Copyright Statement

This material was created by Professor Paul Bommer, modified by Dr. Alberto

Lopez Manriquez, and is used with his consent. The material is provided for

educational purposes only. All efforts have been made to reference copyright

holders of the material contained. Apologies are given for any unintentional

omission and would be pleased to add references and acknowledgments if

needed.

1
“Making Hole”, Casing
and Cementing
 Casing Design

• Casing is large diameter pipe that is used to –

1. Stabilize and seal parts of the well bore

using cement.
2. Protect shallow formations from high pressures
found in deeper zones.
3. Seal zones containing corrosive water.
4. Seal and protect fresh water bearing zones.
5. Isolate productive formations from other zones.

• Casing is at least in part cemented in the ground. The cement

provides the outside seal. So, the portion that is cemented is not
recoverable from the well.
 Casing Design

• If the steel pipe extends from

the bottom of a well to the
surface it is called a casing
string.

• If only a lower portion of the well

is open and the steel pipe
extends from the bottom of the
open section back up into the
previous casing string, it is
called a liner.

• Either way they are both steel

pipe and the design process is
the same for each.
The first seal outside of casing is always the cement.

For surface casing it is vital that cement be circulated

from the end of the casing to the surface.

For deeper casing strings, a minimum of 1,000 feet of

cement is thought to make a seal – more is better.

For production casing, a minimum of 1,000 ft of cement

above the top of producing formations is seek to provide
hydraulic seal.
Secure Casing in the Well Head

• The well head for this sub-sea well is the

high pressure connector.

• It is affixed to the top of the surface

casing, the 20” casing in the picture.

• The 20” surface casing has been

cemented back to the mud line.

• There are three different casing strings

that have been suspended and sealed in
the receptacle inside the connector made
for each.
Modular On Shore Well Head

Production Casing –
Hanger and Seal.

Intermediate Casing Head

Intermediate Casing –
Seal
and Hanger.

Surface casing head affixed to

surface casing top.

Cemented Surface Casing

 Casing Design Considerations

• Collapse Loads

• Burst Loads

• Tensile Loads

• Connection Type

• Bending Loads

• In some special cases, Thermal Loads

• In some cases fluid type and flow rate (corrosion, erosion, and
fatigue).
 Well Grade Tube Specifications

• Casing will have the following data: (Table 7.6)

• Outer Diameter (OD - inch)

• Inner Diameter (ID - inch)
• Drift Diameter (Drift - inch)
• Wall Thickness (t - inch)
• Metallurgy (Grade)
• Weight (lbs/ft)
• Minimum Yield Strength (psi)
• Collapse Resistance (psi)
• Internal Yield Pressure (psi)
• Body Yield (lbs)
• Joint (connection) properties
 Properties of Materials

• Conventional casing design does not

allow the tube to be stressed beyond
point A on the stress-strain diagram.

• Point A is the elastic limit called the

minimum yield point.

• If the stress on the casing does not exceed the minimum yield stress, the
tube will not permanently deform under load.

• If the casing is stressed beyond the minimum yield point, the shape of the
tube will permanently change. This is what is done to the expandable
tubulars.
 Casing Strengths

• The collapse, burst, and tensile strengths of the tube and of the
coupling are published by every maker of oil field grade tubulars.

• The same specifications are in most oil field manuals such as the
Halliburton Red Book.

• The drilling text has most of them in Table 7.6.

• As an end user you will probably look up the properties of casing and
tubing in one of these sources when you make a design.

• However, the published strengths can also be calculated as is shown

in Section 7.3 of the text.
 API Casing Designations

• Well Grade tubes are rated with an API letter designation followed by a
number. For example N-80 is an API designation.

• In general, the higher in the alphabet, the harder the metal.

• H,J,N,P,Q,S is in the order of increasing hardness

• Exceptions are C, L, and T which were designed to be slightly softer to

withstand H2S environments better.

