Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

A novel apparatus and method for lab-scale study of wellbore integrity

using CT imaging and analysis
Alexander Anya *, Hossein Emadi, Marshall Watson
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas Tech University, 807 Boston Avenue, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Well drilling, completions, stimulation, and enhanced oil recovery operations induce downhole conditions that
Computed tomography may negatively impact the integrity of the annular seal and consequently hinder zonal isolation. Thus, the ability
Residual strain to accurately quantify the evolution of the annular seal in response to the prevailing downhole environment is
Cement
critical for the optimal design of the annular barrier for the life of a well. Thanks to increased accessibility and
Cyclic injection
Wellbore model
recent advancements in computing power and techniques, X-ray computed tomography has gained popularity as
Wellbore simulation a non-destructive analysis method in materials science and geomechanics due to its ability to reveal details about
the interior volume of objects in real-time without physical disassembly.
Therefore, in this study, a novel apparatus is presented for the construction of a lab-scale wellbore, with the
purpose of simulating downhole processes while simultaneously monitoring wellbore elements of interest in real-
time via x-ray computed tomography. The benefits of this novel setup for wellbore integrity are demonstrated via
applications to two test cases: the mechanical evolution of annular cement under stresses induced by cyclic water
injection as a function of the mechanical properties of the cased and cemented wellbore system; the evaluation of
nano magnesium oxide performance as an additive for autogenous shrinkage mitigation in annular cement.
The results of the studies presented illustrate the benefits of combining x-ray computed tomography with lab-
scale wellbore process simulations. The results of the cyclic water injection study suggest that residual strain in
the cement is the major factor in annular seal degradation under cyclic downhole pressure fluctuations. Nano
magnesium oxide is also shown to be very effective in preventing autogenous shrinkage of Class H cement.
However, more study is required to characterize its effectiveness in a wider range of cement formulations.
Finally, suggestions are offered on how to improve the experimental procedure presented while future potential
applications of the apparatus are discussed.

