Abstract Predicting drilling fluids rheology is crucial to control/optimize the drilling process and the gas extraction from drilling fluids in logging systems. A Couette viscometer measured the apparent viscosity of a bentonite mud at various shear rates and temperatures. The bentonite mud behaved as a yield-pseudoplastic fluid, and a modified Herschel-Bulkley model predicted the shear rate and temperature effects upon the shear stress. A pipe viscometer was built to seek a correlation between the mud flow rate and the pressure drop and thereby determine refined Herschel-Bulkley parameters. Coupling a rheological model to a pipe viscometer enables the continuous acquisition of apparent viscosities of Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluids at a rig-site surface.

中文翻译：

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膨润土泥浆的流变行为

摘要 预测钻井液流变对于控制/优化钻井过程和测井系统中钻井液中的气体提取至关重要。库埃特粘度计测量了膨润土在各种剪切速率和温度下的表观粘度。膨润土泥浆表现为屈服假塑性流体，改进的 Herschel-Bulkley 模型预测了剪切速率和温度对剪切应力的影响。建立了管道粘度计来寻找泥浆流速和压降之间的相关性，从而确定精确的 Herschel-Bulkley 参数。将流变模型与管道粘度计相结合，可以连续获取钻井现场表面的牛顿流体或非牛顿流体的表观粘度。