Numerical Analysis of a Hybrid-Type Rotary Steerable System

Abstract

As the interest in the unconventional energy has increased, horizontal drilling technology has been developed dramatically. Directional drilling is a technology for changing a propagation direction during drilling. There is a technology for horizontal drilling, called rotary steerable system (RSS). The representative examples are the push-the-bit and the point-the-bit. In the research, described in this paper, a new hybrid-type RSS is developed, and the finite element analysis of the RSS is performed. A prototype of the hybrid-type RSS is designed, and the prototype is tested numerically in the condition that is similar to the actual environment. Because the production cost of the hybrid-type RSS is great, and the field test takes significant amounts of time and cost, the verification is conducted using the finite element method for the purpose of estimation of the performance and the stability of the RSS.