IADC/SPE 155895

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

Analysis of Cemented Casing Mechanical Failure under Arbitrary in-situ
Stress Field Coupling Effects of Downhole Pressure and Temperature
Yong Li, Jinping Yuan, Fengzhong Qi, Shuoqiong Liu, Zhaohui Wang and Congfeng Qu, Drilling Research
Institute, China National Petroleum Corp.

Copyright 2012, IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition

This paper was prepared for presentation at the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition held in Tianjin, China, 9–11 July 2012.

This paper was selected for presentation by an IADC/SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not
been reviewed by the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily
reflect any position of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any
part of this paper without the written consent of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is
restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of IADC/SPE copyright.

Abstract
To ensure well’s production cycle as long as possible, wellbore integrity becomes very significant and is attracting more and
more attention. Among numerous researches about the influence factors of wellbore integrity, casing impairment is a
common phenomenon. Usually, casing impairment leads to loss of pressure integrity, pinching of production tubing, or an
inability to lower workover tools, etc. Downhole cemented casing bears various loads during its working life. Among these
loads, inner pressure variation and wellbore temperature’s effect are all challenges to cemented casing’s good performance.
Moreover, the outer in-situ stress is also a non-negligible factor especially when the distribution of the outer in-situ stress is
complicated. So, how to avoid casing impairment and how to select appropriate casing type become a significative work
which will save cost and is beneficial to the wellbore’s longterm integrity.
In this paper a coupling mathematical analysis model of downhole cemented casing-cement sheath-formation rock has
been built. Through elastic mechanics method, calculating programme programmed by computer language and graphical
output, this paper presents a detailed analysis about the cemented casing stress field under arbitrary in-situ stress (especially
non-uniform in-situ stress) field considering pressure variation coupling with temperature effect. It shows that whether the in-
situ stress field is uniform or non-uniform, the tangential stress is so much larger than the radial stress. When the in-situ
stress’s values are relatively large, proper inner pressure increase can compensate for the casing’s enduring performance. The
research findings can be used to forecast the mechanical failure type of cemented casing. Furthermore, it will be a useful
guideline for casing type selecting.

Introduction
Nowadays, in order to reduce the cost of establishing an oil (gas) well and gain the maximum lucre at the same invest, people
are paying so much attention to how to maintain well’s effective working life as long as possible, which is why wellbore
integrity becomes the focus. For the sake of this purpose, so many influence factors should be considered, such as the
wellhead assembly, cementing quality, tubular sealing property, etc. And, the cemented casing mechanical failure, which is
this paper’s topic, will mostly lead to tubular sealing problems. Cemented casing discussed in this paper is casing which is
protected and bonded with cement slurry. Furthermore, the cement slurry has been hardly set into cement sheath. That is to
say, the time point that we analyze in this paper is some days or months, even years after cementing job.
People have done so many research work about casing impairment and casing mechanical behavior from aspects such as
in-situ stress of creep formation (often at a presupposition of uniform in-situ stress field and axisymmetrical distribution),
heavy oil thermal recovery, casing wear during drilling process, tubular corrosion, etc. But, little effort has been made to
analyze the mechanical response of cemented casing which is in a situation not only pressure and temperature increase, but
also the in-situ stress has an arbitrary in-situ stress distribution (uniform or non-uniform)1-5. This paper will attempt to
address this issue. A detailed mechanical analysis of the cemented casing will be carried out through a description of the
model and mechanical analysis. Examples will be presented to show quantitatively not only the stress distribution of the
cemented casing when pressure and temperature increase, but also the influence of casing/cement sheath/formation rock
parameters on the cemented casing’s stress state.

Model and Mechanical Analysis

At the beginning, it is necessary to illuminate what conditions the cemented casing is in. There are inner pressure and
2 IADC/SPE 155895

temperature variations in the casing. Outside of the casing is the cement sheath with certain thickness. Then outer, is the
formation rock. As to the formation rock, it bears the compressive effect from the in-situ stress which is always comprised of
the maximum horizontal principal stress and the minimum horizontal principal stress. Many researchers always assume the
two stresses are equal in order to simplify the problem. But the actually situation is that the maximum horizontal principal
stress and the minimum horizontal principal stress are not always equal. That means the previous study using an isotropic
assume of the in-situ stress can not apply to analyzing the stress state of the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set in this
case.

