Failure Analysis and Ultimate Expansion Mechanical Behavior Analysis of Thin-Walled Solid Expandable Tubular

Abstract

With the vigorous exploitation of shale gas, the cost of drilling and production of shale gas wells, which can reduce the cost, has also received attention. Equal-diameter solid expandable tubular (SET) technology is one of the best choices at present. For this paper, we carried out a series of expansion experiments for 20G pipe, and the experimental results show that the pipe breaks and fails at 30% expansion ratio. The cracked pipe is analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the method to solve the failure of cracked pipe is proposed. In addition, a 3D dynamic model is established to study the relationship between the inner diameter, wall thickness, expansion ratio, and ultimate expansion ratio of the pipeline. The study results show that (1) SET made of 20G expanded successfully at 25% expansion ratio and failed at 30% expansion ratio, the fracture surface presents 45°, with typical shear failure characteristics; (2) SEM results showed that the pit characteristics were normal, the pipe was cracked under high stress, and the 20G pipe could not meet the expansion ratio of 30%; and (3) the maximum stress of 20G pipe during expansion is proportional to the expansion ratio. It is recommended that the SET expansion rate of 20G material should not exceed 26%. The research results will provide ideas and methods for the design of SET.