• There are also some high collapse rated metals labeled for example HCP.

• The number is the minimum yield strength of the steel in 1000’s of psi. The
80 stands for a minimum yield strength of 80,000 psi.
 The casing is also color coded to match the API designation.

From Lone Star Steel

 Special Alloys

• Tubes made from special alloys can be non-reactive in a corrosive

environment if properly designed.

• The special alloys are at least an order of magnitude more

expensive than carbon grade steel.

• Therefore, the special alloys are normally found as tubing strings

rather than casing strings.

• The tubing is smaller (cheaper) and can be recovered for future use
in another well.
 Tube Type

• Two types of tube are manufactured

• Seamless – where the billet is pierced. Seamless steel pipe manufacturing process - YouTube

• ERW – electric resistance welded, where the tube is made by rolling sheet
steel and welding the seam closed.

• Seamless is considered the better product.

• If ERW is properly made and heat treated it should be equivalent.

• An inspection of the mill and documentation of the manufacturing process

will provide sufficient evidence of the quality of the finished tube.
 Casing End Finish

• Casing connection types are threaded couplings.

• STC – short thread and collar (8 round threads per inch)

• LTC – long thread and collar (8rnd/inch)
• BUTT – buttress thread and other premium high strength types.
• EUE – externally upset (8rnd/inch)
• FJ – flush joint, with a variety of premium threads
• And other specialty types made by various manufacturers.

• All these provide strength and leak resistance.

• End finishing is commonly done at facilities just for this purpose.

buttress
8 round
 Casing Design

• The final casing design must be strong enough at every depth so

that the casing does not fail under -

(1) The imposed collapse loads

(2) The imposed burst loads

(3) The imposed tensile loads

 Casing Design – Worst Case Scenario

• The design process that follows assumes what is normally

considered to be the worst case scenario for a drilling well.

• There are certainly well types that allow for the relaxation of some of
the design assumptions that will be made. Section 7.4 and 7.5
discuss some alternatives.

• Casing loads can change if the conditions in the well change from
what was assumed in the design. Care should be taken to not
expose casing to operating conditions for which it was not
designed.
 Tube Rating - Collapse

• It has been shown experimentally that as the outer diameter becomes large
with respect to wall thickness a tube collapses into an oval or elliptical shape
and finally flattens.

• The oval shape creates a high stress point at the ends that allows further
collapse.

• The published collapse ratings in the tables and the equations used to
calculate the ratings include empirical corrections based on experimental
results as a function of the ratio of the outer diameter to wall thickness (d/t) –
see section 7.3.3.
 Casing Design - Collapse

• The worst case scenario is if the internal pressure is reduced to

zero.

• The external pressure is the pressure created by the mud outside

the casing when it is installed in the well.

• The assumption of no internal pressure can become reality if –

– Lost circulation occurs during drilling and the mud level in the
well falls below the shoe of the last casing string.

– During production the bottom hole pressure becomes very low

due to depletion of the reservoir.
 Thermal Pressure Increase Inside an Annulus

• A potentially very serious problem is the pressure increase caused by the

expansion of liquid trapped in an annulus when it is heated.

• This routinely occurs after warm reservoir fluids are produced, heating up the
entire well bore.

• The annulus between casing strings is warmed and the liquid that was left
filling the annular space attempts to expand.

• The liquid is trapped inside the

annulus resulting in a pressure
increase in the annulus.

• The pressure increase is felt as a collapse

load on the pipe on the inside and a burst
load on the pipe on the outside.
 Thermal Pressure Increase Inside an Annulus

• For wells on shore or on platforms pressure

increase due to heating can easily be relieved
by simply opening the well head valve on the
annulus and bleeding off the trapped pressure.

