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DRAG CALCULATIONS IMPROVE EFFICIENCY OF HYDRAULIC JARS 03/29/1993

Thor Viggo Aarrestad

Statoil Stavanger

Using drag calculations helps accurately determine the maximum hook load for optimal over-pull force during jarring
operations. The driller then has a better chance of freeing stuck pipe on the first jarring attempt.

Several operational situations demonstrate how these calculations allow the over-pull force on the jar during operation
to be increased by 40% compared to calculations involving the weight of the drillstring only. The drag calculation
method significantly increases the probability of successful jarring operations.

This article concentrates on upward jarring; the results and procedures are applicable, however, for downward jarring as
well.

The magnitude of the force that a jar is capable of delivering is directly linked to the applied force on the jar during
operation. For an hydraulic jar, the over-pull force is set by the driller with increase in the hook load to a given value.

The increase in hook load is determined by the weight of the drillstring, the maximum allowed tension on the drill pipe,
and the maximum allowed over-pull on the jar. Because the jar strikes with several times the over-pull force, the
optimum jar performance occurs if the actual over-pull force is increased to the maximum allowed over-pull on the jar.

Stuck pipe is a costly drilling problem, and much effort and technology are used to avoid the condition. Whenever such
situations occur, a precise reaction from the driller will increase the probability of freeing the pipe.

Well-timed jarring with adequate force is critical in freeing stuck pipe early.

Excluding patents, publications on jarring and jars are scarce. Since 1975, only about 15-20 papers and articles on jarring
operations have been published. (Eleven are listed in the references at the end of this article.) The main concerns in
most of these publications are the dynamics and impact at the stuck point.

Only two references cover the influence of drag on the planning of setting correctly the over-pull force on the jar.4 10

However, the only comment on the influence of drag is "Drag is usually estimated to be 10% of the buoyed string weight
above the jar." For highly deviated wells, this factor considerably underestimates the drag influence.

DEVIATED WELLS

Many wells drilled today are much more complicated and have longer extended reaches than many drillers thought
possible only a few years ago. For example, in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, several wells have been drilled
with more than 6,000 m (19,680 ft) horizontal displacement from the platform.11

Wells with 60-90 inclination angles are drilled on a regular basis. In such high angle wells, a much higher influence of
drag can be expected than indicated in previous references.4

An important feature of a jar is that the greater its tension before firing, the harder it strikes. From the load force to the
actual impact force, the amplification factor can be in the order of three.

For example, an additional 30 tons triggering force may therefore result in an actual impact force of up to 100 tons
greater.
For extended reach drilling, the drag force can be much greater than 10% of the string weight. In these wells, including
the drag calculations in the extra impact force may be the difference between free pipe and a continued stuck pipe.

When stuck pipe occurs, the immediate reaction from the driller is important. After only a short time the friction
between the stuck drillstring and well bore may increase.

A procedure enabling the driller to use the drilling jar at its optimum on the first jarring attempt may considerably
increase the probability of freeing the stuck pipe.

PROCEDURE

During the planning of a well, the drilling engineer typically calculates the torque and drag for the planned well path.
Torque and drag plots are useful for the engineer to evaluate optimal well paths and to discover critical parts of the well
for smooth drilling.

The different hole sizes and bottom hole assemblies (BHAs) can be taken into consideration, and the hook loads for up
and down movement of the drillstring may then be calculated for the whole well.

A slightly different situation occurs during planning for jarring operations. Most operating companies demand to have a
jar included in the drillstring in case of stuck pipe. During well planning, the engineers can then calculate hook loads for
different jar over-pull forces.

These calculations are slightly different from torque and drag calculations, because at the stuck point area there is no
movement of the drillstring. Drillstring movement is necessary for calculating drag.

For practical purposes, one may assume that the drillstring is moving above the stuck point. If the jar is above the stuck
point, the over-pull on the jar can then be calculated with the given tension at the stuck point. This assumption is
important for an engineer reasonably to calculate the drag along the drillstring when the pipe is stuck.

The following procedure can then be used:

 Assume a given tension at the stuck point

 Calculate the corresponding over-pull on the jar and the hook load

 Repeat the calculations for necessary values of tension at the stuck point.

HIGH ANGLE WELL

Fig. 1 shows the hook load calculations from this procedure for a highly deviated well at a measured depth of 2,778 m.
The inclination of the well is about 60.

The lower line in Fig. 1 is the linear hook load from the neutral point at the jar to 80-tons over-pull on the jar without
accounting for drag. The hook load for neutral point at the jar in operation was estimated as 100 tons.

