Doctoral student Omer Kaldirim led an intensive upgrade of the Tower Lab, a 142-foot vertical assembly of pipes, pumps, tanks and other equipment hidden within the core of the Joe C. Richardson building on the Texas A&M University campus.
The lab’s height and equipment help petroleum researchers understand how compressed gasses react if they manage to escape from a subsurface reservoir and invade the different types of muds circulating in an oil well during the drilling process. Since these gases expand, and can potentially explode in a blowout if they travel up through the mud and reach a drilling rig, the goal is to improve mud circulation methods and blowout prevention techniques.
The lab features clear two- and four-inch diameter pipes so that gas behaviors can be visually studied and measured.
Experiments are scaled to match the actual drilling conditions of using 19- to 22-inch diameter pipes in 1- to 12-kilometer depths. The upgrade produced the higher flow rates and accuracy needed in scaled gas expansion and flow experiments for managed pressure drilling research in offshore applications that include riser conduits between the ocean floor and drilling rigs.
Kaldirim belongs to a team working jointly with Louisiana State University on a project to improve deepwater drilling safety by investigating dangerous offshore drilling blowout situations. The project began in 2018, funded with a $4.9 million award from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The upgrade was paid for with a portion of the award.