When Smith Bits, a Schlumberger company, introduced the IDEAS integrated drillbit design platform, the company sought to create a more accurate drilling modeling tool that also could be used to increase the speed at which the drillbit product development cycle was completed. The drillbit product development cycle, which has historically been extremely long, includes three primary phases: design, manufacturing, and field-testing.

“Just one product iteration can take several months,” Wiley Long, drilling optimization manager for Smith Bits, said. “Without a good drillbit design tool, multiple iterations may be required to create a successful design. By using the IDEAS platform to help us design bits, we are able to complete the field-testing phase in the virtual drilling environment.”

The IDEAS platform won the drillbits category of Hart Energy’s 2009 Meritorious Awards for Engineering Innovation. Previous drillbit design platforms performed bit design without considering the drillstring or the bottomhole assembly (BHA). “The IDEAS platform, however, is capable of modeling the dynamics of the entire drillstring from bit to surface,” Long said. “This results in a bit design that works in harmony with the entire drilling system.”

The design platform also incorporates a proprietary method to account for the interaction between the drillbit and formation. Unlike other design platforms, which use formulas that estimate the forces at the bit and its cutting elements, the IDEAS platform incorporates polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter scrape tests and insert indentation tests performed on rock samples. The forces generated from these tests are then integrated into the design platform to provide a realistic representation of bit-rock interaction.

Since its introduction, the design platform has been fully embedded into the company’s engineering culture. The company also has created an internal service that allows field-based engineering and sales teams to quickly request and receive the platform’s studies for their local drilling applications. “The IDEAS service exists so the engineering teams around the world can quickly select and validate the drilling products, BHA configurations, and drilling parameters used in their local drilling applications,” Long said. “The results of each simulation are provided in user-friendly charts and tables so they can be easily interpreted, analyzed, and presented.”

When selecting PDC bits to be run on the Schlumberger PowerDrive Archer high build-rate rotary steerable system (RSS), which is capable of creating very high dogleg severity when compared to other RSS tools, special consideration must be taken when selecting the bit design. Smith Bits created a workflow to ensure that all bits planned to be run with the RSS meet strict IDEAS-based selection criteria. “The selection process ensures that the best bit is used in terms of drillbit stability, steerability, and ROP,” Long said. Since first using the RSS and the design platform in 2012, the company has successfully completed customer run objectives 97% of the time.

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