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An experimental investigation of fatigue-crack growth in drillstring tubulars

Journal Article · · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drill. Eng.; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/15559-PA· OSTI ID:6339029

Drillstring failures continue to plague the oil industry, often costing millions of dollars each year. This problem is frequently intensified with the drilling of deep, deviated wellbores or ''hard rock'' drilling conditions. The drilling industry attempts to guard against these costly failures by performing periodic nondestructive inspections to remove damaged tubulars from service. This paper describes the results of full-scale fatigue-crack-growth tests of drill collars under rotating and bending loads. In addition, corrosion fatigue-crack-growth data are also presented for API drillpipe steels in air and in three representative water-based drilling-fluid environments. Based on this experimental investigation, the test data support the practical application of fatigue-crack-growth mechanics principles for the development of nondestructive inspection intervals to reduce drillstring failures.

Research Organization:
Exxon Production Research Co. (US)
OSTI ID:
6339029
Journal Information:
SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drill. Eng.; (United States), Journal Name: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Drill. Eng.; (United States) Vol. 3:4; ISSN SDENE
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English