WELLBORE TUBULARS

Premium-Connection Design

High resistance to fatigue loading together with high torque and compression capacities is necessary for connections used for drilling with casing. On the other hand, cost-effective solutions must be found to provide connections for shallow wells for which sophisticated premium connections are not economical. The full-length paper describes the development and evaluation of premium and semipremium connections for tubing/casing.

Introduction Drilling with casing originally was used for nondemanding vertical wells where, in almost all cases, American Petroleum Inst. (API) connections (sometimes with modifications to improve torque capacity) were used. As drilling with casing was used in more demanding and critical applications such as horizontal, deviated, and offshore wells where most wells are drilled directionally, new connection types were needed. Requirements for these connections include reliability, sealability, high overtorque capacity, and ultrahigh fatigue resistance because the stresses produced by bending and vibrations while rotating can reduce connection life. Considerations Use of oil-country-tubular-goods (OCTG) connections for drilling began as an attempt to reduce costs. Standard OCTG casing connections are designed to withstand statThis article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper OTC 17221, Premium & Semi-Premium Connections Design Optimization for Varied Drilling-With-Casing Applications, by N.J. Santi and G.E. Carcagno, SPE, Tenaris, and R. Toscano, Centro Investigation Industrial, prepared for the 2005 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 25 May. Copyright 2005 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

Fig. 1Semipremium tubing and casing connection.

Fig. 2Premium connection.

ic loads of tension and compression, internal and external pressure, and bending. Torque requirements for these connections are low. However, for drilling with casing, some critical issues that become important for drilling directional and deviated wells include the following. Wear protection. High torque and compression resistance. High fatigue resistance. Cost effectiveness. Wear protection is provided by means of centralizers or other hardened surfaces located close to the pipe end to avoid damage to the connection. Higher torque and compression requirements are met by designs that include robust torque shoulders, thread interferences, and reduced gaps between mating threads. Fatigue resistance is a very important issue for drilling with casing and perhaps the most difficult challenge to address. Fatigue Response of OCTG Connections. Fatigue is a complex process that affects mechanical components subjected to cyclic loads. Fatigue failure is not a sudden crack, instead it involves different failure phases

that occur until component failure becomes evident. This failure occurs at stress levels much less than the elastic limit of the material. When subjected to cyclic loading, ordinary OCTG connections are weaker than drillpipe connectors that are designed to work with alternating stresses. The fatiguefailure location of threaded connections is in the area with the highest stress-concentration factor (SCF). Location of the SCF can be estimated with finite-element analysis (FEA), which also can yield a numerical value of the SCF. For standard premium OCTG connections with loads expected in drilling with casing applications, the SCF normally is greater than 2. However, from a fatigue perspective, it is desirable that the SCF be as low as possible. Threaded-connection response to fatigue loads can be plotted as a stress vs. number-of-cycles-tofailure curve. The alternating stress for a drilling with casing operation is produced by the string dogleg while the string is rotated. The mean stress is produced by the axial loads applied on the string. Consequently, for a longer life, a balance between the axial load (mean stress) and the maximum dogleg that can be applied while rotating must be achieved.

The full-length paper is available for purchase at the OTC Library:www.otcnet.org. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

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Fig. 3Magnetic-particle inspection of tong marks.

Connection Development A development program was launched to provide alternative connections for drilling with casing. Different options from semipremium to premium fit-for-purpose connections with enhanced fatigue life were evaluated and tested. For the semipremium concept, a threaded and coupled (T&C) design was chosen because T&C designs had been used for similar applications. Main features of this design include a tighter tolerance range than API connections, a robust torque shoulder that allows stable makeup and extra torque capacity with controlled stresses along the threaded area, and a robust thread design (Fig. 1). For the premium connection, a tough casing design on an upset joint based on a proven design for tubing drilling and workstring applications was chosen. Two robust shoulders were included that allow sufficient prestress levels while having an overtorque capability that ensures no damage on the connection as a result of such prestress (Fig.2). Different design alternatives were evaluated by use of FEA, full-scale fatigue tests, and make-and-break tests. In addition, magnetic-particle inspections to check for the presence of cracks were performed on specimens that did not fail during fatigue tests. FEA FEA was performed for a premium connection and a standard T&C connection to evaluate fatigue response. Connections were modeled in extreme configurations of thread and seal, and two stress levels were simulated with a mean stress of 30% of the minimum API yield strength. The FEA code used incorporates an element that is effective and reliable for OCTG-connection analysis. Small displacements and strains were considered in the model. An elastoplastic material model, von Mises yield criterion, and a bilinear model with isotropic hardening were used. Nonlinear contact

