“We’re a part of one unit, and there are significant opportunities among all of our disciplines.” “One of our biggest strengths is the synergy of our scientists and engineers,” Sorem said. Sorem Jr., dean of TU’s College of Engineering and Natural Sciences has collaborated with TUDRP in the past. “We’re not just by ourselves, and we have full support around the campus.” “We can call on mechanical engineering, electrical engineering or other departments from TU’s College of Engineering when we need help,” Miska said. To date, 170 projects have been completed, and 14 are in progress. The consortium team includes eight TU faculty members as well as research technicians, several consultants and research assistants. Current TUDRP resources includes a Low Pressure Flow Loop, Advanced Cuttings Transport Facility, Drill Pipe/Coiled Tubing Buckling Facility, Full Scale Testing Rig, Drill Pipe Fatigue Testing Facility, Fluids Characterization Lab, Small and Large Indoor Flow Loops, Shale-Fluid Interaction Test Cell, Tri-axial Rock Mechanics Testing Facility and others. TUDRP began looking at all aspects of drilling mechanics and introduced new tools such as the Rock Mechanics Facility to better understand factors affecting the drilling rate and ultimately drilling costs. “I wanted to develop something that would be unique and useful.” “I wanted to do more for the drilling industry,” he said. The development of a flow loop system by Azar provided a location for new experiments, and Miska was eager to implement additional applications. Miska continued to focus on Azar’s priorities while also expanding the research. Professor Stefan Miska, who initially taught at New Mexico Tech, joined TU in 1992 and succeeded Azar as TUDRP director in 1996. TUDRP grew to more than a dozen members with worldwide recognition, and by the late 1980s, more than 25 companies were involved.Īzar led TUDRP for 22 years while teaching drilling courses to hundreds of students and helping them publish technical papers as a direct result of the research at TUDRP. “We were the only existing cooperative research program in petroleum engineering that specialized in drilling while also promoting academics,” Azar said. As director, he reached out to major oil corporations, independents, contractors and suppliers. Azar arrived at TU in 1965 as an assistant professor in aerospace engineering. Livesay left the program in 1972, and John Day served as interim director until J.J. Livesay was the group’s first director and welcomed a small group of industry partners. Students gain experience in the industry while partners benefit from the research developed. A nonprofit cooperative between industry partners and university associates, TUDRP conducts basic and applied research to advance drilling technology. TUDRP is the concept of legendary TU professor Kermit Brown who initially established the consortium. Detwiler Professor Stephen Miska passed the directorship to Wellspring Associate Professor Evren Ozbayoglu in the summer of 2017. One of the oldest drilling consortia in the world, The University of Tulsa Drilling Research Project, TUDRP, is celebrating 50 years and is poised to continue its tradition for another five decades. Many professionals in today’s drilling engineering industry can trace their careers back to a historic research facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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