• For sub-sea completions this is not possible

Control Valves for-
and one of two common options is used:
Tubing annulus
1. The casing is made strong enough so that it will not
collapse.
Production
Casing annulus

2. The open hole interval is not completely filled with

cement. This allows the exposed rock to absorb Intermediate
some of the expanding fluid either into the pore Casing annulus

space or into a small fracture that forms and relieves

the trapped pressure.
 Casing Design – Unusual Collapse Loads

• Unusual collapse loads can occur if plastic formations are drilled.

• These types of formations are either
– Salt layers
– Unconsolidated reservoirs

• Salt is a plastic that will flow back against the casing. The plastic
material transmits the entire overburden pressure against the
casing.
• This load can approach 1 psi/ft.

• Unconsolidated reservoirs have similar effects if the reservoir

pressure is removed by depletion.
• The external pressure for these cases is p  D 1 psi
e   
 Casing Design – Unusual Collapse Loads

pe  D 1  psi 

• Horizontal wells can expose the casing to overburden stress if the

casing is not supported by competent cement and the pressure
inside the casing becomes low.

• In a horizontal section, if a collapse resistance for the casing can be

found that exceeds the overburden stress the problem is solved.

• Overburden stress calculation is mandatory to design the production

casing string in horizontal wells.
 Combination Casing Strings

• The casing string that is designed may be one grade and weight of
casing.

• It is possible to reduce the cost and the weight of the string by using
multiple grades and weights of pipe in a combination string.

• If a combination string is used, the lower section of pipe places the

section above it in an axial load in addition to the loads from the
external and internal pressures.

• The axial load causes the collapse rating of the upper section of
casing to be reduced.
 Special Collapse Considerations for Combined Loads

• Combined loads on a tube occur in wells

because the tube is loaded with
 pe

• an axial load (in the z direction)

• internal pressure (burst) t

• and external pressure (collapse).

 pi
• The axial load has the effect of reducing the z
collapse resistance of the casing.
 Casing Design – Burst Worst Case Scenario

• In general the highest internal pressure casing will see at the bottom
is the pressure required to create and then propagate a fracture in
the rock at the bottom of the production casing.

• The highest internal pressure at the top is the fracture pressure at

the bottom plus some extra pressure caused by friction of fluid
moving inside the casing less the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid
filling the casing.

• The lowest external pressure on the casing is an annulus filled with

fresh water.
 Casing Design – Burst Worst Case Scenario

• During drilling the casing is set shallow well fills with high pressure gas

in order to protect weak rock that would

not tolerate the required mud weight to
drill deeper.

• This kind of casing is called “surface”

or “intermediate” casing depending
on the depth at which it is set.
Fracture Forms
just below casing
• There is new rock exposed below the
base of the casing that will fracture if enough
pressure is placed on it. High pressure gas

• This can occur if a kick (impending blow out) happens.

 Casing Design – Burst Worst Case Scenario

• During production operations this can occur if the productive formation is

stimulated with a hydraulic fracture.

fracture pressure plus friction pressure

minus fluid weight inside at the top

water outside

fracture pressure inside at the bottom

Graphic from Ridgeline Energy

 Casing Burst Design – Pipe Friction

• Friction inside the casing only occurs if the fluid is in motion.

• During drilling the worst case scenario is the casing has filled with
gas and the well is shut in. So, there is no pipe friction in the
drilling scenario.

• During production fracturing operations the pipe friction can be

large because the fracturing fluid is being pumped at high rates.
Pipe friction can be calculated using the methods shown in the
hydraulics section or using data from the fluid vendor.
 Casing Burst Design – Surface Equipment Limitations

• The BOPS and choke line rating during drilling or the production
well head can limit the burst pressures allowed.

It is pointless to require casing with a burst rating that exceeds

the rating of the BOP and choke line or the well head by more
than a factor to compensate for drilling wear on the casing.

If the surface pressure were allowed to reach the rating of the

BOPS or choke line, this equipment would burst.
 Tension Bending Loads

• When pipe follows a bend in the well bore an extra compression

force is created on the inside of the bend and an extra tensile force
is created on the outside of the bend.