In this example, the driller was advised to increase the maximum applied hook load to 180 tons because this jar could
withstand 80 tons over-pull. The calculations with a torque and drag simulator, however, indicate an over-pull on the jar
of only 50 tons with a 180-ton hook load.

With the procedure outlined in this article, the over-pull on the jar was increased by approximately 30 tons compared to
that from calculations ignoring drag. This increase in over-pull corresponds to about 100 tons extra impact force at the
stuck point.

In addition, the difference of the impact on the rig itself, 2,800 m above the jar, was felt by the crew. If 10% of the
drillstring weight (that is, 10 tons) had been added, the additional achieved impact force would have been at most 30
tons.
To plan for the entire well, the drilling engineer may only need to repeat the calculations at several measured depth
locations. The number of these calculations will increase with the number of hole sections and the length of the
sections.

For practical purposes, the number of calculation points will not be greater than one each for the start and end of each
section with at most one calculating point/100 m in between.

During jar operation, the force may come close to the allowed static load on the drill pipe. The highest loads on the drill
pipe are at the rig floor.

When the static loads are near the tensile limits of the drill pipe, the driller and engineer may become anxious about the
load on drill pipe because of the shock wave traveling in the drillstring when the jar fires.

In most situations, the shock wave from the jar impact will not give any additional loads on the drill pipe compared to
the static loads imposed before the jar fires.12

Fig. 1 also shows the difference in weight calculations for a drillstring with added maximum allowed jar over-pull.
Although the weight of the drillstring may be 100 tons moving the string requires an additional force to overcome the
friction along the string.

With no over-pull on the jar (left axis of Fig. 1), the effect of the drag is comparable with the 10% effect.4 However, the
difference is significantly greater at large over-pulls on the jar.

The underestimation of the drag effect may result in inefficient operation of the jar.

MAXIMUM OVER-PULL

Fig. 2 is an example of planning for maximum over-pull force. The figure includes a 12 1/4-in. section followed by an 8
1/2-in. section.

This well has a typical S path with virtually no change in the azimuth. The maximum deviation angle was approximately
55. The 9 5/8-in. casing depth was about 3,300 m.

The hook load is given as a function of measured depth. There is a marked change in the hook load curves at the section
change from 12 1/4-in. to 8 1/2-in. because of the lower friction along the string and the drop in allowed maximum over-
pull force in the change from an 8-in. jar to a 6 1/2-in. jar.

The two lowest curves correspond to hook loads for neutral point at the jar and neutral point at the jar plus maximum
allowed over-pull added directly to the hook load. The second highest curve is the hook load corresponding to neutral
point at the jar plus maximum over-pull plus 10% drillstring weight, both added directly to the hook load. The fourth
curve corresponds to the hook load incorporating drag calculations.

For the shallow part of the well, the difference in the maximum force with and without drag calculations is rather small;
the difference increases with increasing depth, however.

The three methods for calculating maximum allowed hook load for jarring operations produce significantly different
results for this rather standard well.

The lowest curve in Fig. 2 is the planned hook load corresponding to zero over-pull on the jar. The drop in hook load at
the section change is not visible, and it only reflects the change in friction at that point. This curve can be used to reset
the jar. To set the jar for a new operation, the driller must lower the hook load to less than this value.

If the up weight measured starts to deviate from that indicated by the lowest curve in Fig. 2, a hole-cleaning problem or
similar problems may be developing. Corrective action according to procedures must then be taken.

In addition, one should take such indications from the well into consideration for extra drag if the pipe becomes stuck.
The added drag in up weight will certainly be present as an additional effect if the pipe is stuck.
IMPACT FORCE

Fig. 3 shows the effects of the methods on impact force at the stuck point.

The diagonal curve indicates the simulated impact force for a bit at 3,000 m. The important features of this figure are
the three horizontal curves which are impact forces for hook load corresponding to the neutral point at the jar plus
maximum over-pull on the jar, neutral point at the jar plus maximum over-pull on the jar plus 10% weight of string, and
maximum over-pull with drag calculations.

The difference between the impact forces is about 20 tons between the added maximum over-pull and the added
maximum over-pull plus 10% drillstring weight. Between the 10% added string weight and the maximum with drag
calculations, the difference is about 90 tons. This is on the same order as the production calculations in Fig. 1.

To calculate the correct drag along the string, one must know the friction factor. The friction factor can be calculated
from measurements of the up and down weight of a drillstring at a given depth. The corresponding calculations can be
adjusted to the measured results by a change in the friction factor.

Fig. 4 shows the importance of the friction factor on drag. The calculations were for a given depth for a planned well
with a smooth well path. At zero over-pull on the jar, the differences in hook load for friction factors of 0.20, 0.24, and
0.30 are not remarkably large. However, the differences increase for increasing over-pull on the jar.

