Use of SiO₂Nanoparticles in Water-Based Drilling Fluids for Improved Energy Consumption and Rheology: A Laboratory Study

In wellbore drilling, it is appreciable to devise methods to study the rheology of high-speed annulus fluid flows. In this paper, a highspeed Taylor-Couette system (TCS) was devised to explore non-Newtonian fluid flow behavior appraised by SiO₂nanoparticles toward friction reduction, power saving, and rheology modeling of nanofluids. Water-based mud (WBM) as an environmentally friendly drilling fluid is investigated by adding SiO₂nanoparticles at four low-volume concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1% at speeds from 0 to 1,600 rev/min with 200 rev/min intervals in the TCS. Five rheology models based on the Herschel-Bulkley-Extended (HBE) model and a generalized Reynolds number were optimized to fit with the experimental data. All models except the Newtonian model have fitted all nanofluids with high accuracy, especially Bingham and HBE models. Negative deviation from Darcy friction was avoided for power-law (PL) and Herschel-Bulkley (HB) models using the modification to the generalized Reynolds number. Higher energy saving and enhanced rheology is reported particularly at lower volume concentrations of SiO₂WBM nanofluids. The Darcy friction factor deviated from laminar flow at the generalized Reynolds number beyond 2,000 into turbulent, which is a good indicator for the flow condition of complex non-Newtonian nanofluids in real-life application.