Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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

Advances in critical buckling load assessment for tubulars

inside wellbores
Mehdi Hajianmaleki n, Jeremy S. Daily
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Prediction of drill strings buckling load has been a challenge to the drilling industry. This work attempts
Received 28 November 2013 to review most of the research performed in the previous years. First analytical, numerical and
Accepted 26 February 2014 experimental researches on buckling in different wellbore geometries such as vertical, inclined, curved
Available online 5 March 2014
and general real world cases are studied. Then effects of torque, boundary conditions, friction, flow rate,
Keywords: and tool joints on the sinusoidal and helical critical buckling loads are reviewed. A bibliography of 118
drill string references is provided.
buckling & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
drilling
tool joint

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
2. Buckling of tubulars inside wellbores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
2.1. Vertical wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
2.2. Inclined wells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
2.3. Curved wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
3. Effect of torque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4. Effect of boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5. Friction effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6. Effect of flow rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7. Effect of tool joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
8. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

1. Introduction
Buckling analysis of drill strings is an important problem in the
oil/gas industry. Buckling can increase the bending stress and lead
to drill pipe fatigue failure over time. Moreover, buckled shapes
exert larger side forces which increase friction losses and can lead
to the lockup of the string and potential loss of equipment and
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 1 662 312 4415; fax: þ 1 918 631 2397.
E-mail address: hajmahdy@gmail.com (M. Hajianmaleki).
section of the well. Increase in depth and deviation of wells have
led to the need for comprehensive models capable of modeling
different aspects of drill string buckling. In inclined wellbores, the
drill string first changes into a sinusoidal buckling shape and then
the form changes to a helical buckling. The drill string is usually
treated as a long beam and the length to thickness ratio is very
high. Hence, Euler–Bernoulli beam theory has been applied.
Conditions for equilibrium and stability are found based on
equations for total potential energy. If the first variation of energy
is zero ðδV ¼ 0Þ, then the system is in equilibrium and if the second
derivative is positive ðδ2 V 4 0Þ, then the system is stable.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2014.02.019
0920-4105 & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 M. Hajianmaleki, J.S. Daily / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144 137

Nomenclature μ friction coefficient

p pitch
α well inclination angle w pipe weight per unit length
ai inclination build rate ρ density
aϕ azimuth build rate r clearance between pipe and well
E modulus of elasticity rc connector radius
Fa axial force rpo pipe body radius
Fcr sinusoidal buckling force rw wellbore radius
FW wall contact force (WCF) R radius of curvature
F ncr helical buckling force s displacement in curved boreholes
g gravity acceleration θ helix angle
I section second moment of area TOB torque on bit
J section polar moment of area u, v, w deflection in different directions
l drill string length υ Poisson's ratio
Lc length of drill pipe segment between two connectors WOB weight on bit

