PETROLEUM

EQUIPMENT

Stressed Steel Liner Yields Stronger Casing Repairs

R. P. VINCENT
E. R. JENNINGS
MEMBERS A/ME

Abstract
A method together with the necessary tools has been developed for
expanding a steel liner in a well for
the purpose of repairing damaged
casing. This repair method has been
proven successful by field experience.
A glass-fabric mat impregnated with
unpolymerized plastic is used between
the steel liner and the well casing to
fill-in the irregularities and to insure
a pressure-tight seal. The plastic carried in the glass fabric is extruded out
into the holes in the well casing; thus,
a solid plastic plug is formed in the
existing holes after the plastic hardens.
These plugs are effective in excluding high formation pressure from the
liner. The tool which expands the
steel liner places it in a prestressed
condition so that the liner is under
compressive hoop stress while the casing is under tensile hoop stress.
Laboratory tests have shown that
casing with holes as large as 1 in. in
diameter repaired by this method will
withstand higher internal and external
pressures than specified for the casing
by the manufacturer. The failure pressure is limited by the collapse or burst
pressure of the steel inner liner where
large splits or parted casing are repaired; however, a second liner may
be placed inside an earlier-placed liner
to obtain additional strength where
high pressures may be encountered.

PAN AMER/CAN .. PETROLEUM CORP.

TULSA, OKLA.

years, has proved an effective means

for repairing holes in pipe'; however,
the chances of a successful repair
decrease rapidly as the hole size increases above 1 in. Moreover, experience has indicated that a glass
fabric-plastic casing patch cannot be
used where the pipe (such as well
casing) is parted and separated or
where there are large splits. These
limitations indicated the need for a
liner which would be equally effective
in repairing both large and small holes
in casing as well as large splits or
parted casing.
Since the strength of steel is considerably greater than the strength of
a glass fabric-plastic lining, a means
of using a steel liner for subsurface
repair of well casing was investigated.
The successful use of a steel liner for
repairing holes in casing requires fulfillment of the following conditions.
1. The liner as it is run into the
well must be substantially smaller in
diameter than the bore of the casing.

The glass fabric-plastic casing patch,

which has been in use for several

2. A means must be provided to

expand the liner against the casing
wall and leave it in place in a condition of maximum hoop compression.
3. The liner must not substantially
reduce the size of the wellbore.
This paper describes a method of
placing a steel liner in well casing so
that these conditions are fulfilled, and
presents the results of laboratory investigations and subsequent field experience.

Original manuscript received in Society of

Petroleum Engineers office March 7, 1962. Revised manuscript received Oct. 30, 1962. Paper
presented at SPE Production Research Symposium held April 12-13, 1962, in Tulsa, Okla.

1Jennings, E. R. and Vincent, R. P.: "A

Glass Fabric-Plastic Liner Casing Repair Method", Paper presented at Southwestern Dist.
Meeting of API Div. of Production, Midland,
Tex. (March, 1959).

Introduction

DECEMBER, 1962

SPE 278

Description of the Liner and

Placement Process
A review of field experience with
the glass fabric-plastic casing patch
showed that the majority of casing
repairs were placed in wells cased
with 51h -in. casing. On this basis, the
initial development of the stressedsteel-liner method was concentrated
on this casing size. The initial problem
was to provide a steel liner with an
outside diameter equal to or slightly
greater than the inside diameter of the
casing, and still be able to lower it
through the casing to the point of
well damage. The solution to this
problem (which fulfilled one of the
previously stated requirements) was
found by preforming the liner with
longitudinal corrugations, which effectively reduced the outside diameter of
the liner. Generally, a reduction of
1h -in. in outside diameter is sufficient
to permit passage of the liner within
the casing.
Fig. 1 shows a typical section of a
liner for installation in 51h -in. casing.
Before being corrugated, the liner had
a 5.0-in. OD (Fig. la); the corrugating operation reduced its outside diameter to 4.5 in. (Fig. 1b). The thickness
of the steel liner material is 0.125 in.

