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Volume 113
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Monitoring drilling fluids using high-energy radiation attenuation with inverse modeling for constitutive parameter estimation
Fran Sérgio Lobato *, Flávia Marques Fagundes, João Jorge Ribeiro Damasceno, Fábio de Oliveira Arouca
School of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil
10.1016/j.partic.2026.03.009
Volume 113, June 2026, Pages 22-35
Received 30 December 2025, Revised 25 February 2026, Accepted 13 March 2026, Available online 23 March 2026, Version of Record 31 March 2026.
E-mail: fslobato@ufu.br
Highlights

• Solid sedimentation in drilling fluids reduces efficiency and poses safety risks in drilling operations.

• Numerical modeling is difficult due to discontinuous interfaces and multiple solids concentration regions.

• Batch sedimentation with gamma-ray attenuation was used to characterize drilling fluids.

• Convective flux parameters were estimated using constitutive models and interface-capturing methods.

• The method predicts sedimentation profiles and supports drilling fluid design and optimization.


Abstract

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.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Drilling fluid; Phenomenological model; Gamma-ray attenuation technique; Differential evolution; Tangent of hyperbola interface capturing method
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