1. Introduction
Despite ongoing technical advances in different aspects of well
cementing and well cementing research, well integrity challenges
continue to rise in complexity and frequency due to the widespread
implementation of modern well development methods which incorpo­
rate new and advanced well stimulation techniques like multi-stage
fracturing, thermal enhanced oil recovery, CO2 enabled enhanced oil
recovery and much more. Moreover, the growing interest in geologic
carbon capture and sequestration as well as underground hydrogen
storage have exposed glaring gaps in our understanding of the rela­
tionship between the physical and chemical properties of the compo­
nents of a cemented wellbore and the resulting evolution of the annular
seal integrity from placement to setting and through the operating life of
a well. Filling these knowledge gaps requires innovative research that
can offer vital insights about the critical factors that impact cement
integrity.
An increasingly popular research technique for cement integrity in­
vestigations is the use of lab-scale wellbore models or approximating
assemblies, subjected to simulated wellbore conditions, to investigate
cement response to wellbore stressors and cement degradation agents.
One of the earliest comprehensive laboratory-scale studies of cement
bond behavior was performed by Evans and Carter (1962). In their
study, various test models which approximated cemented wellbores
were used to study cement shear bond to pipe, cement hydraulic bond to
pipe and cement hydraulic bond to formation, using different combi­
nations of cement formulations, pipe and formation surface conditions
and formation types. Where shear bond strength is a measure of the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: alexander.anya@bakerhughes.com (A. Anya).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2022.111209
Received 22 June 2022; Received in revised form 2 October 2022; Accepted 3 November 2022
Available online 6 November 2022
0920-4105/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A. Anya et al.
cement’s capacity to mechanically support the casing, and hydraulic
bond strength indicates the cement capacity to prevent fluid commu­
nication, their tests showed that pipe and rock surface conditions played
a significant part in the resulting cement bond properties. Rough and
rusty pipe surfaces yielded better cement-pipe bonds than mill finished
or sand blasted pipe surfaces overall, while mud-coated pipe performed
worse than wet but clean pipe surfaces with respect to cement-pipe
hydraulic bond strength. The presence of mud cake on the formation
surface negatively impacted the cement-formation hydraulic bond
strength while the presence of a mud film on the pipe lowered both the
shear bond strength and hydraulic bond strength of the cement-pipe
interface, with oil-based muds being more detrimental. The results of
this study also indicate that pipe expansion and contraction during
cement hydration and setting can also affect the properties of the
resulting cement bonds. Internal pipe pressure that is released after
cement has set can lead to debonding as the pipe returns to its
pre-stressed shape. However, test results show that there was no impact
on the cement-pipe bond when the pressure was released during the gel
phase of the cement. The cement-formation hydraulic bond strength
increased with the curing pressure as did curing the cement under
squeezed conditions (i.e., applying a pressure at the top of the cement in
the cement-formation hydraulic bond tests). The improved
cement-formation hydraulic bond strength for the squeezed conditions
were attributed to the formation of a high-density cement filter cake on
the formation surface. There were no detectable correlations between
pipe length, diameter or cement sheath thickness and hydraulic bond
strength. Shear bond strength test results also suggested that there is a
correlation between the shear bond strength and the compressive
strength of the cement. The findings with respect to cement-pipe bond
performance in the Evans and Carter (1962) study were verified in a
later similar study by Carter and Evans (1964). Carter and Evans (1964)
also found that cement-formation bond strengths are stronger across
porous formations due to the higher likelihood of cement dehydration.
The study also claims that hydraulic bond failure extension is a
time-dependent function that varies according to the cement properties,
but which properties exactly are not specified.
Goodwin and Crook (1992) devised a laboratory-scale model of a
cemented casing-casing annulus for investigating the effects of temper­
ature and pressure changes. Four different cement systems of varying
elastic and mechanical strength properties were pumped and cured at a
temperature of 177 ◦ C and when set, the internal casing pressure was
cycled from 0 MPa in 13.8 MPa increments up to 68.9 MPa. Measure­
ments of annular permeability at the 0 MPa point of every pressure cycle
indicated that the more brittle cements lost the capacity to provide an
effective seal after upon pressure reduction. Jackson and Murphey
(1993) also studied the effect of internal casing pressure variation on
annular cement leakage prevention using a laboratory model of a
cemented casing-casing annulus. Using their model which consisted of
120 mm casing cemented in 156 mm casing, they investigated the effects
of both increasing and decreasing internal casing pressure on the cement
integrity. To detect leakage, a gas pressure differential was created
across the length of the annulus and gas flow detectors were used to
detect leakage at each point in the pressure cycle. For the pressure in­
crease experiment, flow was only detected after the pressure was
dropped from a pressure of 55.2 MPa. Subsequently, casing pressure
increase up to 68.9 MPa resulted in no flow, but flow returned as soon as
the pressure was lowered back to 6.9 MPa. The casing pressure decrease
experiment yielded similar results. As the initial casing pressure of 68.9
MPa was decreased in steps, flow was detected once the casing pressure
was lowered below 20.7 MPa. These results suggest that leakage paths
were created due to inelastic deformation of the annular cement upon
cyclic expansion and contraction of the inner casing.
Studies like those summarized in the previous two paragraphs have
significantly contributed to our understanding of cement integrity evo­
lution under wellbore stresses. However, significant questions about
cement sheath failure modes, damage evolution, cement interface
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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209
degradation and leak path characterization linger on. The pursuit of
answers to these questions have led to the adoption of computed to­
mography (CT) in cement research. In X-Ray CT imaging, a specimen is
placed on the imaging bed of a CT machine which consists of a rotating
X-Ray emitter and an X-Ray detector array in a moveable scanning as­
sembly (Fig. 1). To image a specimen, the X-Ray emitter transmits a
beam of X-rays through the sample in all directions and along the sample
length specified by the user. Each full scan along the specimen length is
called an image slice. For each slice, the detector arrays measure the
intensity of the transmitted beam in all directions, and via mathematical
methods outside the scope of this paper, the attenuation of the X-ray
beam through every point in the slice is calculated. These attenuation
values are then used to generate a grayscale image for each slice.
Typically, the higher the attenuation through a point in a slice, the
whiter it appears and vice-versa. The result of a complete scan and post-
processing for a sample is therefore a series of 2D image slices which can
be stacked to construct a 3D volume of a specimen (Fig. 2), revealing
structures beneath its outer surface. With X-Ray CT imaging capability,
test samples can be scanned in real-time while subjected to wellbore
conditions and processes. The images obtained can then be used to
visualize and quantify annular seal damage and relate the zonal isolation
performance of the cement sheath to the physical properties of the
wellbore components. Qualitative assessments of the resulting images
can also be used to optimize cement formulations.
The potential of this approach is demonstrated in the works of
Albawi et al. (2014), De Andrade et al. (2014), De Andrade et al. (2015),
De Andrade et al. (2016), Roy et al. (2016), Vrålstad et al. (2015), and
Todorovic et al. (2016) who all studied cement sheath evolution under
thermal cycling using lab-scale cased and cemented wellbore models. To
summarize, these works very clearly illustrate that cement debonding
and cracking can occur under extreme wellbore temperature fluctua­
tions. Using CT imaging, Opedal et al. (2014) successfully visualized and
quantified the negative effect of certain formation surface conditions on
the cement-rock bond, Vrålstad et al. (2019) showed the effects of
pressure cycling on cement sheath integrity and Skorpa and Vrålstad
(2016) demonstrated the extraction of 3-D geometry from CT scan im­
ages for use in fluid simulations. This is a useful tool for visualizing the
fluid flow through channels and cracks that are formed in a damaged
annular seal and perhaps estimating the conditions at which such
pathways can lead to loss of zonal isolation. Finally, Dalton et al. (2019)
applied CT imaging to the study of foam cement evolution during curing
at downhole conditions.
These applications of CT imaging towards cement integrity research
have so far only scratched the surface of the benefits that are available.
For example, a major concern in cement integrity is fluid-driven cement
degradation – the propagation of a microannulus or cement sheath
fracture by fluid pressure in the annulus. CT imaging can provide real-
time progressive data on such phenomena in a convenient and non-
disruptive way. In CO2 or hydrogen gas injection applications, the
morphological changes of cement due to chemical and physical in­
teractions with the injected gas can affect the long-term cement integ­
rity. With CT imaging technique, it is possible to quantitatively assess
these effects as a function of fluid properties, injection conditions,
cement chemistry and formation properties. This study will attempt to
quantify annular cement evolution after placement for a variety of ce­
ments, with the aim of relating the mechanical properties of the
cemented wellbore system to the observed cement mechanical response.
To achieve this, the following tasks are performed:
i. Design and build an X-ray-transparent high-pressure vessel for con­
structing lab-scale wellbores with the purpose of studying cement
evolution under various conditions.
ii. Demonstrate the applications of the system to the following:
a. Observing and quantifying cement mechanical response under
cyclic water injection
A. Anya et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