Fig. I-Corrugated steel liner for 5%in. I7-lb casing repair-(a) before
being corrugated, and (b) corrugated
section.
1337

The machine designed and constructed to form the corrugated tubing is shown in Fig. 2. Before the
corrugated liner is run into the well,
a glass-fabric mat impregnated with
unpolymerized plastic is applied to its
exterior surface. This mat remains between the liner and the casing wall to
fill irregularities in the pipe and to
insure a pressure-tight seal. The 0.125in.-thick liner and .02S-in.-thick glass
mat result in a restriction of the casing bore of only .300 in. and, therefore, will not interfere with subsequent
well manipulations such as running
packers, etc. A section of casing containing an expanded liner and plastic
seal is shown in Fig. 3.
The re-forming operation, which
expands the corrugated liner against
the casing wall and places it in a
state of maximum hoop compression,
is accomplished by hydraulically pushing a forming die through the tube.
The liner-placement tool, consisting
basically of a hydraulic cylinder, piston and a hollow polished rod, is
shown in Fig. 4. The hollow polished
rod is threaded into a connector
which, in turn, is coupled directly to

the production tubing on which the

tool is suspended. With this arrangement, when fluid is injected into the
tubing, it flows directly through the
polished rod and enters the hydraulic
cylinder between the piston and cylinder head, thereby causing the cylinder
to move upward. Two additional
parts, the tapered cone and collet
spring, complete the assembly.
To prepare for installation in a
well, the corrugated liner is placed
upon the tool with the polished rod
fully extended and the tubing connector removed. With the tapered
cone and spring collet resting on the
cylinder head, the corrugated liner is
placed over the polished rod and is
supported by the tapered cone. The
tubing connector is then replaced
upon the polished rod, and the polished rod is retracted into the cylinder until the tubing connector contacts the top end of the corrugated
liner. The connector, which also has
a downward-facing tapered surface,
centers the liner. The placement tool
with liner assembled in position to be
run in the well is also shown in Fig. 4.
The entire assembly is lowered into
the well on tubing in a conventional
manner to a depth which places the
midpoint of the liner opposite the casing damage. As the pressuring fluid
is injected into the tubing, the cylinder, collet spring and tapered cone
move upward causing the tapered cone
to enter the liner and initiate expansion of the liner. The resulting shape
of a section of the liner subsequent to
the passing of the tapered cone is
shown in Fig. 5. Continued upward

movement of the cylinder causes the

collet spring to enter the liner and expand it until complete contact is made
with the casing, resulting in a liner as
shown in Fig. 3. The last few inches of
the unexpanded liner remaining after
contact of the tapered cone and connector are expanded by tension applied to the tubing as the placement
tool and tubing are removed from the
well.
Liner sections longer than the polished-rod extension can be placed.
This is accomplished by joining the
polished rod and the tubing with a
connector smaller in diameter than
the inside of the unexpanded liner. A
hydraulically- or mechanically-actuated slip mechanism is installed at the
appropriate place in the tubing string
to provide an upper stop for the liner
and to anchor the tubing to the casing wall. The hydraulic cylinder is
then activated, thus expanding against
the casing wall a section of the liner
equal in length to the stroke of the
polished rod. The pressure is then relieved, and the slips and the polished
rod are moved up the well for a distance equal to the maximum polishedrod extension. The remaining liner
can then be expanded by repeating
this process or by simply pulling the
expanding tool upward through the
corrugated section with the rig drawworks.
Design details of the placement tool
and the corrugated liner section are
included in the Appendix.
Laboratory Results
Laboratory work in the development of this process for repairing well
casing involved two phases: (1) preliminary experiments to demonstrate
the process and the design, and (2)
testing of the placement tool under
simulated well conditions.

F ig. 2- Machine u sed for corrugating

Iincl' mate rial.

