Integrity Failure of Cement Sheath Owing to Hydraulic Fracturing and Casing Off-Center in Horizontal Shale Gas Wells

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kui Liu ◽  
Deli Gao ◽  
Arash Dahi Taleghani
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Li ◽  
Xueli Guo ◽  
Gonghui Liu ◽  
Shuoqiong Liu ◽  
Yan Xi

An accurate analysis of casing stress distribution and its variation regularities present several challenges during hydraulic fracturing of shale gas wells. In this paper, a new analytical mechanical-thermal coupling method was provided to evaluate casing stress. For this new method, the casing, cement sheath, and formation (CCF) system was divided into three parts such as initial stress field, wellbore disturbance field, and thermal stress field to simulate the processes of drilling, casing, cementing, and fracturing. The analytical results reached a good agreement with a numerical approach and were in-line with the actual boundary condition of shale gas wells. Based on this new model, the parametric sensitivity analyses of casing stress such as mechanical and geometry properties, operation parameters, and geostress were conducted during multifracturing. Conclusions were drawn from the comparison between new and existing models. The results indicated that the existing model underestimated casing stress under the conditions of the geostress heterogeneity index at the range of 0.5–2.25, the fracturing pressure larger than 25 MPa, and a formation with large elastic modulus or small Poisson’s ratio. The casing stress increased dramatically with the increase of in situ stress nonuniformity degree. The stress decreased first and then increased with the increase of fracturing pressure. Thicker casing, higher fluid temperature, and cement sheath with small modulus, large Poisson’s ratio, and thinner wall were effective to decrease the casing stress. This new method was able to accurately predict casing stress, which can become an alternative approach of casing integrity evaluation for shale gas wells.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 671-679
Author(s):  
Yuanhua Lin ◽  
Kuanhai Deng ◽  
Hao Yi ◽  
Dezhi Zeng ◽  
Liang Tang ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kui Liu ◽  
Zhaowei Chen ◽  
Yijin Zeng ◽  
Hu Cao ◽  
Qian Tao ◽  
...  

SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Kui Liu ◽  
Shidong Ding ◽  
Shiming Zhou ◽  
Qian Tao ◽  
Linhai Zhang ◽  
...  

Summary Annulus pressure buildup (APB) problems in shale gas wells seriously affected on the safety and efficient exploitation of shale gas all around the world. The sealing failure of the cement sheath on interfaces caused by periodically changed fluid pressure in casing during hydraulic fracturing is treated as the main reason for APB in shale gas wells. Many methods are put forward to solve the APB problem in the field, and fortunately, the preapplied annulus backpressure (PABP) method shows an excellent utility. In this paper, an analytical model is established to explain the mechanism of the PABP method increasing the sealing ability of the cement sheath. The residual strain of the cement sheath and radial stress on interfaces are considered to analyze the factors that affect the effectiveness of the PABP method. In addition, based on the field data, an experimental device is established to test the validity of the PABP method and to certify the accuracy of the analytical model established in this paper. The analytical results show that the thickness of the casing has little effect on radial stress on interfaces. The outer diameter of the casing and the thickness of the cement sheath can temperately affect the radial stress. The elastic modulus of the cement sheath and the formation rock can significantly affect the radial stress. The higher elastic modulus of the cement sheath can dramatically increase the radial stress on interfaces. On the contrary, the higher elastic modulus of formation rock will induce smaller radial stress on the interfaces. In the field, the number of newly added shale gas wells with APB problems has dramatically decreased by using the PABP method. The work in this paper can be significantly useful for researchers and engineers to reduce the APB in shale gas wells.


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