syllabus

The University of Texas at Austin Introduction to Drilling and Drilling Automation

Fall, 2014

Lectures:

Time: TTh, 2:00 – 2:50 PM

Location: Tues: BEN 1.106, Thurs JGB 2.201 Instructor: Mitch Pryor

Email: mpryor@https://www.sodocs.net/doc/eb225979.html,

Phone: (512) 471-5182

Office: BWY 301 / MER 2.206T

Office Hours: T 10-12 & 1-2 in BWY 201

Course Overview: Modern drilling for oil or natural gas is a multidisciplinary endeavor involving engineers from virtually every engineering discipline: petroleum, chemistry, mechanical, environmental, mechatronics, civil, fluids, thermodynamics controls, etc. This creates an exciting yet challenging environment for engineers interested in learning a wide range of skills applicable to large scale engineering projects often in remote locations.

The purpose of this class will be to gain a basic intuition for and understanding for the fundamental components, mechanics, and engineering principles for modern drilling activities. In a full length drilling course, the following topics would be covered: ?Drilling history and rig equipment

?Well delivery and drilling basics

?Drill bits and drillstring design

?Directional drilling and surveying

?Drilling fluids and hydraulics

?Cementing, Casing and casing design

?Well control, kicks, and kick response

?Drilling problems and mitigation

?Case studies: Macondo, etc.

?New technologies and drilling automation

This course cannot cover all the topics above, so it will focus on an introduction to the fundamentals (components and physics), a relatively deep dive into one topic (drill string design), and review of advanced topics in drilling automation.

Official Course Description: This short course will introduce the primary components of a rig for drilling wells on land or offshore as well as fundamental engineering concepts of well-control. Design of one critical component (the drill string) will be discussed in more depth before finishing with a brief review of recent efforts to modernize and automate rig operations. There will be no exam, but one homework assignment on drilling fundamentals and a short take-home project on drill string design. Course Outline: This course will consist of 6 lectures which will introduce students to the following concepts.

?What are the drill rig’s fundamental components, their operation and their interaction?

?Drilling fundamentals

?Drill string design I

?Drill string design II

?Drilling simulation lab tour (tentative)

?Introduction to Drilling Automation

A significant amount of time will be used to present examples and lessons learned from actual drilling activities.

Homework and Exams: In this class there will be one homework assignment and one take-home exam. Attendance will be taken during class and will be considered as part of the class participation in the weighting below. Late homework cannot be accepted so that homework results can be discussed in future lectures. The weighting will be as follows:

?Homework Assignment: 30%

?Take-home exam: 60%

?Class participation: 10%

Text and References: No text is required for this course. For the complete course the text used is Fundamentals of Drilling Automation by Robert F. Mitchell and Stefan Z. Miska. It was published in 2011 by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and is Volume 12 in their textbook series.

Course Policies: Collaboration with other students is encouraged. All work submitted for credit, however, must be your own. Late homework assignments will not be accepted. Any evidence of plagiarism or other forms of scholastic dishonesty will be grounds for a failing grade in the course. Assignments must be neat and easy for the grader to follow. Unclear, undocumented, or unorganized assignments may be returned without credit.

Disabilities:The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, appropriate academic adjustments for qualified students with disabilities. The University of Texas at Austin provides, upon request, appropriate academic adjustments for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4241 TDD or the College of Engineering Director of Students with Disabilities at 471-4382.