Casing Design Load Cases

Casing Design Load Cases

• Casing is subjected to various combinations of loads and

downhole environments during installation and service.
• The casing design engineer’s job is to estimate the extent
and nature of these loads and environments and select the
appropriate casing size, weight, grade and connection that
will withstand service conditions with adequate factors of
safety.
• Engineers are heavily reliant on the latest editions of:
– Minimum performance standards for casing set down in API 5C2
– Technical delivery conditions set down in API 5CT/ISO 11960.
 Mechanical Design of Steel Tubulars
API Bulletin 5C2
• For each casing string, calculate:
– Burst
– Collapse
– Tension
• Consider the strings from bottom up:
– Production string
– Intermediate string
– Surface string
– Conductor
• Assess the highest loading from each of the following phases:
– Installation
– Drilling
– Production
 Casing Loading Considerations
1. Burst
i. Installation - not applicable.
ii. Drilling
a. Circulating out a 100 bbl gas kick
b. Pressure testing casing
c. Wellbore displaced to formation
fluid
iii. Production
a. Sand and acid frac pressures
b. Tubing leak 2. Collapse
c. Gas to surface i. Installation -running and
cementing casing
ii. Drilling
a. Lost circulation
b. Air or foam drilling
c. Mobile formations, e.g. salt
iii. Production
a. Gas lifting
b. Pressure drawdown on
production
 Casing Burst Pressure
• Casing may burst if the internal pressure minus external pressure exceeds
the strength of the casing wall.
• For most casing, we consider burst strength as the internal pressure
sufficient to cause the pipe wall to yield.

2 .Ys.t
Py = 0.875 where Py = internal yield pressure (psi)
D Ys = API minimum yield for the pipe (psi)
t = nominal wall thickness (inches)
D = nominal OD of casing (inches)

Note: The factor 0.875 allows for API minimum wall thickness tolerance
but it does NOT allow for the OD tolerances of +1.0%/ -0.5%.
 Casing Burst Calculation
• Calculate the minimum burst pressure of 13.3/8”, K55,
68lb/ft casing where the actual O.D is the nominal ID.

• Py = (0.875 x 2 x 55,000 x 0.48)/13.375

• = 3454 psi.
• Note this is the burst strength without any safety factor
and is for new, un-worn pipe.
 Casing Collapse Pressure
• Casing collapse is an instability phenomenon and no single formula
can predict casing collapse with complete accuracy.
• The collapse strength of casing is a function of the:
– Minimum yield strength of the steel (Grade)
– Diameter to thickness ratio (D/t)
– Roundness.
• API uses four empirical equations to calculate collapse pressure:
1. Yield strength collapse
2. Plastic collapse
3. Transition collapse
4. Elastic collapse
• The collapse pressure of casing:
– Decreases as the axial tensile load increases
– Increases as the axial compressive load increases.
– Decreases dramatically with out of roundness.
D/t Thresholds For API Collapse
Modes
 Yield Strength Collapse
D/t - 1
Pcr = 2.Ys
(D/t)2

This mode of collapse occurs where API casing at low values of D/t. The
upper limit of the D/t ratio for yield strength collapse is calculated
by the following formula:

{(F1-2)2 + 8[F2 + F3/Ys]}0.5 + (F1 – 2)

D/t =
2[F2 +F3/Ys]

• Experimental values for the coefficients F1, F2, F3 and F4 are given
later in this presentation.
• The yield strength collapse formula is based on Lame’s equations
for thick walled cylindrical vessels and is based on yield failure at
the inner wall.
 Plastic Collapse
F1
Pcr = Ys - F2 - F3
(D/t)

• This mode of collapse occurs at intermediate values of D/t.

The upper limit of the plastic collapse range is given by the
following equation:

Ys (F1 – F4)
D/t =
F3 + Ys(F2- F5)
• The plastic collapse formula is based on 2488 tests
conducted on K55, N80 and P110 seamless casing.
• There is a 95% confidence level that 99.5% of all pipe
manufactured to API specifications would fail at a collapse
pressure higher than that determined by the above
formula.
 Transition Collapse

F4
Pcr = Ys - F5
(D/t)

• This mode of collapse occurs at intermediate values of D/t between

the upper limit for Plastic Collapse and the lower limit for Elastic
Collapse.

• The formula is obtained by curve fitting techniques between the

plastic and elastic regimes.
 Elastic Collapse
46.95 x 106
Pcr =
(D/t)(D/t-1)2

• This mode of collapse occurs at high values of D/t. The lower limit of
the elastic collapse range is given by the following equation:

2 + F2/F1
D/t =
3F2/F1
• Elastic collapse is based on theoretical elastic instability considerations.
For thin cylinders stressed below the elastic limit :

Et3
Pcr =
4R3
 Coefficients for Collapse
Pressure

• The coefficients were determined from a series of experiments on

various API casing grades.
 Tensile Loading
• For API tubulars, the pipe body tensile rating (TR) is defined as:
TR = Ys.As
where Ys = Specified minimum yield strength of tubular
As = p(OD2 – ID2)/4, based on nominal diameters
• The actual values to use depend on the tolerances on OD and wall
thickness specified in API 5CT latest edition.
• The determination of tensile strength should always be based on the
most conservative values of OD and ID.
• Tensile loads depend on casing weight and additional loads applied
during:
– running casing.
– cementing casing.
– production operations over the life cycle of the well.
 Tensile Loading
• When running casing, consider the effect of:
– shock loads that may be applied applied owing to the
acceleration and deceleration of the string caused by impact
with ledges, sudden setting of the slips etc.
– loss of buoyancy caused by loss circulation.
– Tension due to bending around dog legs, build and drop
sections.
• When cementing casing consider the effect of:
– weight of cement and spacer inside casing.
– weight of cement and spacer outside casing.
– Pressure when bumping the plug.
• During production operations, consider the effect of:
– temperature and fluid density changes.
– pressure changes, e.g. frac operations.
 Casing Wear
• The best defence against casing wear is to use good drilling practices.
• To minimize casing wear the drilling engineer must assess:
– The drilling practices to be used.
– Methods to be used to detect casing wear in real time.
– What wear tolerance to use in the casing design.
• Wear depends on:
– Drill string rotation and reciprocation/tripping
– Hole inclination
– Dogleg severity
– Mud solids and type
– Side loads between drillstring and casing
– Rig centralisation over wellhead
– Type of hard banding on drillpipe.
• Wear is rarely uniform around the inside of the pipe. It tends to be localised,
for example on the inside of doglegs or to one side of the casing below a
poorly centralised wellhead.
• Standard procedure for including a wear tolerance in casing design is to move
up to the next casing grade or to next casing weight.
 Drilling Practices to Reduce
Casing Wear
• Keep sand content to a minimum
• Use flush ground smooth hard banding on drill pipe.
• Use rubber drillpipe casing protectors
• Keep dog legs ALARP
• Drill with turbo-drill or mud motors.

Detection of Casing Wear

• Use ditch magnets in shaker header box.
• Use calliper surveys (CET). A base line survey should be run before
drilling commences.
• The decision to run a baseline calliper survey must be based on a risk
assessment of casing wear given all the circumstances.