Multi-Frequency Mud Siren Simulation and Experiment for Increasing Data Transmission Rate in Mud Pulse Telemetry

Several methods exist for data transmission during deep drilling albeit with inherent drawbacks. Amongst these, the most common method for data transmission in deep boreholes remains “Mud Pulse Telemetry” which sends information through the drilling mud inside the drill string by means of coded pressure pulses. Due to the limitation in data transmission rate, efforts have been on to seek ways of improving data transmission rate in Mud Pulse Telemetry. One of such efforts is exploring the plurality of Mud sirens for signal amplification and increased data transmission rate. The objective of this research is to push the boundaries of the plurality of mud sirens beyond theories into practical experiments. Investigation was done on the Multi-frequency mud siren concept by simulations and practical experiments within the specially built flowloop facility in the Institute for Drilling Engineering and Fluid Mining, Technische Universitat Bergakademie Freiberg. Various scenarios, frequencies, timeslots and set-up configurations (series and parallel) were explored. Numerical simulation was done using ANSYS CFX and resulting signals were duly processed and analyzed with MATLAB. The paper displays results of the simulation and experiment establishing the theory of signal amplification and increase in data transmission rate via the multi-frequency mud siren concept.