Thermal behaviour of geothermal wells using mud and air–water mixtures as drilling fluids

Abstract This paper describes a comparative study of the thermal behaviour of drilling fluids and the surrounding rock when air–water mixtures and conventional muds are used as drilling fluids in geothermal wells. The computations were performed with two numerical simulators: TEMLOPI/V.2, which is used to compute the transient temperature disturbance when mud is employed, and GEOMIST, which is used when air–water mixtures are employed as drilling fluid. Data from a well from the Las Tres Virgenes Mexican geothermal field are used in this analysis. The results of simulation include temperatures computed during circulation and shut-in, and the latter results are compared with temperatures logged during drilling stoppages. It was found that the thermal disturbance caused by circulation of an air–water mixture has a smaller thermal effect than the thermal disturbance caused by drilling muds.

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