• This is because the pipe contracts on the inside of the bend and
elongates on the outside.

• The extra tensile force occurs only at the bend and must be added
to the axial force from the pipe weight hanging below the bend.

• See section 7.3.6 in the text.

 Buckling

• Buckling can occur while running casing in horizontal sections if the force to
overcome friction exceeds the critical buckling force. This can be calculated in
the same way as demonstrated in the drill string design section.

• When the casing is landed in the well, compressive forces can cause the
casing to buckle.

• Buckling should be avoided because it can place the casing in a permanent

bend if the force exceeds the minimum yield of the tube.
• Buckling can also reduce the drift diameter of the casing as the tube goes into
a helical shape.

• Compressive forces can be created in the well if the casing heats up, if casing
weight is slacked off into the well, if the external pressure is decreased, or the
internal pressure increased.

• It may be necessary to pull extra tension on the casing when it is landed in the
well head to offset large compressive forces and prevent buckling.
 Couplings

• Casing couplings must be at least as strong as the body of the casing in

collapse, burst, and tension – or the strengths of the coupling take over the
design. Coupling ratings can be found in the casing tables.

• The coupling must be specified along with the casing type.

• It is common practice today to perform many fracturing jobs through

production casing.

• The fracturing job subjects the casing and the coupling to very serious
vibrations and stress fluctuations that often lead to failure in a coupling.

• For these types of wells, in order to improve the life of the coupling for the
production casing, it is common practice to buy premium (typically Buttress)
connections, at least in the part of the well where the casing is not
supported by cement.
Casing Design Example

• Geopressure assessment
needed.

• We used the after-drilling

method proposed by Eaton to
compute these values from
well logs. Chapter 6

• Operational Mud Window was

obtained with safety margins.
Casing Design Example

• Bottom – Up graphical method

was implemented to select the
tentative casing setting depths for
each casing.

• Number of casing strings is

determined using the above
method.

• Surface casing must protect

ground water.

• Section 7.4.1
Casing Design Example

• The size of tubing strings

and the type of subsurface
artificial lift equipment that
may eventually be placed
in the well determine the
minimum internal diameter
(ID) of the production
casing; therefore, the
casing size.

• Using a chart -hole size vs.

casing size- serves to
select casing and bit sizes.

• Casing size is the nominal

size of casing, outer
diameter (OD).
• Section 7.4.2
 Casing Design Example

• To obtain the most economical design casing strings often consist

of multiple sections of different steel grade, wall thickness, and
coupling types. Such casing string is called combination casing
string.

• Section 7.4.3
 Casing Design Example

Example 7.9
• Design the surface casing to achieve minimum cost design consider the
use of combination casing string. Do not include any section shorter than
500 ft to reduce the logistical problem of shipping and unloading the casing
in the proper order in which it is run in the hole Assume that only the casing
shown in Table 7.6 is available.

• Casing 13 3/8” OD (nominal size) was already selected based on previous

criteria.

• For burst use an injection pressure that is equivalent to mud density 0.3 ppg
greater than the fracture gradient.

• Assume that any gas kick is composed of methane which has molecular
weight of 16, ideal gas behavior.
 Casing Design Example

Example 7.9
• Formation pore pressure will be obtained from Figure 7.21.

• Formation temperature in degrees Rankine is equal to (520+0.012D).