Initial testing involved a number of

experiments in which various-sized
holes were repaired in sections of
5 liz -in. casing. These tests are typified

TAPERED CONE
CORRUGATED LINER
POINT B

Fig. 3-Photograph showing section

of 5 Y!!-in. 17 -Ib casing with expanded
liner in place.
1338

I<'ig. 4-Tool for placement of stressed

s,teel liner.

Fig. 5-Top-view eross-section showing

liner being re-formed by tapered cone.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

in Figs. 6 and 7. A typical result of

repairing a small hole (up to approximately 1h -in.) is shown in Fig. 6.
The plastic contained in the glass fabric is extruded through the hole in the
casing as the liner is expanded and
forms a nonpermeable plug which
completely fills and seals the hole.
Test results show that holes thus repaired will withstand either external
or internal pressures in excess of the
strength of the pipe. Larger holes in
the order of I-in. in diameter, such
as shown in Fig. 7, also will withstand
similar pressures. In the larger holes
the plastic will not completely plug
or fill the hole; however, the sealing
mechanism here results because of the
fillet of plastic which forms around
the perimeter of the hole. This fillet
acts as a pressure-activated seal which
will remain effective against outside
pressure, although the liner material
under extreme pressure may move
inward some small amount. Extreme
compressive force exerted on the liner
as it is formed bulges the liner material outward over the hole in a spherical shape similar to that which would
be expected from high internal pressure, adding considerable stiffness.
The fillet and domed section over the
hole are shown in Fig. 7.
These tests were duplicated on a
larger scale after the field tool was
constructed. Experiments were also
conducted on test sections which duplicated parted pipe (Fig. 8a ) and
split casing (Fig. 8b). The section
containing the simulated parted pipe
failed when the steel liner collapsed
in the 5-in.-long unsupported section
at an external pressure of 1,400 psi-

400-psi greater than the calculated

collapse pressure of the unsupported
liner. The short length of the unsupported section undoubtedly contributed additional strength. Other test
sections where the pressure was applied internally failed at 3,000 psi.
The test section containing the split
(Fig. 8b) failed at an external pressure of 800 psi. The failure destroyed
the liner so that it could not be used
for internal tests. These and other
tests indicate that the failure pressure
of the liner in long unsupported sections can be predicted closely by the
calculated burst or collapse strength
of the liner. Where greater strength is
required , one or more liners may be
placed inside the first.
Tests were made which showed that
a force of 12,000 Ibjin. of length of
the expanded liner is required to move
the liner in the casing after the plastic has hardened. Other tests made
before the plastic developed a final
set showed that forces of between
5,000 and 10,000 lbj ft. of length were
required to slip the liner, depending
upon the roughness condition of the
outside of the liner and the inside of
the pipe.
Field Results
To test the effectiveness of the repair method and procedure under actual field conditions, liners were
placed in six wells. Excluding the time
required to originally pull the tubing,
locate the leaks and place the well
back on production, the repair operations varied between 3 112 and 5 \12
hours. Each of these installations was

STRESSED
STEEL LINER
GLASS FABRIC

,I

5{-"-!Si LB

EXTRUDED
PLASTIC BUTTON

CAS ! NG

5 - PART

t"

S? I.IT
WIDE
2' L ONG

Fig. 6-Function of the plastic in sealing small holes.

