National Oilwell Varco, L.p.

University of Houston System

Matthew Franchek

Geoffrey Pickett

Frank Benjamin Springett

Oussama Hattab

Seyed Mohammad Parvasi

Moadh Mallek

A sealing apparatus includes a moveable seal holder with a cavity and includes a seal assembly disposed at least partially in the cavity. The seal assembly includes a resilient seal member including a fluid-facing end with a fluid-facing end surface, and the seal assembly includes an actuator plate configured to reciprocate between a first and a second position relative to the protective plate. The first actuator plate includes a fluid-facing end surface and a first camming surface. The seal assembly further includes a first protective plate disposed between the seal member and the first actuator plate. The actuator plate is configured to compress the seal member and to move the fluid-facing end surface of the seal member outward from a resting position when the actuator plate is in the second position.

Valve having protected, moveable seal and seal assembly therefor

Reduced order modeling is used in the present systems and methods for monitoring the health of a system and is particularly useful in monitoring the health and estimating the remaining useful life of blow out preventer (BOP) annular used in an oil or gas well. A reduced order model is a linear low order characterization of the system that describes the annular behavior with a small number of parameters that can be interpreted physically. The reduced order model is then identified and adapted in real-time in order to detect the change in the system behavior and characteristics. This adaptation helps in drawing conclusions on diagnostics and prognostics of the physical system.

Model-based monitoring and useful life estimation for blowout preventer annulars

A method of sealing a wellbore with a blowout preventer (BOP) is disclosed. The method involves providing the BOP with a BOP seal. The BOP has BOP parameters and a fluid flowing through the BOP has fluid parameters. The method also involves simulating erosion of a BOP seal using a BOP model based on the BOP parameters and the fluid parameters, measuring erosion of the blowout preventer seal by performing a lab test of the blowout preventer seal in a tester according to the blowout preventer model, validating the simulating by comparing the simulated erosion with the measured erosion, determining an erosion rate of the blowout preventer seal based on the validated simulating, defining closing parameters based on the determined erosion rate, and operating the blowout preventer rams according to the defined closing parameters.

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Houston, TX, United States of America

Matthew Franchek