Study on the Law of Rock Drillability under High-Temperature and High-Pressure Conditions in the Western Margin of the Ordos Basin

The deep strata in the Ordos Basin exhibit characteristics of high temperature and high stress. Conventional methods for assessing drillability (normal temperature and pressure) fail to accurately understand the drilling resistance characteristics of deep rocks in this region, leading to improper guidance for selecting formation drilling tools and prolonging drilling cycles. This study employs physical experiments and numerical simulations to conduct drillability tests on core samples taken from the region under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, simultaneously simulating the rock breaking process under different temperature and pressure conditions. The study investigates the variation patterns of rock drillability grade values and von Mises stress values during rock breaking under single-factor and multi-factor analyses of temperature and pressure conditions. Combining these variation patterns, an optimization analysis of the back rake angle of PDC drill bits used in drillability experiments is conducted to guide the selection of drill bits on site. The results indicate that the variation patterns of von Mises values from finite element simulations are consistent with the drillability grade values under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. Under single-factor conditions, von Mises stress and drillability grade values generally increase with rising temperature before decreasing, while they increase with increasing confining pressure. Under multi-factor conditions, confining pressure is the primary influencing factor within the range of 0 to 50 MPa, while the influence of temperature becomes prominent between 180 degrees C to 200 degrees C, with a weakening effect of confining pressure. Model application: Selecting a back rake angle of 30 degrees for PDC drill bits yields optimal rock-breaking results. The research findings hold significant implications for understanding the low rock-breaking efficiency of deep strata, optimizing drill bit parameters, and enhancing drilling efficiency.