made in 51h -in. casing and will be

discussed briefly.
Well A

The first well in which the stressed

steel liner was used, located in the
East Texas field, was drilled and completed in 1938. It was cased with 5 112 in. 14-lb casing. A hole developed in
the well casing in June, 1961, and
was located at 1,714 ft by packer
tests. A stressed steel liner was placed
which spanned the interval 4 Y2-ft
above and 41h-ft below the hole. Following placement of the steel liner,
the casing was tested for 15 minutes
at a pressure of 600 psi and no pressure loss was noted. This pressure is
the accepted test pressure used in these
old East Texas wells. The time required to run the tool to 1,714 ft,
expand the liner, retrieve the tubing
and tool, and pressure-test the repair
was 5\12 hours.
Experience in this well, where the
tubing condition was questionable,
suggested that it would be advisable
to redesign the tool in order to reduce the pressure required to force
the expanding assembly through the
liner. Accordingly, a new hydrauliccylinder arrangement was designed in
which two cylinders were compounded
so that the same force could be furnished with one-half of the pressure.
Also, the top piece, which resists the
upward movement of the liner as it
is formed against the casing, was replaced by a slip mechanism which engaged the casing. This arrangement
allows a cylinder with a much shorter
stroke to be used, since the slips can
be moved up the casing after the cylinder makes its initial stroke and
fixes the lower portion of the liner
to the casing wall. This procedure also
permits all of the liner to be formed
by hydraulic pressure, thereby eliminating expansion of the remaining few
inches of the liner by pulling on the
tubing. This was considered important
in view of the questionable strength
of the tubing, which has been in use
for a number of years. Design and
construction of a tool with these new
features were started immediately by
a licensee. However, the original tool
was used in tr.e next three wells
(Wells B, C and D) .

7 - - 23 LB
CAS ING

7 " -2 3 LB
CASIN G

(0)

Fig. 7-Function of the plastic in

large holes.
DECEMBER, 1962

(b)

Fig. 8-Test sections of casing u sed

in determining effectiveness of stressed
steel liner in repairing (a) parted casing and (b) split casing.

Well B

Two holes were found in the casing of this East Texas well. Using the
original-design expander tool, two separate 9-ft liners were placed at 2,649
ft and 1,909 ft at a cost of $2,400.
The company operating the well estimates that the repair cost by cement
squeeze would have been at least
$6,500.
1339

Well C

A leak was repaired in the well in

- the Quilinan area, Tex., at a depth of
4,436 ft. The repair was successfully
pressure-tested at 800 psi.
Well D

A leak developed in this East Texas

well at a depth of 2,549 ft. Attempts
to place a liner were unsuccessful
because the maximum pressure which
could be applied to the tubing would
not force the expanding head through
the liner. Tests indicate that a severe
dog-leg existing in the casing at this
depth made it impossible to stroke the
20-ft-long placement tool with the
pressure limitation of the tubular
goods in the well.. These results demonstrated the need for the compound-cylinder tool, which could have
doubled the upward force with the
same pressure. Also, the compoundcylinder device would have been more
flexible than the longer single-cylinder
tool. used and would have conformed
to the welI curvature.
Well E

A hole at 1,834 ft was repaired and

successfully tested to 1,000 psi in a
well in the Dry Bayou field, Franklin
County, Miss., with the stressed steel
liner. The new compound-cylinder
tool used to place this liner was built
by a licensee located in this general
area. This successful repair job cost
$1,800, and followed four previous
cement-squeeze failures which cost
$7,200.
Well F

A leak was repaired in this East

Texas well by setting an I1-ft liner
over a leak located at 2,515.5 ft in the
5Vz -in. casing. The repair was successfully tested at 625 psi.
Economics
It is difficult to make exact predictions on the ultimate cost of repairs
by this new method because of limited field use to date. However, the
current indication is that the cost will
compare favorably with a single
squeeze treatment. The significant
economic advantage is expected to result from the high success-to-failure
ratio. This is illustrated in Well B
where two holes were repaired with
the stressed steel liner at an estimated
savings of $4,100, and in Well E
where more than $7,200 could have
been saved had the new method been
used first.

tested, for expanding a metal liner in

well casing to repair casing damage.
The liner, which is placed under maximum compressive hoop stress, has
proven effective in sealing holes of
approximately I-in. in diameter
against internal or external pressures
in excess of the strength of the pipe.
The expanded liner results in a reduction of casing bore of .300 in. and,
therefore, will not interfere with subsequent well manipulations such as
running packers, etc. Experiments
made in the laboratory have shown
the liner to be equally effective in the
repair of split or parted casing.
APPENDIX

