Drillstring Design
S. Adjei (Ph.D.)
Petroleum Eng. Dept.
KNUST-Ghana
API Classification of Drill Pipe
1. Physical appearance or wear/ Class
2. Grade
3. Length (Range)
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1. Class (Wear)
• As new drill pipe is rotated in the hole it wears and, therefore, it must be reclassified
according to its wear.
New (Class one): No wear and has never been used.
Uniform wear and a minimum wall thickness of 80% of original
Premium:
wall thickness.
Drill pipe with a minimum wall thickness of 65% with all wear on
Class 2: one side so long as the cross-sectional area is the same as
premium class
Drill pipe with a minimum wall thickness of 55% with all wear on
Class 3:
one side.
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2. Drill Pipe Grade
• Drill pipe grade defines the minimum yield
strength
• Before the yield point the material will deform
elastically when stretched and it will return to its
original shape when the stress is released.
• If the stress applied is over this point the
deformation will be permanent.
• This value is used in burst, collapse and tension
load calculations.
• All grades above E-75 are referred to as high
strength
Tensile Capacity = Cross Sectional Area x Yield Strength
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Yield Point or Yield strength, is defined as the stress at which a material begins to plastically
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deform.
3. Drill Pipe Length (Range)
• Range-1: 18 to 22 ft
• Range-2: 27 to 30 ft (Most Common)
• Range-3: 38 to 50 ft
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Drill Pipe Specification
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Typical Drill Pipe Nomenclature
• Tube OD; this is simply the plain end (tube) outside diameter.
• The nominal weight; this is the weight per foot including the weight of an API regular
connection. The number serves no real purpose other than identification. The actual weight
depends on the type of connection thread and pipe grade. As the grade (minimum yield
strength) increases the actual weight increases because the upset has more metal in it.
• Connection thread; NC stands for numbered connections. The number signifies the Gauge
Point Pitch Diameter (GPPD) of the connection (there are other connection types; regular, full
hole, Non-API connections (e.g. H-90, PAC))
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Load Consideration in Pipe Selection
Tension; the tensile load capacity of the drill string should be evaluated to
ensure there is enough tensile strength in the topmost joint of each size, weight,
grade and class of to support the weight of the drill string submerged in the
wellbore, hence the need to include buoyancy in the calculations.
• There has to also be enough reserve tensile strength to pull the drill string out
of the well if the pipe gets stuck
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Load Consideration in Pipe Selection
Collapse; drill pipes are sometimes exposed to external pressures which exceed
its internal pressures, thereby inducing a collapse load on the drill pipe. The
worst scenario for collapse in a drill pipe is during drill stem tests when they
are run completely empty into the wellbore
Torsional strength; this is the twisting of an object due to an applied torque. It
becomes critical when drilling deviated holes, deep holes/ reaming, or when the
pipe is stuck.
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• Burst load; the differential pressure acting across the drill pipe wall due to an
internal pressure greater than the external pressure is known as the burst load.
• Compression; during drilling, the lower part of the drill string is set under
compression due to the WOB.
• Margin of Overpull (MOP); MOP is the additional tension to be applied when
pulling the stuck drill string without breaking the tensile limit of the drillstring.
This margin is normally 50,000 – 100,000 lb, but in deeper wells margins of
overpull have reached 300,000 lb.
• Shock loading; arises whenever slips are set on moving drill pipe and can
contribute to parting of pipe in marginal designs.
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Drill pipe Selection
Tensile Design
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Drill String Design
• The drill string design is carried out in order to establish the most efficient
combination of drill pipe size, weight, and grades to fulfil the drilling
objectives of any particular hole section at the lowest cost within acceptable
safety standards
• Safety factors; are applied to calculated working loads to account for any
unexpected service load on the drill string. They are used to represent any
features that are not considered in the load calculations e.g. temperature and
corrosion, thus ensuring that service loads do not exceed the load capacity of
the drill pipe.
• Drill collar; are selected with the aim of ensuring that they provide sufficient
WOB without buckling or putting the lower section of the drill string in
compression.
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• Weight on Bit (WOB); the maximum weight on bit required is normally a
function of the bit size and type
• Drill pipe; check if the drill pipes you are going to use will be able to sustain the
the drill collars and BHA loads in the worst cases which is the stuck.
• Bouyancy factor; submerged weights suffer buoyancy forces. BF reduces the
total weight of the body and its magnitude is dependent on fluid density.
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Derivation
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Yield Strength
• Drillpipe strength is expressed in terms of yield strength. This is defined as the
load at which deformation occurs.
• Yield strength values of different class and grades of casing have been tabulated
by API.
• Drill string design is never based on the tabulated yield strength value but,
instead, on 90% of the yield strength, to provide an added safety in the
resulting design.
