1. n. [Drilling]

The term used to describe how off-center a pipe is within another pipe or the openhole. It is usually expressed as a percentage. A pipe would be considered to be fully (100%) eccentric if it were lying against the inside diameter of the enclosing pipe or hole. A pipe would be said to be concentric (0% eccentric) if it were perfectly centered in the outer pipe or hole. Eccentricity becomes important to the well designer in estimating casing wear, wear and tear on the drillstring, and the removal of cuttings from the low side of an inclined hole. In the latter case, if the drillpipe lies on the low side of the hole (100% eccentric), the eccentricity results in low-velocity fluid flow on the low side. Gravity pulls cuttings to the low side of the hole, building a bed of small rock chips on the low side of the hole known as a cuttings bed. This cuttings bed becomes difficult to clean out of the annulus and can lead to significant problems for the drilling operation if the pipe becomes stuck in the cuttings bed.

Antonyms: concentric

See related terms: centralizer,  fluid flow