• Mud density 9.3 ppg

• Apply safety factors for Burst and Collapse of 1.1

• Also assume that the casing was landed as cemented and that the axial
tension results only from the hanging weight of the casing under prevailing
borehole conditions. For tension considerations use minimum overpull force
of 100000 lbf or safety factor of 1.6 whichever is greater.
Casing Design Example - Collapse
Casing Burst Design Example
Casing Burst Design Example
 Differential Pressures Design Example

Differential Pressures

5) On top (surface)

4 Minus 1 = 2775 – 0 = 2775 psi

6) At the bottom (4000 ft):

3 Minus 2 = 2995 – 1860 = 1135 psi

Differential Pressures Design Example

• The graphical solution to the

example is:

• 1) p=0 psi
• 2) p= 1860 psi
• 3) p= 2995 psi
• 4) p= 2775 psi
• 5) p= 2775 psi
• 6) p=1135 psi
Safety factors

Apply safety factors

Collapse

At the bottom:
Pc=1860x1.1=2046 psi

Burst
On top:
Pi=2775x1.1= 3053 psi

At the bottom:
Pi=1135X1.1 = 1249 psi
 Design Line
4)
1)

Collapse
At the bottom:
Pc=1860x1.1=2046 psi

Burst
On top:
Pi=2775x1.1= 3053 psi

6) 2)
 Collapse and Burst Design Results

• Based on the collapse and burst design line, use Table 7.6 available in the
book, select the casing string that supports the loads.

• Select the casing that supports collapse

load at the bottom section.
• C-75, 68 lb/ft, Pc=2220 psi
• Draw up a vertical line to intersect the
design line and mark this depth
• Select the casing that supports burst load
at the top section
• J-55, 61 lb/ft, Pb=3090 psi
• Draw down a vertical line to reach the top
of the previous section.
• These two casing strings support both
collapse and burst pressures.
Construct the Free Body Diagram

Fa

W2L2 J-55, 61 lb/ft, Pb=3090 psi

P2As2

2200ft

W1L1
C-75, 68 lb/ft, Pc=2220 psi

4000ft

P1As1
 Casing Check for Tension
Fa

• Use equation:
W2L2 J-55, 61 lb/ft, Pb=3090 psi

P2As2

2200ft

W1L1
C-75, 68 lb/ft, Pc=2220 psi

4000ft

P1As1
 Casing Check for Tension
Fa

From the Free Body diagram

W2L2

• W1L1=68lb/ft (4000-2200)ft=122,400 Lbf

• W2L2=61lb/ft (2200)ft=134,200 Lbf
P2As2

2200ft • As1=3.1416/4 (13.3752-12.4152)=19.445 sq-in

• P1As1=0.052(9.3)(4000)(19.445)=37,614 Lbf
W1L1

• As2=3.1416/4 (12.5152-12.4152)= 1.958 sq-in

• P2As2=0.052(9.3)(2200)(1.958)=2,083 Lbf

4000ft

P1As1
Tensile Load Graphic

Fa=122,400+134,200-37,614+2,083 = 221,069 Lbf

• Including a minimum overpull force of 100,000

lbf or safety factor of 1.6 whichever is greater.

Fa=(221,069) 1.6 = 353,710 Lbf

Under compression at the bottom of the casing

string:

Load = -37,614+100,000 = 62,386 Lbf

Tensile Load Graphic (Comparison)

Fa=122,400+134,200-37,614+2,083 = 221,069 Lbf

• Including a minimum overpull force of 100,000

lbf or safety factor of 1.6 whichever is greater.

Fa=(221,069) 1.6 = 353,710 Lbf

Under compression at the bottom of the casing

string:

Load = -37,614+100,000 = 62,386 Lbf

Tensile Load Graphic

Joints’ Resistance:
On surface
Fa= 353,710 Lbf
J-55, 61 lb/ft, STC
tensile strength = 595,000 Lbf
Therefore,
595,000 > 353,710

At 2,200 ft
Tensile load is 220,000 Lbf (from plot)
C-75, 68 lb/ft, STC
tensile strength = 905,000 Lbf
Therefore,
905,000 > 220,000
 Final Design Results

• The final design is:

Surface casing 13 3/8 in OD

0 - 2,200’ J-55, 61 lb/ft, STC

2,200 – 4,000’ C-75, 68 lb/ft, STC

An extra amount of casing is ordered to account for make up loss

and to provide some extra casing in case some is damaged.