Fig. 1. Illustration of X-Ray computed tomography.

Fig. 3. Containing Apparatus for Lab-Scale Wellbore. a) Container Vessel b)

Top Cap c) Bottom Cap d) Flexible Heating Jacket.

Fig. 2. a) 2D Image Slices from CT Scan. b) 3D Volume Construction from 2D

Image Stack.

b. Evaluating a nanomaterial enhanced cement for mitigating the

side effects of autogenous and chemical shrinkage

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Equipment description

The apparatus presented consists of a pressure vessel whose main

body is made of aluminum alloy wrapped all around with carbon fiber
(Fig. 3). The lightweight aluminum body enables X-ray penetration, and
the carbon fiber provides strength reinforcement for high pressure ap­
plications. The container can accommodate a wellbore of up to 304 mm
in height and 101 mm in diameter. Heat can be applied to the wellbore
via a flexible heating jacket that wraps tightly around the pressure
vessel. The bottom cap of the vessel comes in two variants depending on
the needs of the study: one is sealed while the other has outlet ports
connected to the annulus of the wellbore to which pressure transducers
can be attached for pressure detection. All the tests presented in this
study use a wellbore consisting of a 304 mm high hollow and unsatu­
Fig. 4. a) Mancos Shale Core to Serve as Formation b) Stainless Steel Pipe with
rated Mancos shale core with an internal diameter of 50.8 mm and an
Plug to Simulate Perforation.

