Fatigue is what kills drill pipe, and it happens in doglegs. Every revolution bends and straightens the pipe, and the stress depends on dogleg severity, tension and pipe size. The limits published for maximum permissible dogleg severity come directly from that calculation, and exceeding them for a few hundred rotating hours is enough to crack pipe that looks fine.

Vibration is the other destroyer. Stick-slip twists the string and damages cutters and connections; lateral whirl batters the bottomhole assembly against the wall and destroys stabilisers and tools; axial bouncing damages bits and electronics. Each has a signature in surface and downhole data, and each responds to different mitigation, which is why identifying the mode before changing parameters matters.

Design, operation and monitoring work together. A well-designed string run with parameters that excite stick-slip will still fail; a marginal design operated carefully may survive. The practical objective is a string with adequate margin, operated inside its limits, with vibration monitored so problems are seen while they can still be corrected.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Specify drillstring components and interpret their ratings.
• Calculate tension, torsion and combined loading on the string.
• Determine margin of overpull and design factors.
• Assess slip crushing and connection limits.
• Calculate fatigue damage and apply dogleg severity limits.
• Design bottomhole assemblies for directional and performance objectives.
• Identify axial, torsional and lateral vibration mechanisms.
• Measure and diagnose vibration from surface and downhole data.
• Apply mitigation through parameters, string design, bits and specialised tools.
• Prevent drillstring failures through integrated design, operation and monitoring.

The course is instructor-led. Design calculations are worked through for real strings, and vibration is taught through surface and downhole data from wells with identified vibration problems, with participants diagnosing the mode and specifying mitigation. Failed components are examined as case studies. Participants are encouraged to bring their own string designs and failures for discussion.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Reduce drillstring and downhole tool failures.
• Improve drilling performance by controlling vibration.
• Extend tubular life through better design and dogleg management.
• Reduce fishing operations and lost hole.
• Improve the use of vibration measurement data.

Participants will:

• Be able to design and check a drillstring.
• Understand fatigue and dogleg severity limits.
• Be able to design bottomhole assemblies for the objective.
• Be able to diagnose vibration modes from data.
• Be able to specify effective vibration mitigation.

• Drilling engineers
• Directional drilling specialists
• Rig site supervisors
• Drilling performance engineers
• Service company engineers supporting drilling
• Tubular and inspection specialists

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.