university of zawia

Faculty of oil and gas engineering

Drilling fluid lab

Experiment
Viscosity

Prepared by:
Supervisor by:
List of contents
1 AIM............................................................................................................................................. 3
2 THEORY.................................................................................................................................... 3
3 APPARATUS AND MATERIALS.............................................................................................. 5
 3.1 APPARATUS......................................................................................................................................5
3.2 MATERIALS...................................................................................................................................6
4 PROCEDURE............................................................................................................................. 6
5 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 7

List of figures
FIGURE (1). BINGHAM PLASTIC MODEL FLUID BEHAVIOR. THE CURVE INTERCEPT POINT WITH THE
SHEAR STRESS WHICH IS CALLED THE YIELD POINT...........................................................................4
FIGURE (2) ELECTRONIC MUD MIXER............................................................................................... 5
FIGURE (3) LAB SPATULA................................................................................................................. 5
FIGURE (4) BEAKER.......................................................................................................................... 5
FIGURE (5) MUD BALANCE............................................................................................................... 5
FIGURE (6) ROTATIONAL VISCOMETER............................................................................................. 5
FIGURE (7) ROTATIONAL VISCOMETER DIAGRAM............................................................................6

List of equation
EQUATION (1) APPARENT VISCOSITY............................................................................................... 4
EQUATION (2) PLACTIC VISCOSITY................................................................................................... 4
EQUATION (3) YIELD POINT............................................................................................................. 4

1 Aim
The aim of experiment is finding a drilling mud viscosity which composed of
bentonite and water using a viscometer.

2 Theory
Drilling mud is a mixture of water and mud (Clay) addition to some other
minerals and special chemical materials called “additives” (Kate, 1998), that used
with water and mixed to maintain well stability during the process of drilling.
Sometimes mud can be non-aqueous regarding to well condition that can be Oil-
Base Mud used. A Successful drilling operation is requiring a good quality of
drilling fluid (Darley et al.,1988).

Rheology is a science which deals with the deformation, flow, and the viscosity of
material under the stress condition. Rheology can integrate the study of liquid and
solid phases but most cases it will deal with problems which related to thick
liquids or pasty solids. One of the most important properties that rheology deals
with is viscosity. Viscosity is a of fluid to flow; which determines the movement
speed of the fluid, the higher fluid viscosity means slow movement of that fluid.
The small additional amount of a substance in suspension or solution can increase
the viscosity of fluid. The highly fluid viscosity of fluid which greater than gas
viscosity is due to the molecular attraction and closer in liquid phases. Also,
should note that the viscosity is inversely varies with temperature (Björn, 2012).

Drilling fluids can be classified into two groups: Newtonian and Non-Newtonian
fluids (Balhoff et al, 2011).

Newtonian Fluids: The fluid used to call Newtonian when its independent of
pressure applied, in other words the deformations are directly proportional to the
stresses. Perfect Newtonian fluid do not exist in real life, it should be assumed a
fluid such as water are common conditions in Newtonian or approaching which
water becomes non-Newtonian in height pressure case. Fore Newtonian fluids the
apparent viscosity maintains a liner relationship between applied stress and strain.

Non-Newtonian Fluids: unlike Newtonians, they are fluids that do not show a
liner relationship between applied stress and strain (Björn, 2012)

Viscosity measurement: Rheological properties such as apparent viscosity, plastic

viscosity, yield point and gel strengths of a non-Newtonian fluid in oil industry;
can be measured using the Bingham Plastic mathematical model (Bingham, 1922).
Equations above can calculate these three rheological properties (Yield point,
Apparent viscosity, Plastic Viscosity) from VG meter reading (e.g., R300 and
R600).

R 600 ……………………………. Equation (1) apparent viscosity

μ a=
2

P V =R 600−R 300 ……………………………. Equation (2) plastic viscosity

Y P=R 300−PV ……………………………. Equation (3) yield point

 µa = apparent viscosity (cP).
Where: PV = plastic viscosity (cP)
YP = yield point (lb/100 ft2)

Figure (1). Bingham plastic model fluid behavior. the curve intercept point with the shear
stress which is called the yield point

3 Apparatus and Materials

3.1 Apparatus

• Electronic mud mixer: Is a device used to mix liquid with solid particles. Shown
in Figure (2)
• Lab Spatula: Used to mix mud and water manually Shown in Figure (3)
• Beaker: is a cylindrical container used to measure volume of a liquid Shown in
Figure (4)
• Mud balance: is a device used to measure mud density Shown in Figure (5)
• Rotational Viscometer set: Is a device used to measure viscosity of drilling fluid
using rotational technic Shown in Figure (6) and Figure (7)
Figure (2) electronic mud mixer Figure (3) lab spatula Figure (4) beaker

Figure (5) mud balance Figure (6) rotational viscometer

3.2 Materials
• Water
• Mud

4 Procedure

1. A drilling mud should be prepared and for being sure its fully mixed, should
bring it to mud mixer, if it was about to stuck; add some water to the mud for
lowering density.
2. After mud was good mixed, clean and dry all viscometer parts such as rotor, bop,
and cup (to remove rotor: rotate clockwise and pull down, to replace rotor: align
 slot and groove with lock pin, then push upward and lock into place by turning
anti-clockwise).
3. Now fill the mud into the cup until the marked line on the cup.
4. Tight rotor and inner cylinder shaft.
5. Then put the cup on the stand and be sure all pines have fixed to the holes.
6. Now raise the cup using a stand base until the mud covers the line mentioned on
the rotor.
7. Turn on gear switch and give 600-300 RPM on rotary speed setting.
8. Now using the motor speed switch (toggle) make it on 600RPM.
9. Read number on Deflection Dial and record it.
10. Now switch the speed to 300 RPM.
11. Read the Deflection Dial and record it.
12. Use the equations 1, 2, and 3 to find the rheological properties value.

5 Conclusion Figure (7) rotational viscometer diagram

This experiment can conclude that, rheological properties such as mud
viscosity and yield point are a very important parameters for a drilling
mud and by using a rotational viscometer with some equations as
mentioned can determine apparent and plastic viscosity and also the yield
point.