EXTENDED-REACH WELLS

Statoil has drilled several extreme long-reach wells in which torque and drag calculations were used both in the planning
of the wells and during drilling.11 Low frictional effects were necessary to drill these extended reach wells. Thus, the
jarring mass was chosen to be heavy weight drill pipe, not drill collars.

The impact force usually will be lower with heavy weight drill pipe than with drill collars as the jarring mass.

To use the jar at its best, the maximum allowable over-pull should therefore be used. Fig. 5 shows the hook load
calculations for low friction (that is, friction factors around 0.17) and relatively low enhancement of the over-pull to
impact force for the 12 1/4-in. section of a highly deviated well, similar to the calculations for the S-shaped well.

Fig. 6 shows the impact forces at 5,600 m for the following calculation methods: maximum over-pull with drag
calculations, neutral point at the jar plus maximum over-pull plus 10% of drillstring weight, neutral point at the jar plus
maximum over-pull, and the simulation run.

Even for this well with a very low friction effect and rather low jarring mass efficiency, it is possible to gain more than 50
tons with the full drag calculation methods compared to method that uses 10% added string weight.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Although this discussion has been directed towards the use of hydraulic jars, similar planning is applicable to the use of
mechanical jars. The only difference is that the over-pull force must be set on the jar before it is placed in the BHA. If a
mechanical jar is preset too high, however, one may not be able to trigger it at all. Thorough planning with numerous
computer calculations for drag can also discover such problems beforehand.

 For vertical wells and wells with short-to-medium extended reach, the previously published suggestions with an
additional 10% weight for drag may give reasonable over-pull force on the jars.

 For extended-reach wells and especially horizontal wells, the drag can be several times greater than the 10%
added weight. This method may result in too small of an over-pull force used on the jars. The impact force at the
stuck point will therefore not be the maximum achievable impact force.

 The outlined procedure for calculating the optimal over-pull force with drag calculations is easy to use and can
be performed during planning of the well path.
  By using this procedure, the driller can apply maximum allowed over-pull force on the first use of the jar.
Because time is important in trying to free stuck pipe, the probability of getting free is increased with the use of
this method.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author would like to thank Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil) for permission to publish this article.

REFERENCES

1. Kyllingstad, A., and Halsey, G.W., "Performance testing of jars," SPE/IADC paper 20001, presented at the
SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Houston, Feb. 27-Mar. 2, 1990.

2. Kyllingstad, A, and Slordal, L.H., "Performance testing of Jar Accelerators," SPE paper 19557, presented at the
64th Annual SPE Technical Conference, San Antonio, Oct. 8-11, 1989.

3. Wang, J.K., Kalsi, M.S., Chapelle, R.A., and Beasley, T.R., "A practical approach to jarring analysis," SPE/IADC
paper 16155, presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, New Orleans, Mar. 15-18, 1987.

4. Askew, W.E., "Computerised drilling jar placement," SPE/IADC paper 14746, presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling
Conference, Dallas, Feb. 10-12, 1986.

5. Lerma, M.K., "A study of how heavy-weight drill pipe affects jarring operations," SPE paper 14326, presented at
the 60th Annual SPE AIME Technical Conference, Las Vegas, Sept. 22-25, 1985.

6. Brown, M.C., "Using bumper subs, jars and intensifiers," Drilling Contractor, Vol. 41, No. 4, April 1985.

7. Kalsi, M.S., Wang, J.K., and Chandra, U., "Transient dynamic analysis of the drillstring under jarring operations by
the FEM," SPE Drilling Engineering, March 1987.

8. Schmid, J.T. Jr, "Designing BHAs for better drilling jar performance," World Oil, Vol. 195, No. 5, October 1982.

9. Friedman, M.B., Skeem, M.R., and Walker, B.H., "Drillstring dynamics during jar operation," Journal of Petroleum
Technology, Vol. 31, No. 11, November 1979.

10. Adelung, D., Askew, W., Bernardini, J., Campbell, A.T. Jr., Chaffin, M., Hensley, R., Kirton, B., and Reese, R., "Jars,
Jarring and Jar Placement," Oilfield Review, October 1991, pp. 52-61.

11. Njaerheim, A., and Tjotta, H., "New world record in extended-reach drilling from platform Statfjord C," SPE/IADC
paper 23849, presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, New Orleans, Feb. 18-21, 1992.

12. Aarrestad, T.V., and Kyllingstad, A, "Loads on drill pipe during jarring operations," paper presented at Europec
92, Cannes, France, Nov. 16-18, 1992.

Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.