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

In order to solve the problem, some presumptions should be illuminated first. The stresses in the cemented casing are
calculated assuming that steel, cement and rock are thermo-linear elastic materials6. It is also assumed that the steel/cement
interface and the cement/ formation rock interface are fully bonded, the casing has no deficiency, and initially the cement
sheath has a uniform thickness and integral body. Compared to the length dimension of the well, its plane dimensions are so
small. So plane strain is also adopted. All these presumptions guarantee that the whole analytical set—casing/cement
sheath/formation rock set is axisymmetric in geometry. At the premise of these presumptions an elastic mechanics analytical
method can be used.
A cylindrical coordinates is used to illuminate the inner and outer conditions which the casing/cement sheath/formation
rock set is in. As Fig.1 shows, the maximum horizontal principal stress is at the horizontal direction, and the minimum
horizontal principal stress is at the vertical direction. The two stresses are all uniformly distributed at a far distance away
from the wellbore. At the inner surface of the casing (or the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set) there are imposed
pressure and temperature effects. We can regard the ground as an infinite plate, the wellbore as a small hole which is located
in the infinite plate. Therefore, the model that an infinite plate with a small hole discussed in the elastic mechanics6 is proper.

Fig.1—The inner and outer conditions which the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set is in
In order to utilize the conclusions in elastic mechanics, the model described in Fig.1 can be divided into two parts as
shown in Fig.2.

= +

Fig.2—The initial condition can be divided into two simple conditions

So, elastic mechanics theory provides a calculating formula of the radial stress and shear stress near the wellbore region,
as:
IADC/SPE 155895 3

$ - H + - h * rw2 ' - H + - h * rw2 '* rw2 '

-
! r = + ( 1 + % + ( 1 + %(
( r 2 %( 1 + 3 % cos 2,
! 2 ( r2 %
) & 2 ) &) r 2 %&
# (1)
2 2
!. = - H + - h *(1 + rw '%*(1 + 3 rw '% sin 2,
! r, 2 ( r 2 %( r 2 %&
" ) &)

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

Thus, the outer stress distribution of the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set is obtained.
The axisymmetric geometry allows the use of cylindrical coordinates r , ! and z . Fig.3 shows the analytical object—the
casing/cement sheath/formation rock set. The hollow cylinder solution for an elastic material is the base of constructing the
model. So, it must satisfy the conditions that radial displacements, radial stresses and shear stresses are continuous across the
interface between two materials. During analysis the hollow cylinder represents each ring of respective material. As shown in
Fig.3, the first ring is the casing, the second ring is the cement sheath, and the third ring is the formation rock. Variables of
interest are the radial displacement, the radial stress, ! r ; the tangential stress, " ! ; the shear stress, " r! . In this paper the
sign convention is that tensile stress is positive and compressive stress is negative. Some conventions are also adopted: a
variable with a subscript containing “ c ” is related to the casing; a variable with no special subscript is related to the cement
sheath; a variable with a subscript containing “ f ” is related to the formation rock.

Fig.3—The analytical set—the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set

As described in Eq.1, the radial stress (the first formula in Eq.1) can be regarded to be comprised of two parts: the one is
illuminated by the first term which is uniform, the other one is illuminated by the second term which is not uniform and
related to the angle. The shear stress (the second formula in Eq.1) is always related to the angle because of the non-uniform
in-situ stress field. According to the principle of linear superposition6,7, the stress and temperature conditions of the
casing/cement sheath/formation rock set can be divided into two situations:
(I) There is a uniform inner and outer pressure imposed on the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set: p c imposed on
the inner surface of the casing and p f imposed on the outer surface of the formation rock. The temperature in the casing
increases to Tc . And the temperature of the formation is T f which is supposed to be unaltered in this paper. We assume that
the performance of thermal conductivity of the casing is good, and the heat conduction loss between the inner surface and the
outer surface of the casing can be neglected. So the temperature of the outer surface of the casing is Tc too. We can acquire
the temperature distribution of the cement sheath along the radial direction as8:
r
ln
T = Tc ! (Tc ! T f ) b (2)
c
ln
b
From Eq.1 it is concluded that the uniform outer pressure can be calculated with:
(H +(h & r2 #
pf = ' $$1 ' w2 !! (3)
2 % r "
4 IADC/SPE 155895

For a given inner pressure in the casing, p c ; the temperature parameters Tc and T f ; the in-situ stress, and the geometry
and material parameters of the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set, with boundary and continuity conditions, a
comprehensive stress state of situation I can be achieved.
(II) The other situation is that the casing/cement sheath/formation rock set bears a non-uniform outer pressure p !f and a
non-uniform outer shear stress ! f , but no other pressure or thermic effects. From Eq.1 the calculation of the two can be