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• The weight and length of the drillpipe can be calculated using the load balance
of the drillstring as:
0.9 × drillpipe yield strength = weight of DP + weight of DC+ weight of HWDP + MOP
where, MOP = margin of overpull or maximum overpull on the drillstring, lbf
Mathematically
0.9 Pt =(𝑳𝒅𝒑 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒑 + 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒄 + 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑 𝒙𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑 )𝒙𝑩𝑭 + 𝑴𝑶𝑷
Air weight
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Total Weight Carried by a Top Joint
P = (𝑳𝒅𝒑𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒑 + 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒄 + 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑𝒙𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑)𝑩𝑭
P = (𝑳𝒅𝒑𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒑 + 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒄 + 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑𝒙𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑)𝑩𝑭 𝒙 𝑺𝑭
Maximum Theoretical Yield Strength, psi
dp = length of drill pipe MOP
Wdp = weight of drill pipe per unit length
Ldc =length of drill collars NB: The HWDP could be
Wdc= weight of drill collars per unit length separated or incorporated into
BF =buoyancy factor the collar
Pa = maximum allowable design load in Safety Factor
tension, (max theo. yield strength), lb.
Pt = drill pipe yield strength
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• Safety factor is normally in the range of 1.1–1.3.
• SF is not applied for heavy weight drillpipe.
In such case, the initial equation can be written in terms of SF (pulling out the HWDP)
as:
0.9 Pt =(𝑳𝒅𝒑 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒑 + 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒄 )𝑩𝑭𝒙𝑺𝑭 + 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑 𝒙𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑 + 𝑴𝑶𝑷
Thus length of the drillpipe:
0.9𝑃𝑡 − 𝑀𝑂𝑃 𝑾𝒅𝒄 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑
𝑳𝒅𝒑 = − −
𝑆𝐹 𝑥𝑾𝒅𝒑 𝑥𝐵𝑓 𝑾𝒅𝒑 𝑾𝒅𝒑 𝑆𝐹
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• If we do not consider safety factor
0.9𝑃𝑡 − 𝑀𝑂𝑃 𝑾𝒅𝒄 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑
𝑳𝒅𝒑 = − −
𝑾𝒅𝒑 𝑥𝐵𝑓 𝑾𝒅𝒑 𝑾𝒅𝒑
If dual-grade drillpipe is used at different section of drillstring,
the length of drillpipe is calculated as:
0.9𝑃𝑡2 − 𝑀𝑂𝑃 𝑷
𝑳𝒅𝒑𝟐 = −
𝑺𝑭𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒑𝟐 𝑥𝐵𝑓 𝑾𝒅𝒑𝟐
P = (𝑳𝒅𝒑𝟏 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒑𝟏 + 𝑳𝒅𝒄 𝒙𝑾𝒅𝒄 + 𝑳𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑𝒙𝑾𝒉𝒘𝒅𝒑)𝑩𝑭
The lightest grade should be used for the bottom part
of the hole, while the highest grade should be used at
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the topmost section.
Collapse Load
• Collapse Pressure: External Pressure required causing yielding of drill pipe
ü The highest anticipated external Pressure/ collapse load on pipe
𝑃& = 0.05𝑥𝜌' 𝑥𝑇𝑉𝐷, 𝑝𝑠𝑖 −−−−−−−−− − 𝑒𝑞𝑛. 1
𝜌' = mud density, ppg
𝑇𝑉𝐷 = Total Vertical Depth, ft
•
Note; 1 ppg = 7.48 lb/ft3
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"#$ % &!
• 𝑜𝑟 , 𝑃! = ,−− − , 𝑝𝑠𝑖
'((
𝜌) = 𝑙𝑏𝑓/𝑓𝑡 *
𝑃! = 𝑃"#$ - 𝑃%&
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üIf there are different fluids inside and outside the drill pipe, the
differential collapse pressure across the drill pipe prior to the
opening of the DST too can be obtained as;
∆𝑃! = 0.052𝑥𝐷𝑥 𝜌"#$%&'( − 0.052(𝐷 − 𝑋)𝜌&)%&'(
D = total depth of fluid column or drill pipe, ft
X = Depth of the empty drill pipe, ft
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• When fluid density inside and outside drillpipe is the same
𝜌+,-./01 = 𝜌/2./01
∆𝑃! = 0.052𝑥𝐷𝑥𝜌
• When drillpipe is completely empty
∆𝑃!*+,- = 0.052𝑥𝐷𝑥𝜌𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒
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ü A safety factor in collapse;
𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑆𝑓 =
𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 (∆𝑃! )
Normally Sf is 1.125 is considered for collapse ratios
• The 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑠𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 is the collapse pressure as determined by the
manufacturer
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Burst Pressure
• Burst pressure develops when internal pressure is the higher than that of external
Pressure.
∆𝑃! = 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 − 𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝑆𝑓 =
𝐴𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑡
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Tutorial
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