Design Criteria
Several important considerations
were involved in designing the system
and tools used for placing the liner in
the casing. Also, the large number of
sizes and weights of casing used in
wells necessitated that numerous compromises be made between factors indicated by theory and practical
considerations. These compromises,
worked out in laboratory experiments
and substantiated by field experience,
have provided a workable system for
making subsurface repairs of damaged well casing. They are discussed
in the following paragraphs.
Liner Thickness

Since the liner is placed in the casing in a condition of maximum hoop

compression, consideration of the tensile hoop stresses left in the casing are
important. The numerous sizes,
weights and grades of casing precluded
the possibility of establishing one optimum residual tensile stress for each
different casing. Another factor which
further complicated the problem was
that repairs would be made in used
casing, where the amount of damage
and reduction of wall thickness would
not be known. A tentative value of
20,000-psi residual tensile stress induced in the casing by the placement
of the liner was selected as a guide
for determining liner thickness. This
value, based largely on judgment, represents one-half to one-fifth of the
minimum yield of the casing, depending upon the casing grade and size.
For instance, to leave a residual
20,000-psi tensile stress S in 5Vz-in.
15 1/z-lb casing having a wall thickness of T, of 0.275 in., the liner wall
thickness T would be calculated from
the equation

Conclusions
A method and necessary tools have
been developed, and successfully field1340

T = T1

where S,

s,'

rial (psi). Thus, since T, = 0.275 in.,

S = 20,000 psi and S, = 50,000 psi,
T = 0275 20,000,

50,000
in.
It would be impractical and uneconomical to obtain quantities of thinwalled tubing of the necessary diameters and wall thicknesses to accommodate all casing sizes, as would be
indicated by Eq. 1. Experience has
shown that a liner wall thickness of
0.125 in. is satisfactory for most commonly used sizes and weights of casing. It is apparent from Eq. 1 that the
tensile hoop stress left in heavier
weights of 5Vz -in. casing will be much
less than 20,000 psi. Other practical
considerations, such as the large
forces which would be required to
re-form thicker liner material into a
circular shape, preclude the use of
thicknesses much greater than 0.125 in.
T

= 0.110

Contact Pressure Between

Liner and Casing

Calculated by the Barlow formula

p

2TS"
D

the contact pressure P exerted by a

liner with a thickness T of 0.125 in.
against 5Vz -in. 15Vz -lb casing (assuming a yield S, of 50,000 psi) would
be 2,500 psi. Actually, the contact
pressure would be somewhat greater
since the liner material can be expected to harden as it is re-formed to
a circular shape. Samples of the liner
material having a yield strength of
50,000 psi before re-forming have
had measured yields as high as 70,000
psi after placement.
Liner Diameter

To place the liner in the casing in

a condition of maximum hoop compression, the outer diameter of the
expanded corrugated tube must be
greater by some amount than the
inner diameter of the casing. The
minimum diameter of the liner material for a given size and weight of
casing, assuming that the liner in
place has a compressive hoop loading of 50,000 psi and that the resulting average tensile hoop stress of the
casing is 20,000 psi, may be determined by the following equation.
DD

where D ,.

D
S
+ S E+'

D,
E

(2)

= diameter of the liner material before corrugation (in.),

= bore diameter of the

D,

= diameter of the liner in

casing (in.),
(1)

= yield of the liner mate-

place (in.),
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOI.OGY

Ci

WEIGHT
5.100 PERFT

lLB

.:::::. 5.00014LB

a::
w

~~COLLET
SPRING a CONE _

15LB~

15.5LB
900
4.
i?LB

04.800 20LB
W

---

~
I

OLLET
SPRING

TAPERED
CONE .-T--+-------1

a..

~4.700,~--~----r---~----~---r----~--~--~

25LB

4. 6000!:o----'-----;-;;:;/O:-;!;.OO=0-'----;:::2=0.-=OO=0=---L--=30=-.0~0=0=----'---=4-=-0-;:!.OOO
FORCE,LB
Fig. 9-Forces required to expand stressed steel liner in

= tensile hoop stress in the

S,

casing (psi),
compressive hoop stress
in the liner (psi), and
modules of elasticity
(psi) .