The equations of equilibrium for a tubular in wellbore can be proposed by Miska and Cunha (1995) using energy approach for a
written as (Dunayevsky and Judzis, 1983) pipe with weight.
4
 3
d u d du d v π 2 EI
EI 4 þ ðF a  wxÞ þT 3 ¼ 0 F ¼8 ð4Þ
dx dx dx dx p2
4
 3
d v d dv d u
EI 4 þ ðF a wxÞ T 3 ¼ 0 ð1Þ Cheatham and Pattillo (1984) proposed another force-pitch rela-
dx dx dx dx
tionship for a weightless pipe using principle of virtual work. They
where u and v are z and y projection of displacements of the drill also conducted a few small scale experiments and showed that
pipe axis, Fa is the axial load (the x direction), T is the torque, EI is force–pitch relationships for loading and unloading of tubular are
the flexural stiffness and w is the pipe weight per unit length. The significantly different from each other.
friction force is not considered in these equations and will be
treated in a separate section. As can be seen from the equations, π 2 EI
F ¼4 ð5Þ
the torque couples the two displacement direction which makes p2
the problem three dimensional. Most of the published research did
not include this term and solved the problem in two-dimensions. Eq. (4) was derived by taking a derivative of total potential energy
The effect of mud and angular velocity has also been mostly with respect to pitch with a constant radial clearance, while Eq. (5)
ignored. was derived by taking a derivative of total potential energy with
respect to clearance with a constant pitch. For a helically buckled
pipe, r is constant. Hence, Eq. (4) is more reasonable. However,
2. Buckling of tubulars inside wellbores Lukasiewicz and Knight (2006) performed experiments and
experimental results were more close to Eq. (5). Effect of packer
2.1. Vertical wells on force–pitch relationship as well as forces and moments at the
packer and lateral loads were analyzed by Mitchell (1980, 1982).
Lubinski (1950) performed a seminal analysis on buckling of Sorenson (1984) proposed a more complete solution to the end-
tubulars inside wellbore where he used classical theory of elasti- constraint problem based on analysis and experimental results. He
city to study the buckling of straight drill string and considered the showed that, near the end constraints, the pitch of the helix was
effect of buoyancy, weight on bit (WOB), horizontal force on bit, not constant, but approached the result in Eq. (4) at the center of
and wall contact force (WCF). The first and second buckling modes the buckled rod.
were found to occur when the neutral point is at 1.94 and 3.75 Hishida et al., (1996) performed frictionless experiments on
length units (m) above the bit. Neutral point was defined to be vertical rods inside a cylindrical constraint and proposed a
where the weight in mud of the below portion of string is equal to formulation based on regression of results and suggested a factor
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
WOB and m is a unit length ðm ¼ 3 EI=wÞ. of 2 on Euler column buckling formulation for sinusoidal buckling
The critical length of the stand was found to be 2.65 m. inside cylindrical constraint. Their formulation for helical buckling
Sawaryn (Sawaryn, 2013; Sawaryn and Pattillo, 2013) reached depended on boundary condition geometry. Aasen and Skaugen
the same formulation for pipe stands racked in a derrick and (2002) studied the buckling of drill pipes in underbalanced drilling
proposed formulations for stand at other angles. using column buckling formulations. Their results were close to
The critical sinusoidal buckling forces for a vertical column is some buckling tests. They also analyzed the dynamic forces when
p
3
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi the string suddenly ejects from the well (if the grip on the BHA
F cr ¼ γ 1 EIw2 ð2Þ fails while pipe-light).
and for helical buckling
p ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Table 1
F ncr ¼ γ 2 EIw2 Parameters γ1 and γ2 provided by different researchers.
3
ð3Þ

Different values for coefficients γ1 and γ2 are proposed and are Reference Lubinski, 1950 Wang, 1986 Wu, 1992
shown in Table 1.
γ1 1.94 1.018793 2.55
Lubinski found the force–pitch relationship for helical buckling γ2 — — 5.55
(Lubinski, 1950) for a weightless pipe. The same formulation was
138 M. Hajianmaleki, J.S. Daily / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144

2.2. Inclined wells Table 2

Parameter γ3 provided by different researchers (Chen and
Adnan, 1993).
Paslay and Bogy (1964) applied the equilibrium and stability
condition to energy expressions of circular rods constrained in a References γ3
cylinder and proposed the following formulation for critical
buckling load of a weightless column. Chen et al., 1990; Chen and Adnan, 1993 2.83
Lubinski and Woods, 1953 2.85
ð1  υ Þ 2 nπ 2 Lubinski et al., 1962 2.4
F cr ¼ EI ð6Þ Wu et al., 1993; Wu and Juvkam-Wold, 1993a 3.66
ð1 þ υÞð1  2υÞ l
Wu and Juvkam-Wold, 1995 4.65
For horizontal column subjected to weight and axial load, the He and Kyllingstad, 1995b 2.83
Qui et al., 1998a 5.66
critical buckling load is
Qui et al., 1998b 3.75
!2
4
π2 1 l w 2Gð1  υÞ
F cr ¼ ð1  υÞEI 2 n2 þ 2 4 ; E¼ ð7Þ
l n π EIr 1  2υ

