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Casing Design
2
Casing Design
Why Run Casing?
Types of Casing Strings
Classification of Casing
Burst, Collapse and Tension
Effect of Axial Tension on Collapse Strength

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Casing Design
Why run casing?

1. To prevent the hole from caving in
2. Onshore - to prevent contamination of
fresh water sands
3. To prevent water migration to
producing formation
What is casing?
Casing
Cement
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Casing Design
4. To confine production to the wellbore

5. To control pressures during drilling

6. To provide an acceptable environment for
subsurface equipment in producing wells

7. To enhance the probability of drilling to total
depth (TD)

e.g., you need 14 ppg mud to control a lower zone,
but an upper zone will fracture at 12 lb/gal.
What do you do?
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Types of Strings of Casing
1. Drive pipe or structural pile
{Gulf Coast and offshore only}
150-300 below mudline.

2. Conductor string. 100 - 1,600

3. Surface pipe. 2,000 - 4,000

Diameter Example

16-60 30

16-48 20

8 5/8-20 13 3/8
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Types of Strings of Casing
4. Intermediate String

5. Production String (Csg.)

6. Liner(s)

7. Tubing String(s)
7 5/8-13 3/8 9 5/8
Diameter Example
4 1/2-9 5/8 7
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Example Hole and String Sizes (in)
Structural casing
Conductor casing


Surface casing

Intermediate casing

Production Liner
Hole Size
30
20

13 3/8

9 5/8

7
Pipe Size
36
26

17 1/2

12 1/4

8 3/4
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Classification of CSG.
1. Outside diameter of pipe (e.g. 9 5/8)
2. Wall thickness (e.g. 1/2)
3. Grade of material (e.g. N-80)
4. Type to threads and couplings (e.g. API LCSG)
5. Length of each joint (RANGE) (e.g. Range 3)
6. Nominal weight (Avg. wt/ft incl. Wt. Coupling)
(e.g. 47 lb/ft)
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s
e
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Casing Threads and Couplings
API round threads - short { CSG }
API round thread - long { LCSG }
Buttress { BCSG }
Extreme line { XCSG }
Other

See Halliburton Book...
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Burst, Collapse, and Tension
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API Design Factors (typical)
Collapse 1.125

Tension 1.8

Burst 1.1
Required

10,000 psi

100,000 lbf

10,000 psi
Design

11,250 psi

180,000 lbf

11,000 psi
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Normal Pore Pressure Abnormal Pore Pressure
0.433 - 0.465 psi/ft g
p
> normal
Abnormal
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Casing Design
Burst: Assume full reservoir pressure all along the wellbore.
Collapse: Hydrostatic pressure increases with depth
Tension: Tensile stress due to weight of string is highest at top
STRESS
Tension
Burst
Collapse
Collapse
Tension
Depth
Burst
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Casing Design
Unless otherwise specified in a particular
problem, we shall also assume the following:

Worst Possible Conditions
1. For Collapse design, assume that the
casing is empty on the inside (p = 0 psig)

2. For Burst design, assume no backup
fluid on the outside of the casing (p = 0 psig)
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Casing Design
Worst Possible Conditions, contd
3. For Tension design,
assume no buoyancy effect

4. For Collapse design,
assume no buoyancy effect
The casing string must be designed to stand up to the
expected conditions in burst, collapse and tension.
Above conditions are quite conservative. They are also
simplified for easier understanding of the basic concepts.
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Casing Design - Solution

Burst Requirements (based on the expected pore
pressure)





The whole casing string must be capable of
withstanding this internal pressure without failing in
burst.
psi 600 , 6 P
1 . 1 * psi 000 , 6
Factor Design * pressure pore P
B
B

D
e
p
t
h

Pressure
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Casing Design - Solution
Collapse Requirements
For collapse design, we start at the bottom of
the string and work our way up.

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Tension Check
The weight on the top joint of casing
would be



With a design factor of 1.8 for tension, a
pipe strength of
weight actual 602 , 386
) / # 5 . 53 * 631 , 1 ( ) / # 0 . 47 * 369 , 6 (
lbs
ft ft ft ft

required is lbf 080 , 695 602 , 386 * 8 . 1

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Casing
Various Types of Casing

Conductor pipe (A):
Size 18-5/8 & over. Outer protection of the well to prevent
the surface formation from caving into the well
Surface casing (B):
To avoid contamination to surrounding surface water or to
protect
from a well collapsing caused by free running water.
Intermediate casing (C):
Used in the area where abnormally high pressure structure
encountered. It is for extra-strengthened protection of a well.
Liner casing (E):
Same usage as intermediate casing but not run from the
surface. It
hangs from the preceding with 100-150 meter overlaps.
Production casing (D):
Placed at the production zone. Since the lower part is
exposed to
fluid and gas, it may be exposed to corrosion. Proper material
selection is needed. This casing is used as a second
containment
barrier (the first one is the production tubing) hence
connection
leak tightness is important.


Pressure gradients
Fracturation
Gradient
Pore
pressure
Gradient
A
B
C
D
E
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Example of Typical String Design
Reservoir zone
Conductor 20
Surface casing 13-
3/8
Intermediate casing 9-5/8
Liner casing 7
Tubing 3-1/2 Production casing 5-1/2
(Tie Back string)
Packer