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A. Anya et al.
outer diameter of 101 mm (Fig. 4). The casing is made of Grade 304
stainless steel pipe with an outer diameter of about 33 mm and an inner
diameter of about 24 mm. A perforation through the steel pipe and
cement is simulated by inserting a 6.35 mm rubber plug through holes
drilled into the pipe (Fig. 5). The rubber plug is long enough to stretch
across the rock core ID such that when cement is placed in the annulus, it
sets around the plug. The plug can then be easily removed after the
cement is set leaving behind a conduit for fluid injection through the
cement and into the rock. This technique allows for the observation of
fluid-driven phenomenon relevant to cement integrity at the cement
interface around the perforation zone. This is also the difference be­
tween the technique presented here and those summarized in the
introduction. The X-ray tomography scanner used for the image acqui­
sition is a Ceretom® NL3000 scanner (Fig. 6) which is a small-bore
mobile CT scanner that offers a maximum slice thickness resolution of
1.25 mm. For tests involving water injection, a Teledyne Isco® 100DX
syringe pump was used.
2.2. CT data analysis
To make sense of the collected CT data, a powerful, commercial 3-D
image processing software package called PERGEOS® was employed. At
this stage, the images were first enhanced to remove noise and artifacts
and to make further processing and analysis easier (Fig. 7). For the next
step in the analysis, a process known as segmentation, features of in­
terest in the image were labeled accordingly (Fig. 8). This was achieved
by assigning grayscale value ranges on the image to specific labels. In
our case, we are interested in annular defects in the form of void spaces
which are marked by dark values in our image. We can also designate
labels to other components of the model as we please. We quantified the
amount of damage to the annular seal by calculating the total volume of
defects in the annulus (microannuli plus cement sheath bulk damage)
and dividing that by the total annular volume. This value is referred to as
Fig. 5. Wellbore model schematic.
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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209
the ‘Damage Index’ (DI) in this study.
2.3. Cement formulations
The cement formulations for the cyclic water injection study were
chosen to cover a wide range of physical, microstructural, and me­
chanical properties, so that the observed cement response could be
correlated with cement properties if possible. The compositions used are
as follows:
a. Class H cement - 1965 kg/m3 cement containing API Class H cement,
1% BWOC1 bentonite, 0.3% BWOC dispersant, 37.5% BWOC
distilled water.
b. SBR2 latex cement - 1629.64 kg/m3 cement containing API Class C
cement, 8% BWOC bentonite, 1% BWOC dispersant, 5% BWOC SBR
latex, 72% BWOC distilled water.
c. PPF3 cement – 1629.64 kg/m3 cement containing API Class C
cement, 8% BWOC bentonite, 1% BWOC dispersant, 0.5% BWOC
polypropylene microfiber, 76% BWOC distilled water.
d. Ultralightweight Class C cement – 1413.95 kg/m3 cement containing
API Class C cement, 20% BWOC bentonite, 0.5% BWOC dispersant,
144% BWOC distilled water.
SBR latex is a carboxylated styrene butadiene copolymer latex
admixture. The SBR Latex used in this study was obtained from Euclid
Chemical Company in the form of a milk-colored dispersion of latex
particles in an alkaline aqueous medium with a solids content of 48
percent by weight and a specific gravity of 1.01. Latex is typically used
in well cement for improved fluid loss, improved rheology, fluid inva­
sion prevention, shrinkage mitigation, and corrosion prevention (Drecq
and Parcevaux, 1988; Sun et al., 2006). However, cementitious mate­
rials containing latex have also been shown to exhibit improved tensile
and flexural strengths (Lewis and Lewis, 1991; Abdul-Rahman and
Chong, 1997; Ukrainczyk and Rogina, 2013; Moodi et al., 2018),
improved elastic behavior (Ohama, 1987), better adhesion to steel (Diab
et al., 2013) and good crack resistance (Onan et al., 1993).
Fibrous additives of various kinds and sizes have been shown to
enhance the fracture toughness and crack growth resistance of cemen­
titious materials (Banthia and Nandakumar, 2003; Metaxas et al., 2011)
by bonding to and bridging the gaps between cement crystals formed
during hydration. Cementitious materials containing optimal amounts
of well bonded fiber can also exhibit improved tensile strength (McElroy
et al., 2019, 2021), better flexural strength (Yoo et al., 2013, 2014), and
enhanced elastic behavior (McElroy et al., 2020). The PPF cement used
in this study contains polypropylene microfibers with surface deposited
nano silica particles for improved bond to cement.
Shrinkage mitigation in cement is achieved in a couple of ways: using
expansive agents such as calcium sulfate, calcium sulfate hemihydrate
(Baumgarte et al., 1999), magnesium oxide (MgO) and calcium oxide
(Ghofrani and Plack, 1993) that counter cement shrinkage through
crystal growth; and gas generating additives like magnesium,
aluminum, and zinc powders that counter shrinkage by generating
hydrogen gas via reaction with mix water to counter inward deforma­
tion due to autogenous shrinkage. In this study, the chosen expansion
agent is nano magnesium oxide powder which has the appearance of a
white fluffy powder, a purity of 99 percent and a density of 3580 kg/m3.
The expansion mechanism of nMgO is similar to that of magnesium
oxide: hydration of MgO to form magnesium hydroxide (MgOH) crys­
tals. The growth of these crystals exerts an internal pressure against the
inward volume reduction due to shrinkage of the cement hydrate
structure. However, nMgO has been shown to offer better expansion
1
by weight of cement.
2
styrene butadiene rubber.
3
polypropylene fiber.
A. Anya et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

Fig. 6. Injection and CT scan setup for injection tests.

Fig. 7. CT image preprocessing steps in PERGEOS®.

Fig. 8. Image segmentation illustration. Here, the yellow label corresponds to annular defects. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

performance than MgO microparticles (Polat et al., 2015) due to higher
reactivity owing to the higher surface energy and reduced particle size of
nMgO. The manufacturing method of nMgO also allows the reactivity of
the nMgO to be engineered so that the onset of expansion can be
controlled according to the desired outcome and in-situ conditions
(Jafariesfad et al., 2017). To enhance the mechanical properties of the
expansive cement, Alumina nanofibers (ANF) were added to the cement
formulation. ANF has been shown to improve tensile strength,
compressive strength, and elastic behavior of cement (McElroy et al.,
2019, 2020). The ANF used in this study was supplied as a 1402 kg/m3
pre-dispersed solution of 10% by weight aluminum oxide nano fibers.
For the evaluation study of cement shrinkage mitigation using a
nano-additive, a 1965 kg/m3 expansive cement was studied. The cement
contained 2 percent BWOC nMgO, 1 percent BWOC bentonite, 0.3
percent BWOC dispersant, and 2 percent BWOC nano-alumina fiber.
3. Experimental
3.1. Cement characterization
For all tests, the cements were mixed according to the recommended
procedure in API Recommended Procedure 10B-2 (API RP 10B-2). To