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

given as:
"H )"h ( r 2 %( r2 %
p*f = ) &&1 ) w2 ##&&1 ) 3 w2 ##cos2! (4)
2 ' r $' r $
" * " h ) rw2 &) r2 &
#f = H ''1 * 2 $$''1 + 3 w2 $$sin2! (5)
2 ( r %( r %
Using semi-inverse method of elastic mechanics with its boundary and continuity conditions, the stress distribution of
situation II is fully obtained.
As the situations I and II all have been analyzed respectively, in order to acquire the original problem’s analysis, the last
step is adding the two results together, and then the complete analysis is obtained. A comprehensive understand of the stress
distribution and state of the cemented casing can be achieved.

Results and Discussions

Using the above model and theory, we have analyzed the effects of the pressure and temperature on the cemented casing, and
also the influence of the in-situ stress on the casing. A calculated program has been compiled in order to calculate the results
more quickly and efficiently. The cases presented later are for a wellbore with a diameter of 215.9 mm. The casing used has a
diameter of 177.8 mm with a thickness of 9.19 mm.
Stress Distribution of the Casing. In this analysis, the Young’s modulus for the casing, the cement sheath, and the
formation rock are 206, 6.2 and 20 GPa respectively, and Poisson’s ratio are 0.3, 0.21 and 0.24 respectively. The pressure in
the casing is 20 MPa. The temperature in the casing and the formation rock are 80 oC and 130 oC. The values of in-situ stress
respectively are: (1) uniform distribution: ! H =45 MPa, ! h =45 MPa; (2) non-uniform distribution: ! H =45 MPa, ! h =20
MPa. Fig.4 and Fig.5 show us the distribution and alteration of tangential stress and radial stress along the thickness
direction. The red circle represents the inner surface of the casing. The black circle represents the current calculating radius
(in every case there are five values of calculating radius from the inner radius to the outer radius of the casing).

uniform distribution: ! H =45 MPa, ! h =45 MPa non-uniform distribution: ! H =45 MPa, ! h =20 MPa
Fig.4—Variation of the tangential stress along the thickness direction of the casing

From Fig.4 and Fig.5 we can find that, whether the in-situ stress field is uniform or non-uniform, the tangential stress is so
much larger than the radial stress. When the in-situ stress field is non-uniform, both the tangential stress and the radial stress
become non-uniform distributed. The highest values of both appear at 90° and 270° direction which is the minimum
horizontal principal stress’s direction. Meanwhile, the shear stress appears. Fig.6 shows us the shear stress’s distribution and
alteration along the thickness direction. In this case, the highest value of the shear stress appears at 45°, 135°, 225° and 315°
direction. The value of the shear stress at the inner surface is zero, as the distance becomes far from the inner surface of the
casing, the shear stress increases gradually.
IADC/SPE 155895 5

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

uniform distribution: ! H =45 MPa, ! h =45 MPa non-uniform distribution: ! H =45 MPa, ! h =20 MPa
Fig.5——Variation of the radial stress along the thickness direction of the casing

Fig.6—Variation of the shear stress along the thickness direction of the casing under non-uniform in-situ stress
Mechanical Failure Analysis. From the above discussion, we know the stress state of the casing is not simple uniaxial
tension or compression, but a composite stress state. In order to analyze whether yield failure of the casing will occur or not,
we adopt two strength criterion9-11: Tresca Strength Criterion (the Maximum Shear Stress Theory, known as Tresca Theory)
and Von Mises Strength Criterion (the Distortion Energy Theory, known as Von Mises Theory).
The Tresca Stress is defined and calculated by:
! Tre = !" # ! r (6)
The Von Mises Stress is defined and calculated by:
1
# Von =
2
[
(# r $ # ! )2 + (# ! $ # z )2 + (# z $ # r )2 + 6" r2! ] (7)

Either one of the two stresses reaches the yield stress, the casing is considered to be yield failure.
Fig.7 shows us both the Tresca Stress and the Von Mises Stress have the highest value at the inner surface of the casing
at the minimum horizontal principal stress’s direction which means these points are dangerous places and will firstly yield.
The maximum Tresca Stress is 417.2 MPa, and the maximum Von Mises Stress is 377.2 MPa. For a casing with grade J55,
the yield stress is 379.4 MPa, which means shear failure first occurs at the inner surface. If we increase the grade to N80, the
yield stress becomes 552 MPa, and then, the two stresses both are at the safety range.
6 IADC/SPE 155895

