One of the biggest questions to come out of the Macondo blowout in the Gulf of Mexico dealt with the effectiveness of the cement job. The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) has taken on that problem with a research project with the University of Houston to develop "smart" cementing materials and drilling muds.

"What we're trying to do is bring in new technologies that can be utilized to improve drilling mud and cement. The challenge that we are now facing is that we cannot monitor the installation operation. The question is that you do not know how good the installation is or if there is a problem," said Vipu Vipulanandan, director, Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology, University of Houston.

One of the unique aspects of this project is that it is designed to provide information from the cement throughout the life of the well. Imagine being able to monitor a cement job as conditions in the well change over its lifetime.

The researchers are looking for materials that can be measured for changes in electrical resistance. The "sensing" materials would be mixed with the drilling mud or cement. "Not only are we developing a sensing material, but we are also going to build a simple monitoring system that can be used to tell you exactly what is going on with the drilling mud or cement," Vipulanandan said.

The sensing material would allow the measurement of changes in electrical resistance during drilling, placement, setting, and hardening in real time.

The sensing material in the drilling mud would allow the driller to more quickly identify circulation loss and react to the problem. For cementing, the operator would be able to determine where the top of the cement is, any voids in the cement job, and problems with cracking or temperature changes.

The university researchers will be working with Baker Hughes on the project, which started in August 2012 and is expected to be completed in 2014.

The researchers will be testing smart materials such as nanotechnology, polymers, surfactants, and conductive fiber and filler to select materials for further tests.

"We are looking at new technology to make sure we can sense the materials. We want to monitor resistance and temperature and then develop a relationship for how to interpret what is going on in the materials," Vipulanandan said. Currently, researchers are modifying mud and cement – without changing those properties – with piezo-chemical resistive materials.

Vipulanandan is excited about the project and what it could provide, especially in ultra-deepwater operations. This will be an interesting project
to watch.

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