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A. Anya et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

ensure that the cement column in the annulus possessed uniform phys­
ical properties from top to bottom after curing, stability tests (free fluid
test and sedimentation test) were also carried out for all cement samples
according to the procedure described in API RP 10B-2. To characterize
the mechanical behavior of the cements, three tests were performed –
unconfined compressive strength test (UCS), tensile strength and
strength development profile via ultrasonic transit time measurement.
For the UCS test, 50-mm cube-shaped specimens were cured at 77 ◦ C and
atmospheric pressure for two days using brass molds immersed in a
water bath. The crush test was then performed according to the steps
recommended in API RP 10B-2 using a hydraulic press. An Ultrasonic
Cement Analyzer (UCA) was used to track the strength development
profiles of the cement samples. The ultrasonic velocity test was per­ Fig. 10. Wellbore assembly before cement placement and curing.
formed by curing the samples in a UCA for a duration of 2 day at a
temperature of 77 ◦ C and pressure of 20.7 MPa. Finally, tensile strength
tests were carried out on the cements using the Brazilian method. Two
tensile test specimens, 52 mm in diameter and 25 mm in thickness were
prepared for each formulation using a cylindrical tensile test mold filled
with cement slurry and cured for two days in a water bath at atmo­
spheric pressure and 77 ◦ C. The specimens were then tested at a loading
rate of 10.48 KN per minute for expected strength greater than 0.24 MPa
and 1.7 KN per minute for expected strength less than 0.24 MPa. To
measure the tensile strength of the samples, the test apparatus in Fig. 9
was placed in a hydraulic press and a load was applied to a hemi­
spherical platen on the top of the test apparatus until the sample expe­
rienced failure. The tensile strength was then calculated as T =
12.7F/πdt where ‘T’ is the tensile strength in MPa, ‘F’ is the maximum
load at failure in Kilonewton, ‘d’ is the sample diameter in cm and ‘t’ is
the sample thickness in cm.

3.2. Wellbore model preparation
The lab-scale wellbores were assembled for each cement formulation
as shown in Fig. 10 and cement was carefully poured into the annular
space. The vessel was then sealed, and the heating jacket was used to
maintain a temperature of 77 ◦ C over a curing period of two days. At the
end of the curing period, the vessel was opened, and the rubber plug in
the pipe removed to expose the simulated perforation. The vessel was
then resealed and hooked up to the pump for the injection test when
required. For the cyclic water injection tests, a CT scan of the wellbore
was taken before the start of water injection to assess the initial quality
of the annular cement.
3.3. Injection pressure schedule
For the cyclic water injection tests, water injection occurred after
two days of curing according to the schedule shown in Fig. 11. After the
pre-injection scan, there were a total of six pressure cycles involving a
pressure ramp-up to 31 MPa held for 10 min, followed by a scan, and a
ramp-down to 3.5 MPa held for 10 min followed by another scan.
Fig. 11. Injection pressure and scanning schedule for cyclic water injec­
tion test.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Cyclic water injection tests
All slurries used in the cyclic water injection study exhibited decent
stability performance based on the results of free fluid and settling tests
as shown in Table 1 and Table 2. The stability cutoffs were 5.9% for the
free fluid measurement and 5% segment density variation from the top
segment in the sedimentation test.
As expected, the Class H cement exhibits the highest compressive and
tensile strengths while the ultralightweight Class C cement exhibits the
lowest (Figs. 16 and 17 respectively). However, it is worth noting that
despite the lower density PPF cement exhibiting lower strength than the
Class H cement, it exhibited much less catastrophic brittle failure and
greater fracture propagation resistance compared to all other cements as
seen in post-failure test specimens from the UCS and tensile strength test
respectively (Figs. 18 and 19). The results of the ultrasonic strength
development tests (Fig. 16) are analogous to the UCS and tensile
strength measurements. The Class H cement exhibits the fastest and
highest strength development for the entire curing duration out of all the
cements tested.
The results of the pre-injection scans for each cement sample illus­
trate various types of identifiable post-curing annular defects as shown
in Figs. 21-24. These defects include reduced cement tops, arbitrary

Table 1
Free fluid results for all cements studied.
Cement Free Fluid (%)

Class H Cement 0.8

Ultra LW Class C 0
SBR Latex Cement 0
PPF Cement 0
Fig. 9. Tensile test sample and apparatus before (left) and after (right) test.

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A. Anya et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