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

Tresca Stress Von Mises Sress
Fig.7—Variation of the Tresca/Von Mises Stress along the thickness direction of the casing under non-uniform in-situ stress

The highest value of each calculating radius decreases gradually as the distance becomes far from the inner surface. But
the value at 0° and 180° direction increases gradually which tells us: as to the casing, from the inner surface to the outer
surface, the non-uniform stress state becomes improved almost towards uniform stress state. This is good news for the casing
because that in this way the casing’s endurance against various stresses can be fully exerted.
Increase the Pressure and Temperature in the casing. The effects of the increase of inner pressure and temperature on
Tresca Stress and Von Mises Stress at the inner surface of the casing (because of symmetric distribution, here only choose
angle range from 0° to 90°) are shown in Fig.8.

Fig.8—Variation of the Tresca/Von Mises Stress at the inner surface of the casing when inner pressure and temperature increase

In this part’s discussion, four stress states have been calculated. Like Fig.8 shows, the initial state (black line represents) is
the state what Fig.4 with non-uniform in-situ stress field describes. In the second state (red line represents) the inner
temperature increases to 100 oC without other variation. In the third state (blue line represents) and the fourth state (green line
represents) the inner pressure increases to 35 MPa and 80 MPa (Tip: The purpose of choosing 80 MPa for calculating is only
to find out the influence on the Tresca/Von Mises Stress under too much increase of pressure. In fact, the inner pressure
generally will not reach such a high value) respectively without other variation.
It is clear that temperature increase will bring increase to both the Tresca Stress and the Von Mises Stress. This increase is
harmful to the casing’s stress endurance. Something interesting is that some proper certain inner pressure increase can make
the two stresses decrease to some extent. However, too much increase of inner pressure like the green line describes will
cause almost an inverse stress state. Take the Tresca Stress for example, the maximum value is at 90° direction and the
minimum value is at 0° direction in the initial state. But, in the fourth state, the maximum value is at 0° direction and the
minimum value is at 90° direction. This analysis result tells us, when the in-situ stress’s values are relatively large, proper
inner pressure increase can compensate for the casing’s enduring performance, whereas, large scale pressure increase is so
harmful to the casing.
Change the thickness of the Casing. In order to find out how the thickness of the casing influences the stress distribution,
we only change the thickness of the casing as 9.19 mm, 11.51 mm and 13.72 mm and calculate the Tresca Stress and the Von
Mises Stress of each case. The results are shown in Fig.9.
IADC/SPE 155895 7

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

Fig.9—Variation of the Tresca/Von Mises Stress at the inner surface of the casing when the thickness of the casing increases

Obviously, increase the thickness of the casing will decrease the both two stresses which is beneficial to the casing. That is
to say, at the permission of well cost and engineering requirement, casing with larger thickness will be a good choice.
Change the Young’s modulus of the Cement Sheath and the Formation Rock. What the Fig.10 describes is the variation
of the Von Mises Stress at the inner surface of the casing as a function of the cement sheath Young’s modulus and the
formation rock Young’s modulus respectively.

the cement sheath Young’s modulus changes the formation rock Young’s modulus changes
Fig.10—Variation of the Von Mises Stress at the inner surface of the casing
when the Young’s modulus of the cement sheath and the formation rock change respectively
The left figure in Fig.10 shows the Von Mises Stress’s values when the Young’s modulus of the cement sheath values 6.2 GPa,
7.5 GPa and 8.5GPa with no other parameter’s change. When the Young’s modulus of the cement sheath increases, the value
of the Von Mises Stress increases too. However, the right figure in Fig.10 in which the Young’s modulus of the formation rock
values 15 GPa, 20 GPa and 25GPa shows us a high formation rock Young’s modulus is in favor of the casing.

