Advanced Materials Research Vols.

860-863 (2014) pp 2966-2969 Online: 2013-12-13

© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.860-863.2966

Contact Stress Analysis of Packer Rubber Based on ANSYS Software

Teng Li1,a, Le Mu2, Xianda Wang3, Bo Feng4 Ziyi Jin3
1
Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery of Ministry of Education of China, Northeast
Petroleum University, Daqing Heilongjiang 163318
2
Drilling Engineering Company, Daqing Oil Field, Songyuan Jilin 138000
3
Xinglongtai Engineering Technology Department, Liaohe Oil Field, Panjin Liaoning 124000
4 th
8 Oil Production Plant Fourth Oil Field Technology Team, Daqing Oil Field, Daqing Heilongjiang
163514
a
limenglong3333@163.com

Keywords: Contact stress; Packer; Setting force; Frictional coefficient.

Abstract. In this paper three-rubber compression packers are regard as study objects, hyper-elastic
constitution equation Yeoh has been used, the ANSYS mechanical model of packer rubber has been
established by ANSYS software, the influence of axial setting force and frictional coefficient on the
contact stress of packer rubber has been analyzed. The research results indicate that with the
increasing of setting force, the axial compression amount and Von Mises stress increase; with the
increasing of frictional coefficient between rubber and casing, the Von Mises stress of the
intermediate rubber decreases slowly.

Introduction
The using range of packers is very wide, which distributes all over the whole productive process
of exploration and development. The property of packers is based on sealing property. The rubber,
the sealing portion of packer, is the core-block which decides the reliability of packers. Under the
action of hydraulic power or mechanics, the rubber produces axial compression and radial swelling
to seal the annular space between pipeline and casing, which aims at isolating well fluid and
pressure, isolating producing pay, prevent the interstratified fluid and pressure from mutual
interference. In this paper, ANSYS software has been used, the hyper-elastic constitution equation
Yeoh has been adopted, the contact stress of rubber under the conditions of different setting force
and frictional coefficient has been studied, which has important meanings for recognizing the
sealing mechanism of rubber and the reliability of rubber sealing.

Theoretical Basis
The rubber is nearly regarded as completely hyper-elastic material, generally the mechanical
property of hyper-elastic material could be represented by strain energy density equation:
，，
W = W (I1 I 2 I 3 ) (1)
Rivlin deduced the general form of strain energy density equation by using phenomenological
method from the view of mathematics:
（ ）（I - 3）（I - 3）
n
W=
，，
∑
i j k =0
Cijk I1 - 3 i
2
j
3
k
(2)

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 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 860-863 2967

Rubber material is nearly considered as incompressible material, so I3=1, Eq. 2could be

simplified that:

∑ C（I - 3）
（I - 3）
n
i j
W= 1 2 (3)
，
ij
i j =0

Mooney-Rivlin model could be achieved by taking the first two items of Eq. 3:
（ ） （ ）
W = C10 I1 - 3 +C01 I 2 - 3 (4)
Gregory thought that the drawback of Mooney-Rivlin model is that there are not enough higher
order items to Eq. 4, therefore the so-called three-order equation has been developed:
（ ） （ ） （ ） （ ）（ ） （ ）
W = C10 I1 - 3 +C01 I 2 - 3 +C20 I1 - 3 2 +C11 I1 - 3 I 2 - 3 +C30 I1 - 3 3 (5)
Many researches demonstrate that ∂W ∂I 2 is much less than ∂W ∂I 1 , Yeoh presumed that
∂W ∂I 2 was equivalent to 0. So C10=0, C11=0. Eq. 5 could be represented that:
（ ） （ ） （ ）
W = C10 I1 - 3 +C20 I1 - 3 2 +C30 I1 - 3 3 (6)
Eq. 6 is Yeoh model. In these equations, I1, I2, I3 are three invariants of Green deformation tensor,
Cij is material constant.
At normal temperatures, the uniaxial elongation experimental data of this rubber has been tested
by laboratory experiment. The geometrical shape and material parameter of upper rubber and nether
rubber are completely identical. In Eq.6 C10=2.8036MPa, C20=-5.392MPa, C30=7.2276MPa; the
length of intermediate rubber is shorter than that of upper rubber and nether rubber,
C10=1.3297MPa, C20=-0.65157MPa, C30=0.35836MPa；poisson ratio is 0.4996.

The Construction of ANSYS Model

Nowadays, the most useful packer rubbers are three-rubber compression packers, when ANSYS
analysis, to simplify the model by using the condition of axial symmetry and choose a section that
goes through axial direction to conduct meta-modeling, as shown in the Fig. 1; ANSYS analysis
grid, as shown in Fig.2.