Table 2 microannuli at the pipe and rock interfaces with the cement. For all
Sedimentation results for all cements studied. annular seals tested, the pipe bond quality was consistently worse than
Density Variation from the Top Segment (%) the rock bond quality, with all the pipe interfaces totally debonded from
the cement. The occurrence of these defects across all cements tested,
Cement Top Middle 1 Middle 2 Bottom
regardless of mechanical properties at the end of curing, indicate the
Class H Cement – 0.12 0.43 1.23 vulnerability of well cement to damage during the setting process.
Ultra LW Class C – 0.03 0.33 1.52
SBR Latex Cement – 2.73 4.06 4.25
Hence, the mechanisms responsible for the observed defects, consid­
PPF Cement – 0.08 0.25 0.39 ering the peculiarities of the test method, warrant discussion.
The reduced cement top as observed in the tests is a result of sig­
nificant slurry and fluid loss into the unsaturated rock core surrounding
the annulus, especially at the bottom of the cement column (the fluid
loss at the bottom of the annulus is exacerbated by the weight of the
slurry column). This leads to a reduction in the bulk volume of slurry in
the annulus, reducing the annular cement coverage. Slurry loss can also
lead to the emergence of arbitrary voids. During the slurry phase of the
cement, as the slurry flows from the annulus into the rock at the bottom,
the slurry column falls downward to occupy the space left behind by the
lost slurry. However, the cement is concurrently undergoing complex
rheological and physical changes. Therefore, if the slurry loss continues
into the initial gelation phase or initial strength development phase,
then a random void could be formed in the annulus due to sudden
decrease in slurry flowability. This is because upon gelation, the cement
becomes more self-supporting, preventing it from falling downwards to
fully replace any lost volumes as it would have in the slurry phase. For
the purposes of improving the quality of the test results and obtaining a
Fig. 12. UCS for cements in cyclic water injection study.
final cemented wellbore with maximum annular coverage, the fluid and
slurry loss can be mitigated by saturating the rock core before cement
placement or coating the inner wall of the core with a cementitious
coating to seal the pores, especially if the rock interface is not of interest
in a study.
Upon initial examination of the CT scan results, it was suspected that
a significant factor in the propagation of cracks and fractures in the
cement during the hydration phase could be stresses resulting from
expansion of the rubber plug against the setting cement as the temper­
ature of the test system was ramped to target. To verify the effect of the
rubber plug, an extra test was run with the Class H cement, using
sandstone rock as the formation rock, and a stainless-steel pipe without
the drilled holes and rubber plug. A CT scan of this test after approxi­
mately 2 h showed cracking at an early age (Fig. 21). This indicates that
the radial cracking observed in the tests is most likely due to the hoop
stresses induced in the cement by the pipe radial expansion in response
Fig. 13. Tensile strength for cements in cyclic water injection study. to the temperature ramp. The induced stresses would be large enough to
exceed the low cement strength at an early age. Cracking due to pipe
voids, circumferential interfacial cracking, radial cracking, and expansion during the early hydration stage could also be exacerbated by
the confining effect of the rock core. With the easily deformable cement,

Fig. 14. Post failure UCS Specimens; a) Class H Cement b) Ultra LW Class C Cement c) SBR Latex Cement d) PPF Cement.

Fig. 15. Post failure Tensile Test Specimens; a) Class H Cement b) Ultra LW Class C Cement c) SBR Latex Cement d) PPF Cement.

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A. Anya et al.
Fig. 16. Strength development profile for cements in water injection study.
Fig. 17. Pre-injection cement sheath defects for class H cement.
Fig. 18. Pre-injection cement sheath defects for SBR latex cement.
and its very low tensile strength during the initial setting stages, the
confining effect of the rock would restrict radial deformation of the
cement. However, the void at the top of the annulus due to reduced
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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209
cement top enables unrestricted vertical displacement of the cement.
The combination of low strength, high cement deformability and unre­
stricted vertical strain explain the disking cracks observed in the models.
To improve the initial quality of the cement sheath for future studies
using the presented setup, it is suggested to pre-heat the pipe to target
temperature before cement placement. This will minimize the amount of
pipe radial strain the cement is subjected to during the early hydration
stages.
Portland cement undergoes volumetric shrinkage during hydration
due to the formation of hydration products which have a lower volume
than the slurry reactants and the consumption of interstitial water. This
phenomenon is known as autogenous shrinkage (De Rozieres et al.,
1995). Autogenous shrinkage can induce microscopic tensile cracks and
worsen pre-existing cracks in the cement, resulting in fracture propa­
gation in severe cases. The autogenous shrinkage of annular cement can
also lead to the emergence of various interfacial defects in the cement.
These defects can occur in two ways. First, if the adhesion between the
cement and the pipe or rock is weak or non-existent, cement shrinkage
will cause the formation of a microannulus at the interfaces between the
rock and casing as the cement volume reduction results in a reduction of
the radial dimension of the annular seal. The risk for this kind of
microannulus formation can be increased at the pipe-cement interface
A. Anya et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

Fig. 19. Pre-injection cement sheath defects for PPF cement.

by the contraction of the casing due to a slight drop in temperature after

Fig. 20. Pre-injection cement sheath defects for ultralightweight class
C cement.
the peak of hydration is passed and the heat of hydration decreases
(cement hydration is an exothermic chemical reaction). When there is
decent adhesion between the cement and the casing or rock, severe
autogenous shrinkage can generate tensile stresses at the interfaces high
enough to cause circumferential interfacial fractures. Cement shrinkage
can be mitigated using expansion agents such as calcium sulfate and
calcium sulfate hemihydrate (Baumgarte et al., 1999).
Fig. 22 illustrates the Damage Index (DI) evolution for all four ce­
ments tested. The general trend observed can be summarized as a
decrease in DI for pressure ramp-up and an increase in DI for a pressure
ramp-down. It can also be observed that the amplitude of the DI fluc­
tuation diminishes after the first and second cycles for the Class H, PPF
and ultralightweight cements, while for the latex cement, the DI fluc­
tuation amplitude is very low for all pressure cycles. Finally, the ultra­
lightweight cement exhibits the largest DI decrease for the first cycle
pressure ramp-up and a DI spike during the ramp-down phase of the 4th
pressure cycle.
Upon water injection, the injection pressure causes the casing to
slightly expand. Under high enough injection pressure, this casing
expansion would cause the pipe microannulus to be temporarily closed,
with the pipe in contact with the cement sheath. In this scenario, the
pipe exerts a stress directly on the cement sheath. Because set cement is
porous at the microscopic level, comprising of pore spaces between and
within the different hydrated phases (Monteiro et al., 2019) as well as
microscopic fractures, the cement will undergo compaction. This
compaction causes a reduction in the volume of the voids and defects
within the cement sheath, reflected DI reduction during the initial
pressure ramp-up phases. The subsequent DI increase upon pressure
ramp-down is the reversal of the stress-induced compaction upon
unloading. However, the diminishing amplitude of DI variation between
the ramp-up and ramp-down phases for all but the latex cement in­
dicates accumulated residual strain after each pressure cycle as
described by Zhou et al. (2019), Xi et al. (2020), and Li et al. (2021). This
residual strain accumulation behavior is illustrated in Figs. 27 and 28 for

