Título: Monitoring Drilling Fluids using High-Energy Radiation Attenuation with Inverse Modeling for Constitutive Parameter Estimation
Autores: LOBATO, F. S.; FAGUNDES, F. M.; DAMASCENO, J. J. R.; AROUCA, F. O.
Revista: Particuology, 113, 22-35, 2026.
Resumo: During oil well drilling operations, solid particles suspended in drilling fluids tend to settle, forming deposits that reduce operational efficiency and may cause equipment damage, channel obstruction, and safety risks. Understanding the sedimentation behavior of drilling solids is therefore essential for optimizing drilling fluid performance. This study characterizes drilling fluids and estimates the parameters governing the convective flux function in the governing equations using experimental data from batch sedimentation tests. The Gamma-ray Attenuation Technique and constitutive models were applied to analyze an aqueous calcium carbonate suspension and a real drilling fluid. The mathematical model was solved using the Tangent of Hyperbola Interface Capturing (THINC) method. The results demonstrate that the proposed methodology accurately estimates convective fluxes and reproduces sedimentation profiles across the column. The comparative numerical analysis shows that THINC outperforms the classical Finite Difference Method (FDM) by providing higher accuracy in capturing sharp interfacial discontinuities, preserving solution boundedness and monotonicity, and maintaining nearly constant total variation and stable interface thickness, indicating effective control of numerical diffusion and dispersion. Additionally, THINC exhibits lower and more stable computational processing times, highlighting its numerical robustness and potential applicability in drilling fluid design and optimization for the oil and gas industry.

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