Bending Deformation and Ultimate Moment Calculation of Screen Pipes in Offshore Sand Control Completion

Abstract

Horizontal wells, extended-reach wells, and multi-branch wells were often used to exploit subsea oil and gas efficiently. However, during the sand control screen completion of those wells, the sand control screen pipe was easily deformed. Failure occurred when passing through the bending section due to the large bending section in the wellbore trajectory. A parametric analysis model of the screen pipe was established based on ABAQUS and Python software under pure bending load first. Then, deformation patterns and mechanisms were identified and discussed. The effects of parameters on the screen pipe bending deformation patterns and the ultimate moment were analyzed. Finally, an empirical formula for calculating the ultimate moment of the screen pipe was established. The results showed that the deformation of the screen pipe was complex, and three deformation patterns were related to the hole parameters. Due to an increase in the diameter and number of circumferential and axial holes, the ultimate moment of the screen pipe gradually decreased, and the circumferential holes had a more significant effect on the ultimate moment than the axial holes. The established empirical formula could accurately calculate the ultimate moment of the screen pipe, and the average difference between the formula and numerical simulation results was 3.25%.

Keywords

• sand control screen pipes
• pipe bending
• deformation patterns
• screen pipe empirical formula