conditions were handled with a Lagrange multiplier contact algorithm. In all cases, the makeup-torque value was increased to a higher value than that used for running casing to ensure good prestress in the connection to ensure that both shoulders were closed during the loading cycle. Control points were in the most sensitive connection areas. The SCF map and the graphic of results show that the highest stresses for different alternating loads are produced at either the first or second pin or box threads, depending on the applied stress. This is different from what is observed normally on T&C connections where the highest SCFs are located within the last imperfect threads of the pin. The SCFs on the premium connector do not exceed 2 and in some cases are closer to 1, which means that the connection meets the design target of an SCF less than 2. Fatigue-Resistance Tests The premium and semipremium connections that underwent the full-scale testing program were manufactured from 7-in., 32-lbm/ft L80 material. The samples were manufactured according to standard manufacturing procedures; however, the integral upset joints were manufactured on coupling stocks with the upset ends turned to reduce any possible imperfections. The full-scale tests were performed on three samples of the T&C and three samples of the premium connection by use of a resonant fatigue rig. The tests were planned to stop when the connections leaked. Both connections were tested at the stress levels recommended for this application, but the mean stress levels were slightly different to subject the upset end to a worst condition. Run-out limit was set at 12 million cycles, in the event that failure did not occur earlier. Stress levels were chosen to simulate bending conditions of 19, 14.3, 9.5, and 25.6/100 ft with a 236.5-kips mean tension load for the premium connection and 220 kips for the T&C connection. Fatigue-Test Results. The T&C connections behaved very well, achieving satisfactory results and providing an experimental SCF of 1.3 with a 95% survival probability. According to the results, this connection could drill at 9.5/100 ft for more than 80 days with a 220-kips tension load. All the failures in the premium connections occurred on the pipe body on the transition area away from the connection. The first connection tested achieved 868,000 cycles, and failure occurred at the tong marks. This connection was replaced by a spare specimen

that had the tong marks ground out. This spare specimen achieved more than 3 million cycles and failed in the transition area. This means that the 7-in. premium connection can drill 20 days at 100 rev/min, 19/100 ft, and a tensile load of 236.5 kips. The experimental SCF for the upset connections was 0.9 with a 95% survival probability. Magnetic-Particle Inspection. After the fatigue tests, the connections were broken out and inspected with magnetic particles. The inspection showed that for the upset connections, cracks developed at the transition area or at the tong marks for the first upset connection (Fig. 3) and at the transition for the others. No cracks were found on threads and seals. Visual inspection confirmed that no damage appeared on threads and seals despite high makeup torque. No cracks were found in the threaded area on the T&C semipremium connection. Discussion Results showed that the connections satisfactorily achieved the requirements established at the beginning of the development program. For the semipremium connection, the purpose was to obtain better behavior than API connections currently used for drilling-with-casing applications. For premium connections, it was demonstrated that the design satisfies the objectives in all cases, with the exception of the failure caused by tong marks. The connection tested at 14.5 ksi and stopped at 13 million cycles achieved more than 770,000 cycles when retested at 36.2 ksi. Cumulative damage on the pipe supports a fatigue-life estimate of 50 million cycles at 14.5 ksi (9.5/100 ft) with no damage on the connection. In addition, the T&C connections also were overtorqued to 160% of the normal value, while the upset connections were overtorqued to as much as 290% optimum torque, which demonstrates the overtorque capacity of these connections. Conclusions 1. The premium connection demonstrated an ultrahigh fatigue resistance without showing any failure on the connection. 2. The bending angles at which the connections were tested make them suitable for deviated wells, in particular the upset connections that also allow very high angles with a good life expectancy. 3. The semipremium connection presents a very good balance between performance and cost that makes it appropriate for less-demanding wells with no sealability requirements. JPT

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