Fig. 21. Early-stage annular cement damage in class H cement for wellbore
without rubber plug.

Fig. 22. Damage index response to cyclic water injection.

9
A. Anya et al.
a Class G cement at room temperature under a confining pressure of 15
MPa. The DI spike in the pressure ramp-down phase of the 4th cycle for
the ultralightweight cement indicates possible fracture propagation.
However, upon continuation of pressure cycling past this point, the DI
fluctuation pattern returns to that preceding the spike indicating frac­
ture closure. Finally, the low amplitude, near-stable DI response of the
latex cement can be attributed to the peculiar microstructural charac­
teristics of latex containing cements. When latex is mixed in with
cement, as hydration proceeds, latex film fills in pore spaces and
microscopic cracks. Additionally, latex film encompasses the 3D cement
matrix, forming both around and within hydration products. This cre­
ates a comatrix structure that exhibits improved fracture propagation
resistance and reduced microstructural deformation due to improved
strain energy absorption characteristics of the latex-cement comatrix
(Ohama, 1987; Sun et al., 2006, 2019; Wang et al., 2016; Bahranifard
et al., 2019).
One of the intended applications for the lab-scale wellbore as
designed in this study is the investigation of fluid driven interface
degradation at the cement-rock and cement-pipe interfaces due to high
pressure fluid injection into the rock through a perforation. However, in
this study, the demonstration of this application is hampered by three
main factors: the extensive debonding at the pipe-cement interface, the
CT scanner resolution, and the injection time. For example, due to the
severe debonding at the pipe-cement interface in all wellbore models,
there is no real opportunity to study pipe interface evolution and
degradation as a function of hydraulic stress as the microannulus serves
as an almost instantaneous flow path for the injected fluid. The initial
cement bond for future studies can be improved by mixing cement
containing expansive agents as described previously. Second, at the rock
interfaces where there is only partial debonding, it is difficult to detect
fractures and other effects of degradation whose sizes are smaller than
the resolution of the scanner. The CT scanner used in this study can
produce 2D slices that are as small as 0.625 mm thick for helical scans or
1.25 mm thick for axial scans. While this resolution is sufficient for
detecting small macroscale features in a test specimen, it is not capable
of revealing details and changes to the cement whose sizes are of
microscopic scale. Future studies should employ micro-CT technology
for enhanced image resolution and microfeature detection capabilities.
This solution can also be combined with the use of an X-ray sensitive
injection fluid to accurately track fluid migration through the cemented
annulus. Finally, the injection time used for this study is too short to
comprehensively observe long-term fluid-driven interface degradation
effects such as interface delamination and erosion. To incorporate fluid
Fig. 23. Cyclic triaxial loading response for a class G – cement showing re­
sidual strain for every loading-unloading phase (Zhou et al., 2019).
10
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209
Fig. 24. Accumulated residual strain in a class G – cement as a result of cyclic
triaxial loading (Zhou et al., 2019).
driven effects into the data analysis, it is suggested that longer injection
times (minimum of three months with periodic scanning) be used for
future studies.
4.2. Evaluation of nano magnesium oxide effectiveness for autogenous
shrinkage mitigation
A free fluid value of 0.8% was measured for the 2% nMgO cement.
Additionally, as Table 3 shows, the slurry also exhibits acceptable
sedimentation characteristics based on a max allowable segment density
variation of 5% from the top segment. The 2% nMgO was measured to
have a UCS and tensile strength of 42.3 MPa and 3.35 MPa respectively,
a reduction of 11% and 4.3% from the values of the Class H cement with
a UCS and tensile strength of 48 MPa and 3.5 MPa, respectively. Finally,
both cements exhibit similar strength development trends as illustrated
by the ultrasonic transit time measurements shown in Fig. 25.
A lab-scale wellbore was constructed using the apparatus described
in section 2.1, with the 2% nMgO cement as the annular seal. The
cement was allowed to cure at 77 ◦ C for two days with all other test
conditions and sample preparation procedure similar to those for the
models presented in section 4.1. An X-ray CT scan was conducted on the
wellbore model after the curing time, and from the obtained images, a
3D visualization of the defects in the annulus was generated. For com­
parison, a similar 3D visualization of annular defects was generated for
the wellbore model with the class H cement presented previously
(Fig. 26).
The 3D visualizations illustrate the propensity for pipe interface
debonding under the curing conditions previously described. However,
the rock-cement interface of the wellbore with the nMgO cement is of a
higher quality than that of the Class H cement. In fact, rock interface
debonding is virtually non-existent for the wellbore with expansive
nMgO cement. The visualization results also show that there is less
damage to the cement sheath in the form of cracking or disking, most
likely due to the improved early age mechanical properties of the
cement due to nanofiber addition or the closing of early cracks due to
cement expansion.
Table 3
Sedimentation Test Results for the 2 percent nMgO Cement.
Density Variation from the Top Segment (%)
Cement Top Middle 1 Middle 2 Bottom
2% nMgO – 0.08 0.50 0.72
A. Anya et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 220 (2023) 111209

