US 12,152,450 B2
Benchtop rig hydraulics similitude
Amin Mehrabian, University Park, PA (US); Wei Zhang, University Park, PA (US); and Pooya Khodaparast, University Park, PA (US)
Assigned to The Penn State Research Foundation, University Park, PA (US)
Appl. No. 18/560,197
Filed by The Penn State Research Foundation, University Park, PA (US)
PCT Filed May 25, 2022, PCT No. PCT/US2022/072554
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 10, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/251841, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 1, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/202,112, filed on May 27, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0263532 A1, Aug. 8, 2024
Int. Cl. E21B 21/08 (2006.01); E21B 47/06 (2012.01)
CPC E21B 21/08 (2013.01) [E21B 47/06 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A flow loop system for estimating wellbore bottomhole pressure or circulation density, comprising:
an eccentric annulus structure, comprising an inner eccentric and rotating pipe and an outer pipe, the inner eccentric pipe representative of a drill string in a wellbore, the outer pipe representative of the wellbore;
a pressure sensor configured to measure pressure loss gradients of annular flows between the inner eccentric pipe and the outer pipe; and
a wellbore circulation density processing module configured to estimate the wellbore's bottomhole pressure based on the measured loss gradients of annular flows, fluid flow rate, particle injection rate, rotation speed of the inner eccentric pipe, and eccentricity of the inner eccentric pipe.