Failure mechanism and influencing factors of cement sheath integrity under alternating pressure

The failure of cement sheath integrity can be easily caused by alternating pressure during large-scale multistage hydraulic fracturing in shale-gas well.An elastic-plastic mechanical model of casing-cement sheath-formation(CSF)system under alternating pressure is established based on the Mohr-Coulomb criterion and thick-walled cylinder theory,and it has been solved by MATLAB programming combining global optimization algorithm with Global Search.The failure mechanism of cement sheath integrity is investigated,by which it can be seen that the formation of interface debonding is mainly related to the plastic strain accumulation,and there is a risk of interface debonding under alternating pressure,once the cement sheath enters plasticity whether in shallow or deep well sections.The matching relationship between the mechanical parameters(elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio)of cement sheath and its integrity failure under alternating pressure in whole well sections is studied,by which it has been found there is a“critical range”in the Poisson's ratio of cement sheath.When the Poisson's ratio is below the“critical range”,there is a positive correlation between the yield internal pressure of cement sheath(SYP)and its elastic modulus.However,when the Poisson's ratio is above the“critical range”,there is a negative correlation.The elastic modulus of cement sheath is closely related to its Poisson's ratio,and restricts each other.Scientific and reasonable matching between mechanical parameters of cement sheath and CSF system under different working conditions can not only reduce the cost,but also protect the cement sheath integrity.

THM coupled analysis of cement sheath integrity considering well

he cement sheath is the heart of any oil or gas well for providing zonal isolation and well integrity during the life of a well.Loads induced by well construction operations and borehole pressure and temperature changes may lead to the ultimate failure of cement sheath.This paper quantifies the potential of cement failure under mechanically and thermally induced stress during the life-of-well using a coupled thermalehydrologicalemechanical(THM)modeling approach.A staged finite-element procedure is presented considering sequential stress and displacement development during each stage of the well life,including drilling,casing,cementing,completion,production,and injection.The staged model quantifies the stress states and state variables,e.g.,plastic strain,damage,and debonding at cement/rock or cement/casing interface,in each well stage from simultaneous action of in-situ stress,pore pressure,temperature,casing pressure,and cement hardening/shrinkage.Thus,it eliminates the need to guess the initial stress and strain state before modeling a specific stage.Moreover,coupled THM capabilities of the model ensure the full consideration of the interaction between these influential factors.

Integrity and Failure Analysis of Cement Sheath Subjected to Coalbed Methane Fracturing

Perforation and fracturing are typically associated with the development of coalbed methane wells.As the cement sheath is prone to failure during this process,in this work,the effects of the casing pressure,elastic modulus of the cement,elastic modulus of the formation,and casing eccentricity on the resulting stresses are analyzed in the frame of a finite element method.Subsequently,sensitivity response curves of the cement sheath stress are plotted by normalizing all factors.The results show that the maximum circumferential stress and Mises stress of the cement sheath increase with the casing internal pressure,elastic modulus of the cement and casing eccentricity.As the elastic modulus of the formation increases,the maximum circumferential stress of the cement sheath decreases,and its maximum Mises stress increases slightly.The cement sheath undergoes tensile failure during coalbed methane fracturing.The stress sensitivity of the cement sheath to the influential parameters is in the following order:casing internal pressure>elastic modulus of cement sheath>casing eccentricity>elastic modulus of formation.