Fig. 25. Strength Development Comparison between the Class H Cement and the 2 percent nMgO Cement.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

Fig. 26. 3D Visualization of Defects in the Annular Seal; a and b - Class H
Cement; c and d - 2 Percent nMgO Cement.
In this paper, the need for new and innovative research methods for
annular seal performance prediction was presented. To this end, an
apparatus was designed for the construction of lab-scale cemented
wellbores to simulate downhole processes at high-temperature and high-
pressure conditions. The presented apparatus enables real-time X-ray
computed tomography of a wellbore assembly while simulating well
operations such as fluid injection via a simulated perforation. This
feature facilitates fine-tuned characterization of cement mechanical
response and hydraulic seal deterioration under different types of
wellbore stresses and conditions. The research benefits of the described
apparatus were successfully demonstrated in two applications: the
quantification of cement mechanical response under cyclic water in­
jection and the evaluation of a nanomaterial-enhanced cement for
autogenous shrinkage and cracking mitigation.
Quantitative evaluation of CT scan data from the cyclic water in­
jection study using four different cements yielded interesting observa­
tions. The pre-injection scans of all specimens showed reduced cement
tops, catastrophic pipe debonding, interfacial cracking and radial
cracking. Reduced cement tops were likely caused by slurry and fluid
loss into the surrounding unsaturated rock cores. One way this issue can
be mitigated in future studies is by saturating the rock cores before
curing the annular cement. The observed pipe debonding was caused
mostly by cement shrinkage and probably worsened by pipe contraction
after the peak of cement hydration due to a slight drop in the temper­
ature of the system. All the cracking observed in the specimens was
likely due to a combination of pipe expansion during the initial tem­
perature ramp of the system and early-stage cement weakness. The au­
thors suggest pre-heating the pipe to the test temperature before the
commencement of curing. The cycling tests showed that residual strain
is a major factor in the evolution of the annular cement subjected to
cyclic pressure fluctuations. In the future, the apparatus could be used to
study the effects of temperature cycling and mud-contamination on
cement sheath integrity. 3D visualization of a lab-scale wellbore con­
structed using the presented setup demonstrated the effectiveness of
nano magnesium oxide for autogenous shrinkage and early cracking
mitigation in cement.
The use of X-ray opaque contrast fluids in injection tests can advance
the study of fluid-driven cement interface damage. This will provide a
deeper understanding of annular fluid invasion and offer insights into
dominant flow pathways in compromised annular seals. With some
minor modifications to the current top and bottom caps of the pressure
vessel, tests can be run with both formation pore pressure and annular
hydrostatic pressure to improve the realism of the experiment. The
quality of the CT data analysis is highly dependent on the quality of the
images obtained from CT scanning, and the image quality is affected by
the CT scanner quality, scanning method and CT scan resolution. While
noise artifacts are not always avoidable, the machine settings, and
scanning method should be chosen to minimize noise and enable easy

11
A. Anya et al.
post-processing of the CT images. The features observed in this study
were constrained by the highest possible resolution of our scanner.
Micro-CT scanners offer much better image quality and higher image
resolutions and can reveal microscale features which would be missed
using regular CT scanning equipment; however, they are significantly
more expensive. If possible, future studies using lab-scale wellbores
should employ micro-CT imaging to evaluate annular cement damage.
There is great potential in the application of X-ray CT for cement
integrity research applications beyond qualitative and quantitative
image analysis. For example, the images obtained from the injection test
can also be used to generate 3-D meshes of the wellbore for simulation
studies. This could be very useful for scenarios where cement sheath
performance data is needed for a variety of well loading conditions
without the need for running numerous experimental models. Finally,
CT data can be used to improve the sophistication and accuracy of
cement acoustic log interpretations by correlating the observed damage
with the recorded ultrasonic reflection of logging tools.
Author contribution
Alexander Anya: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis,
Investigation, Writing – original draft. Hossein Emadi: Writing – review
& editing, Supervision. Marshall Watson: Methodology, Writing – re­
view & editing, Supervision.
Funding statement
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
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