RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

VBM'S CENTRAL LABORATORY

Unique knowledge and skills of personnel along with the contemporary analytical equipment provide a solid foundation for VBM's Central Laboratory to conduct in-depth inspection of several hundreds of types of materials as well as semi-finished products and finished goods.

 Our Lab is equipped with:

  • inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer for chemical composition study;
  • atomic absorption spectrometer;
  • spectrophotometer;
  • carbon analyzers;
  • viscometers;
  • penetrometers;
  • devices for determining the flash point and dropping point;
  • devices for determining particle size distribution;
  • wide range of hardness testing machines;
  • optical microscopes;
  • image analyzer;
  • laboratory furnaces;
  • analytical balances;
  • mechanical properties testing machines, etc.

Not only does the laboratory provide precise evidence of quality compliance at each stage of the manufacturing process, one of its routine yet crucially important functions is analysis of used drill tools, this allows our engineering team and manufacturing subdivision to receive comprehensive feedback thus enabling continuous improvement.

 

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION ANALYSIS

Spectro-chemical analysis at all production stages helps to compare the actual content of any material with the required values, and to prevent low quality materials application that may affect strength characteristics of the finished products.

MICRO AND HARDNESS MEASUREMENT

One of the tests applied to tungsten carbide inserts and hard-facing materials used for protection of bit legs and milled teeth is the measure of hardness and micro-hardness. Hardness gradient of bit bearings and cones is also measured. Modern high accuracy equipment and advanced software are used for designing and manufacturing of reliable VBM bits.

METALLORGRAPHIC SURVEY

Bit bearing durability is one of the key factors that affects drill bit performance. Chemical and heat treatment are both applied to enhance bit bearing performance followed by 50-1500-power microscope-assisted metallurgical survey. Silver-plated parts of the bearing are checked with an image analyzer IA-32, which defines a grain size (10-200 μm) and coating thickness (20-30 μm) with visualization eliminating the risk of personal assessment. Such studies ensure that only high quality components are used for manufacturing.

BIT PERFORMANCE MODELLING

In the bit design process we use software for automated drafting of well profile and bottom-hole coverage, evaluation of dulling characteristics, selection of optimal parameters of bit hydraulics, load balancing to improve bit steerability as well as analysis of field test results using advanced statistical processing methods. Moreover, we also use benchmark tests, which enable physical modelling of a drill bit bottom-hole performance to check and improve software math algorithms. Application of these methods enables the reduction of lead-time for new bit designs, improves their efficiency and reliability due to optimizing development and technology parameters at the design stage, as well as providing an opportunity for manufacturing bits suitable for specific applications according to drilling environment and lithology.

WELLCAD SOFTWARE

WellCad is a software which provides processing and visualization of log data, drilling modes, well trajectory and design. Basic module delivers data input and output, visualization of logs, data interpretation, strip logs and statistics processing. Additional modules provide quick well data correlation and simultaneous 2D and 3D visualization of several wellbores. WellCad application allows to reveal the relation between the numerous forces influencing the performance results and use them for selection and optimization of rock cutting tools and drilling parameters.

BITSCAN SOFTWARE

For bit design, selection and optimization, BitScan software developed by DrillScan is used. The software complex incorporates: • design and simulation module which enables to make a forecast of bit performance characteristics in actual well applications (including ROP, MSE, wear, torque, steerability); • sensitivity module in which bit design is analyzed, and some designs are compared to make the best choice for the specific applications (it also enables to review both bit behavior in general and each individual cutter); • post-analysis module in which detailed drilling analysis is carried out based on log data, bit performance results versus lithology, MSE calculation and finding correlations. Using BitScan software helps to select the optimum bit design to meet customer's tasks and make performance forecast with high accuracy.

443004, Russian Federation, Samara,
1, Groznenskaya Str. 
Tеl. / Fax: +7 (846) 300-8000

mail@vbm.ru
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