Study of the Influence of Microwave Irradiation on Hard Formation Property Alteration Through Nondestructive/Destructive Tests and Drilling/Coring Operations

Abugharara, Abdelsalam N. A. and Butt, Stephen and Mafazy, Salum (2023) Study of the Influence of Microwave Irradiation on Hard Formation Property Alteration Through Nondestructive/Destructive Tests and Drilling/Coring Operations. In: ASME 2023 42nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, June 11–16, 2023, Melbourne, Australia.

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Abstract

Enhancing the Drilling Rate of Penetration (D-ROP) is a target for lowering the ultimate cost in reaching hydrocarbon reservoirs, evaluating reservoir formation, and extracting minerals and reducing rock crushing consumed energy through mining operations. It has been reported that ROP can be positively influenced depending on optimization of several factors such as drilling parameters alteration and rock fragmentation process. In this research, D-ROP is evaluated by altering the status of the formations being drilled by the use of Microwave Irradiation (MI) while all other applied parameters are kept constant. Unlike published works, this research collectively investigates the influence of MI on D-ROP of hard formation providing confirmation on rock property alteration through non-destructive tests including ultrasonic wave velocities measurement and destructive tests including Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS). Results show gradual alteration in rock properties as per MI exposure time including a reduction in P-wave and S-wave velocity, a decrease in Young’s Modulus of elasticity (E) as well as Poisson’s ratio (v). Results also show formation fractures occur when exposed to MI, which lead to a decrease in the rock strength and ultimately lead to the increase of D-ROP.

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