The effect of wellbore curvature on tubular buckling and lockup
- Maurer Engineering Inc., Houston, TX (United States)
- Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Petroleum Engineering
This paper describes sinusoidal and helical buckling of tubulars in curved wellbores (such as the build section of horizontal wells) and the effect on `lockup` of tubulars when drilling horizontal or extended-reach wells. New buckling load equations are derived to properly predict sinusoidal and helical buckling of tubulars in such wellbores. The results show that the buckling loads to ultimate sinusoidal and helical buckling of tubulars in curved wellbores are usually much larger than those in straight wellbores. This is because the curved wellbore tends to hold the axially compressed tubular against the outer-curve side of the wellbore. It is difficult to buckle a tubular into a sinusoidal or helical shape in curved wellbores, unless a very high axial compressive load is applied. The risk of tubular lockup when chilling horizontal or extended-reach wells is therefore reduced, because there is likely to be very little, if any, tubular buckling in the curved wellbore. The buckling loads derived in this paper also agree with those in straight wellbores when wellbore curvature approaches zero. Small scale laboratory experiments confirmed the theoretically derived buckling loads.
- OSTI ID:
- 93033
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940113--; ISBN 0-7918-1182-4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Buckling and lockup of tubulars in inclined wellbores
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