Fig.1 Geometrical Model of Packer Rubber Fig.2 ANSYS Grid Figure of Packer Rubber
The rubber adopts 4-node quadrilateral hyper-elastic element Plane 182, pipelines, distance
collars and casings adopt 4-node quadrilateral isoparametric element Plane 42. The rubber has been
compressed to dilate under the equation of upper distance collar, with the increasing of setting force,
the rubber contacts with the casing, which has the effect on sealing the annular space between
pipeline and casing. By using surface-to-surface contact unit Contac171 and Targe169 to simulate
the contact between rubber and casing, pipeline and distance collar, the frictional coefficient
between rubber and casing is 0.3, the frictional coefficient between rubber, distance collar and
pipeline is 0.1. The node freedom of pipeline, casing and nethermost distance collar has been well
constrained.
2968 Energy Development

Calculation Results and Analysis

Influence of Setting Force.To inflict axial setting force 10~60KN to uppermost distance collar, the
deformation pattern of packer rubber and Von Mises stress pattern, as shown in Fig. 3.

(a) Setting Force 10kN (b) Setting Force 20kN (c) Setting Force 30kN

(d) Setting Force 40kN (e) Setting Force 50kN (f) Setting Force 60kN
Fig. 3 Deformation of Rubber and Von Mises stress Cloud Chart under different Setting Force
To draw the relation graph between axial load and axial compression amount, between axial
strain and Von Mises stress data, as shown in Fig. 4.
Axial Compression Amount, mm

33 150
Von Mises Stress, MPa

120
30
90
27
60
24
30

21 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 10 20 30 40 50 60
Axial Setting Force, kN Axial Setting Force, kN

Fig. 4 Axial Compression Amount and the Von Mises Stress under Different Axial Setting Force
From Fig. 4, with the increasing of axial load, the axial compression amount increases, in the
beginning the compression amount obviously increases, when the axial load is larger than 50KN,
the variation of compression amount becomes slow, and the deformation of rubber is nearly stable.
At the same time, with the increasing of setting force, the Von Mises stress of rubber increases
linearly, the contact length between rubber and casing increases gradually, since the radial
deformation of rubber has been constrained, the rubber is gradually flattened and finally compacted.
Influence of Frictional Coefficient. The downhole circumstance is very complex, for example,
there are mud cakes and cuttings on the casing wall, sometimes there are some factors such as
scraping, abrasion, and deformation. So it is hard to determine the concrete frictional coefficient.
Based on this situation, it is necessary to analyze the influence of frictional coefficient on contact
stress.
In the three-rubber packer, the intermediate rubber is softer, and its equation is to seal. To adopt
the above-mentioned calculation model, the frictional coefficient between rubber, distance collar
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 860-863 2969

and pipeline has been analyzed to be 0.1, when the frictional coefficient between rubber and casing
is 0.1~0.8, the Von Mises stress variation of intermediate rubber has been shown in Fig. 5.
145

Von Mises Stress, MPa

139

133

127
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Frictional Coefficient between Rubber and Casing

Fig. 5 The Relation between the Von Mises Stress of Rubber and the Frictional Coefficient
From Fig. 5, with the increasing of the frictional coefficient, the Von Mises stress of
intermediate rubber decreases slowly, because the intermediate rubber is softer than the upper and
nether rubber, which is easy to be compressed and first to contact with casing. After the
intermediate rubber contacts with casing, because of the existing of frictional coefficient, the
frictional force contrary to setting force exists, which hinders the radial deformation of rubber to
some extent and makes the Von Mises of rubber decrease.

Conclusions
(1) With the increasing of axial load, the axial compression amount increases, in the beginning the
compression amount obviously increases, when the axial load is larger than 50KN, the variation of
compression amount becomes slow, and the deformation of rubber is nearly stable.
(2) With the increasing of setting force, the Von Mises stress of rubber increases linearly, the
contact length between rubber and casing increases gradually, since the radial deformation of rubber
has been constrained, the rubber is gradually flattened and finally compacted.
(3) With the increasing of the frictional coefficient, the Von Mises stress of intermediate rubber
decreases slowly.

References
[1] Xiaofang Li, Xiaoxiang Yang, Hongtao Wang. Finite element analysis of the contact stress of
the sealing rubber of the packer (In Chinese) [J]. Lubrication Engineering, 2005, (5): 90~92,
125.
[2] Yonghui Liu, Jianhong Fu, Yuanhua Lin, etc. Finite element analysis of packer’s rubber sealing
properties (In Chinese) [J]. Oil Field Equipment, 2007, 36(9): 38~41.
[3] Ji Gongming, Zhou Xianjun, Yun Pingli. Numerical simulated analysis of the contact stress on
the sealing rubber of the packer (In Chinese) [J]. Oil Field Equipment, 2002, 31(5): 46~47.
[4] Zhou Xianjun, Ping Li, Ji Gongming. Finite element calculation of the contact stress on the
sealing rubber of the packer (In Chinese) [J]. Drilling & Production Technology, 2002, 25(4):
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Contact Stress Analysis of Packer Rubber Based on ANSYS Software

10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.860-863.2966