Conclusions
The stress state of the cemented casing under arbitrary in-situ stress field with the effects of pressure and temperature is fully
analyzed. Also the calculating programme compiled is convenient to analyze similar problems. Through the whole analysis,
we get several concrete conclusions as follows:
1. Whether the in-situ stress field is uniform or non-uniform, the tangential stress is so much larger than the radial stress.
When under a non-uniform in-situ stress field, the highest values of both the tangential stress and the radial stress appear at
the minimum horizontal principal stress’s direction. Shear stress appears. Its value increases gradually as the distance gets
away from the center of the wellbore.
2. Under non-uniform in-situ stress field with certain conditions, shear failure but not collapse failure can occur firstly at
the inner surface at the minimum horizontal principal stress’s direction. As the distance becomes far from the inner surface,
the non-uniform stress state becomes improved almost towards uniform stress state in which the casing’s endurance against
various stresses can be fully exerted.
3. When the in-situ stress’s values are relatively large, proper inner pressure increase can compensate for the casing’s
enduring performance, whereas, large scale pressure increase is so harmful to the casing. But temperature increase will bring
increase to both the Tresca Stress and the Von Mises Stress definitely.
4. At the permission of well cost and engineering requirement, casing with larger thickness is preferred.
8 IADC/SPE 155895

5. Cement slurry with low Young’s modulus makes for the casing’s stress endurance whereas low Young’s modulus
formation rock is adverse. Choosing high grade casing with larger thickness and low Young’s modulus cement slurry is so
necessary in soft formation especially in creep formation.
Nomenclature
a = inner radius of the casing, mm
b = outer radius of the casing (or inner radius of the cement sheath), mm
c = outer radius of the cement sheath (or inner radius of the formation), mm

Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAPDT/proceedings-pdf/12APDT/All-12APDT/SPE-155895-MS/1607692/spe-155895-ms.pdf by Universidad de America Bogota user on 10 March 2023

d = outer radius of the formation rock, mm
pc = pressure in the casing, MPa
p2 = pressure at the steel/cement interface, MPa
p3 = pressure at the cement/formation rock interface, MPa
p f , p!f = uniform and non-uniform pressure of the formation rock, MPa
!f = shear stress of the formation rock, MPa
!c = thickness of the casing, mm
Tc = temperature of the casing, oC
T f = temperature of the formation rock, oC
! r = radial stress, MPa
" ! = tangential stress, MPa
! z = vertical stress, MPa
" r! = shear stress, MPa
! Tre = Tresca Stress, MPa
! Von = Von Mises Stress, MPa
E , E f = Young’s modulus of the cement sheath, and the formation rock, GPa
rw = radius of the wellbore, mm
r = radial distance away from the origin, mm
! H , ! h = maximum and minimum horizontal principal stress, MPa
! = angle, °

Acknowledgements
The authors thank CNPC and Drilling Research Institute for permission to write and publish the paper.

References
1. Thomas B. O’Brien.: “A Case Against Cementing Casing-Casing Annuli,” paper IADC/SPE 35106 presented at the 1996 IADC/ SPE
Drilling Conference, New Orleans, 12-15 March.
2. G.Maharaj.: “Thermal Well Casing Failure Analysis,” paper SPE 36143 presented at the 1996 Fourth Latin American and Canbbean
Petroleum Engineering Conference, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, 23-26 April.
3. B.Wagg, J.Xie, and S.Solanki. et al.: “Evaluating Casing Deformation Mechanisms in Primary Heavy Oil Production,” paper SPE
54116 presented at the 1999 SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium, Bakersfield, California, 17-19 March.
4. A.H. EI-Sayed and F. Khalaf.: “Effect of Internal Pressure and Cement Strength on the Resistance of Concentric Casing Strings,” paper
SPE 15708 presented at the 1987 Fifith Middle East Oil Show, Manama, Bahrain, 7-10 March.
5. Maurice B. Dusseault, Michael S. Bruno, and John Barrera.: “Casing Shear: Causes, Cases, Cures,” SPEDC (June 2001) 98-107.
6. Zhilun Xu: Theory of Elasticity, first volume (the third edition), People Education Press, Beijing (1982) 94-98.
7. Jun Fang, Huaiwen Zhao, and Boqian Yue.et al.: “Analysis of Loading Property of Casing and Cement Sheath under Nonuniform
Geologic Stress,” Journal of the University of Petroleum, China, (1995) 19(6), 52-57.
8. Bingye Xu: Examples and Exercises of Elactic and Plastic Mechanics, China Machine Press, Beijing (1981) 256-258.
9. A.A.H. EI-Sayed and Fouad Khalaf.: “Resistance of Cemented Concentric Casing Strings Under Nonuniform Loading,” SPEDE
(March 1992) 59.
10. Chaowei Chen.: “Study on Casing Loads and Casing Damage of Casing-Cement Sheath-Stratum System”, Ph.D thesis, Peking
University (2007) 90-95.
11. Bingye Xu, Yan Huang, and Xinsheng Liu. et al.: Elactic-Plastic Mechanics and its application, China Machine Press, Beijing (1984) 46-51.