Efficiency of drilling large diameter wells with cutter bits on Szczerców opencast

Drilling of large diameter wells to be used for dewatering of lignite deposits is inefficient due to the presence of large packages of loose Quaternary and Tertiary strata. Moreover, considerable dewatering of the rock mass favors serious complications and drilling break-downs connected with the sliding of wellbore walls. Accordingly, new technical and technological solutions, which enable faster drilling, are searched for. In this way the time of operation of drilling mud on the near-wellbore zone can be shortened and the safety of drilling works increased. For the sake of obtaining higher rates of drilling in large diameter dewatering wellbores a new cutter bit 0.96 m of diameter was designed. Drillability tests in industrial conditions followed. These tests were performed in separated, loose and low-compaction, macroscopically homogeneous rocks of similar drillability. The tests were performed on selected sections 0.3 to 1.0 m long, and each of the sections was drilled at constant rotational velocity and weight on bit. Prior to these tests there were established limitations regarding weight on bit and rotational velocity of the bit, in reference to the technical characteristic of the rig, strength of the string and the cutter bit. Two different regression models were considered to find a dependence of mechanical drilling rate on weight on bit and rotational velocity of the bit for selected macroscopically homogeneous strata. The most favorable results were obtained for a power model representing impact of axial stress and rotational velocity of the bit on the drilling rate. They have been confirmed by calculated regression coefficients and statistical parameters. Industrial tests were performed to assess the efficiency of drilling large diameter dewatering wells with a cutter bit of 0.96 m diameter on the basis of the presented model of average drilling rate. The results for the average drilling rate turned out to be much higher than the ones obtained so far.