Results of calculations made for

5Vz-in. 15Vz-lb casing show that the
minimum increase of the liner diameter over the casing bore diameter is
in the order of 0.015 in. However,
experimental work indicates that the
liner diameter is not critical within
limits providing that the minimum difference indicated in Eq. 2 is assured.
Liners have been formed in casing
where the initial diameter of the liner
tube was as much as 0.150-in. larger
than the bore of the casing.
Collet Spring Assembly

Since a method for determining the

liner thickness and initial outside diameter has been outlined, the next consideration involves the process and
tool for re-forming the corrugated
tube back to a circular shape against
the casing wall. It was considered
essential that this tool be spring-actuated so as to accommodate variations
in casing bore diameter and, also, so
that it can be used in several different
weights of casing of a given nominal
size.
Test measurements and calcUlations
showed that it would be impossible to
construct a spring member strong
enough to re-form the liner. This
made it necessary to devise a twomember assembly, including a tapered
cone which precedes the spring member in the re-forming operation. This
cone, as shown in Fig. 4 for 5Vz -in.

nECEMBER, 1962

5~-in.

casing.

casing, does the major portion of the

work in re-forming the corrugated
tube back to a circular shape.
The force required to move the
tapered cone through the 0.125-in.thick liner in different weights for the
example of 5Vz-in. casing is shown in
Fig. 9.
With the liner re-formed into a
shape shown in Fig. 5, by the tapered
cone, the radial force which must be
exerted by the spring member need be
little more than that required to bend
the 0.125-in.-thick liner section. The
magnitude of this additional force required to re-form the corrugated liner
to a circular shape and to cause the
liner wall to thicken becomes less as
the liner approaches the casing at
Point D (Fig. 5). This is illustrated
by the following equation, based on a
simplified concept of the problem; it
shows that, for a given force F, the
compressive force P, in the liner increases as the distance h approaches
zero.
Fd
P,

of approximately 3,000 Ib per member, was designed for use in 5Vz-in.

15Y2-lb casing. The geometry of this
spring for 5Vz -in. casing is shown in
Fig. 4 .
The force required to move the collet spring through the liner in various
weights of 5Vz-in. casing is shown on
Fig. 9. Also shown on Fig. 9 is the
summation of the forces required to
move both the collet spring and the
tapered cone.
Corrugated Tube Design
for Larger Casing

Initial experimentation and fieldtesting was done in 5Vz -in. casing;

however, liner material and tools have
been constructed for use in larger
casing. It was considered advisable
to maintain the shape of the corrugations similar to those used in the
5 1h-in. casing and to accommodate
larger sizes of casing by increasing
the number of corrugations. The number of corrugations for larger sizes of
casing was determined as follows.

N=DN"
D,

where N = number of corrugations,

N, = number of corrugations
used in 5Vz -in. casing,
D = average ID of larger casing, and
D, = average ID of 5Vz-in.
casing (4.950 in.).

***

4h

where P, = compressive hoop force

tending to thicken the
liner (lb),
F = radial force exerted by
the spring member
(lb),
d = distance between Points
A and B (Fig. 5), and
h = distance between the
liner and casing at
Point D.
A collet-type spring having one
spring member for each corrugation,
which would exert an outward force

R. P. VINCENT (left) is a research

associate in Pan American Petroleum
Corp.'s Research Dept. at Tulsa, Okla.
A native of Stillwater, Okla., he is
a graduate of Oklahoma State U. with
a BS degree in trades and industrial
engineering. He joined Pan American
in 1941 and assumed his present position in 1953. E. R. JENNINGS (right),
also with Pan American in Tulsa, is
a research engineer in the company's
Production Research Div. He also attended Oklahoma State U., majoring
in mechanical engineering, and has
been with Pan American since 1944.

1341