspendability (or settling resistance) in the fluid can be
2
improved by use of suspending agents, such as fibers, of spe-
cific characteristics.
1 • Both length and concentration of added fibers influence LCM
0 suspendability.
3 4 5 8 10 12 • The suspendability-index models were modified to account for
Fiber Length (mm) the effect of fiber characteristics on LCM suspendability, and
the model predictions are in excellent agreement with the ex-
Fig. 2—Length/concentration chart for the amount of polypro- perimental data.
pylene fibers required to achieve good suspendability for 1410-
to 1680-lm ground-marble particles in the selected drilling fluid
• Evaluation of LCM suspension properties and, accordingly,
(17 lbm/gal and low shear yield point 5 5). mitigation of the LCM-settling challenges by use of the dis-
cussed methods/models can help ensure effective lost-circula-
tion control, particularly for high-pressure/high-temperature
and inclined wells.
the LCM. However, if the fiber length is 10 mm, then only 0.75 ppb
of these fibers are sufficient to achieve the same suspension effect.
The correlation can be further extended for application on a Nomenclature
mixture of fibers of different lengths added to the fluid to achieve df ¼ fiber diameter (mm)
LCM suspendability. dp ¼ particle diameter (mm)
lf ¼ fiber length (mm)
Field Application LCM ¼ lost-circulation materials
This refers to a case study at a well drilled through highly frac- LCMB ¼ quantity of LCM retained in the bottom section of the
tured carbonate formations (Mississippi lime formation) in north- glass liner (g)
ern central Oklahoma, USA, where lost-circulation occurrence is LCMT ¼ quantity of LCM retained in the top section of the glass
very common. In this geographical area, during the past 2 years, liner (g)
an average nonproductive time associated with lost circulation nf ¼ fiber number density (mm3)
was as high as 60%. On this particular well, the lost-circulation ppb ¼ pounds per barrel
treatment involved application of several large-sized-particulate sf ¼ fiber stiffness (N/m2)
lost-circulation materials (LCMs) added at high concentrations sfp ¼ particle shape factor
to the fluid to make LCM pills; however, the losses were never Si ¼ suspendability index
cured completely. Si–crit ¼ critical value of the determined value based on the ex-
One possible reason for the LCM pill to be ineffective was perimental study
considered to be the settling of large LCM particulates in the pill, T0 ¼ drilling fluid yield-stress (lbm/100 ft2)
which hinders the right-sized LCMs reaching to the fractures. qp ¼ density of the particle (g/cm3)
Fibers (12-mm length, 1-ppb concentration) were added to the q ¼ drilling fluid density (lbm/gal)
LCM pills expecting that they would prevent LCM settling, /f ¼ fiber concentration (g/cm3)
improving suspendability and LCM effectiveness. qf ¼ fiber density (g/cm3)
The laboratory experimental tests and the previously discussed
derived models confirmed that the addition of fibers to this LCM
pill helped suspension of the LCM particulates (minimized set-
tling); in turn, this also improved the LCM performance on the Acknowledgments
industry-accepted standard laboratory particulate-plugging appa- The authors thank the management of Halliburton for permission
ratus (PPA) test, as shown in Table 6. The slotted disk in the PPA to present this work.
simulates the fractures in the wellbore and the slot-plugging test
is widely used in the industry to test the plugging efficiency of
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Particulate Comb inations PPA Test Result

120-ppb large-sized-particulate LCM Slot remains unplugged, total fluid
loss
120-ppb large-sized-particulate LCM + fibers Slot plugged, minimal fluid loss
(12 mm, 1 ppb)

Table 6— PPA test results (on 2-mm slotted disk at 4,000-psi differential) on particulate combinations
with and without fibers.

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Whitfill, D. L., Jamison, D. E., Wang, M., et al. 2006. New Design Models
and Materials Provide Engineered Solutions to Lost Circulation. Pre-
sented at the SPE Russian Oil and Gas Technical Conference and Ex-
hibition, Moscow, 3–6 October. SPE-101693-MS. http://dx.doi.org/
10.2118/101693-RU.

Appendix A—Formulation of the Base

Drilling Fluid
After formulation, the drilling fluids were hot-rolled at 150 F for
16 hours before performing the suspendability tests with the LCM
particulates.

Additives Concentration (p pb) Mixing Time (minutes)

NaCl brine (2 40, 000 ppm) A s r eq ui re d –
Viscosifier I 0.65 10
Viscosifier II 1 10
Filtration control agent 2.0 10
Barite As required 10
Citric acid/pH adjustment 0.15 5
Mud weight 17 lbm/gal
pH range 9±0.3
Hot roll temperature (16 hours) 150°F

Table A-1—Formulation of base drilling fluid.

Appendix B—Rheology Data for the Formulated

Base Drilling Fluid and With Addition of Fibers to
the Fluid

Base Drilling Fluid + Fibers

Base Drilling Fluid Dial (3 mm, 6 ppb) Dial Reading
2
Reading (lbm/100 ft ) (lbm/100 ft2)
600 rev/min 127 129
300 rev/min 84 85
200 rev/min 67 67
100 rev/min 46 46
6 rev/min 9 10
3 rev/min 7 8
10-second gel 7 8
10-minute gel 9 10
Plastic viscosity ( c p) 43 44
2
Yield point (lbm/100 ft ) 41 41
Low shear yield point (lbm/100 ft2) 5 6
º
Table B-1—Fann 35 rheology data (at 150 F).

314 December 2015 SPE Drilling & Completion

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 DC170271 DOI: 10.2118/170271-PA Date: 30-December-15
Sandeep D. Kulkarni is a principal technical professional with
Halliburton. He has been working for Halliburton Baroid for
approximately 5 years. Kulkarni’s areas of interest include dril-
ling-fluid rheology and hydraulics, lost circulation, cuttings
transport, barite sag, and particle-size measurements. He
holds five granted patents in the area of drilling fluids and has
presented 19 technical papers in various SPE and American
Association of Drilling Engineers conferences. Kulkarni holds a
PhD degree in chemical engineering from City University of
New York.
Dale E. Jamison is a technology fellow with Halliburton for
Baroid, with more than 39 years of industry experience. His pres-
ent research interests and areas include lost circulation, tran-
sient rheology, non-Newtonian hydraulics simulations, and real-
time fluid-testing hardware. Jamison successfully pioneered
the drilling-fluid hydraulics software at Baroid approximately 20
years ago. He holds 37 patents and has authored or contrib-
uted to more than 30 technical papers. Jamison holds a me-
chanical engineering degree from the University of Houston.
December 2015 SPE Drilling & Completion
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Kushabhau D. Teke was formerly a senior scientist with Hallibur-
ton; he was with Halliburton for 6 years, until 2013. Teke’s
research interests include shale inhibition, barite sag, and lost
circulation of drilling fluids. He has authored or coauthored
more than 10 technical papers and holds three patents. Teke
holds a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of
Pune, India.
Sharath Savari is global technical adviser with Halliburton and
has 8 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, all with
Halliburton. He is the subject-matter expert for Halliburton on
lost-circulation prevention, lost-circulation-material solutions,
and field applications. During his career, Savari has authored
or coauthored approximately 25 presentations in various SPE,
American Association of Drilling Engineers, and International
Association of Drilling Contractors conferences. He holds five
patents. Savari has served in a variety of professional capaci-
ties at SPE, including as a steering committee and program
committee member at six SPE conferences and workshops. He
holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering.
315