An expert system for designing tubular strings, sizing bits, and optimizing the hydraulics plan for planning the drilling of an oil well

An operations-oriented, practical application of expert systems technology to tubular design and optimizing bit hydraulics has been developed and is called CHES (Casing Hydraulic Expert System). Drilling operations are the most costly expenditure in the process of exploiting hydrocarbon fossil fuels. Drilling costs during 1981 to 1991 have each year exceeded one third to one half the total capital and exploration outlays for U.S. domestic projects. The reduction of drilling cost is more important than ever in the oil industry today.;One critical application of expert systems in the drilling industry is the design of casing strings. Tubulars are such a significant expenditure that they demand precise engineering. The availability of powerful personal computers has provided a means of relieving the drudgery of such repetitive and intensive engineering calculations.;An important way to decrease drilling costs is to increase the penetration rate of the bit. Optimizing bit hydraulics is an important task facing drilling engineers in order to increase drilling rate. Rheology, hydraulics, and bit nozzle selection are parameters to be considered when optimizing drilling.;CHES is written using an expert system shell (LEVEL-5, from Information Builders, Inc.). The backward chaining rule base interfaces with DB3 (Data Base 3), numerous FORTRAN program, and chains from one knowledge base to another. CHES was developed and implemented on an IBM PC AT microcomputer.