where r is the radial clearance, w is weight per unit length, and l is Dellinger (Dellinger et al., 1983) presented a similar equation
the string length.  
Dawson and Paslay (1984) suggested that for a long string, the sin α 0:436
F ncr ¼ 2:93ðEIÞð1:436=3Þ wð1:564=3Þ ð15Þ
number of buckling mode (n) can be treated as a continuous r
function and the minimum value for critical force can be achieved Cunha (2003, 2004) reviewed the theoretical and experimental
by differentiation with respect to n which yields. research on buckling of tubulars inside wellbores and found the
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
EIw sin α difference in γ3 to be due to the force–displacement assumptions.
minðF cr Þ ¼ 2 ð8Þ Belayneh (2006) applied the effect of axial load change due to
r
pipe weight and reached the following formula using an energy
Mitchell (1986b) developed the equation of motion and contact approach.
force for a helically buckled pipe with helix angle as the indepen- rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
dent variable. pffiffiffi EIw sin α 4 EI
F ncr ¼ 2 2 þ πw cos α ð16Þ
 2 2   r 2w sin α
4
d θ dθ d θ d F a dθ w sin α
 6 þ þ sin θ ¼ 0 He also claimed that the parameter γ3 is not constant and depends
dx4 dx dx2 dx EI dx EIr
on load history and the string geometry. They interpolated the
!2  
3   2 4  2 experimental results (Ra, 2005) and proposed adding power terms
d θ dθ d θ dθ F a dθ N w sin α
4 3 þ3  þ   cos θ ¼ 0 of displacement to the load–displacement expression. Tan and
dx dx dx2 dx EI dx EIr EIr
Digby (1993) assumed a constant curvature shape for a helically
ð9Þ buckled pipe and studied the condition for equilibrium and
The contact force after helical buckling for a weightless string in stability. It was concluded that keeping constant radius will make
horizontal wellbores was shown to be every equilibrium state stable and keeping the pitch constant
leads to instability. Mitchell studied the effect of well deviation on
rF 2a helical buckling. The Galerkin method was used for solving the
FW ¼ ð10Þ
4EI nonlinear equations (Mitchell, 1997) and some approximate solu-
Considering string weight we have for the contact force after tions were proposed later (Mitchell, 1999). In another research, he
helical buckling in straight wellbores (Belayneh, 2006) studied Eq. (4) and confirmed the conventional wisdom that the
formulation would work far from the boundaries (Mitchell, 2005,
rF 2a 2008b).
FW ¼ þw sin α cos θ ð11Þ
4EI Qiu et al. (1997) studied the effect of residual bending on
Mitchell (2002a, 2002b) found the exact solution of Eq. (9) using buckling load and proposed modified formulation for the onset of
Jacobi elliptic functions that was modified by Teymoorishamasbi sinusoidal and helical buckling. Salies et al. 1994a, 1994b) experi-
et al. (2010). Kwon (1988) proposed a semi-analytic solution for mentally studied the buckling of vertical and directional wellbores.
Eq. (9) with a series-solution method. Mitchell (1988) showed that The experimental sinusoidal buckling results of vertical pipe were
pitch and force in Eqs. (4) and (5) can be considered to be compared to Eq. (2) and the calculated critical buckling force was
a function of drill string axial direction due to the weight term 23% different from the experimental results. Deli et al. (1998)
i.e. p ¼p(z), F ¼F(z) when the following inequality holds. solved frictionless equations of motion for long tubulars in
horizontal wells and found the configuration of helically buckled
Fa
nD ¼ o5 ð12Þ tubular subjected to axial and torsion loading in horizontal wells.
wðw=EIÞ1=3 Huang and Pattillo (2000) used the Rayleigh–Ritz method to
Chen et al. (Chen et al., 1990; Chen and Adnan, 1993) derived a solve nonlinear equation of helical buckling for an elastic tube in
formula for helical buckling using the energy method an inclined wellbore under the action of its own weight and a
compressive force applied at its upper end. They found dimen-
!2
4 sionless values of these critical forces for various values of
n π2 2 1 l w
F cr ¼ 4EI 2 n þ 2 4 ð13Þ numbers of helices in the buckled shape. Their model validated
l n π 8EIr
by Eq. (8) and experimental results (McCann and Suryanarayana,
where minimization gives 1994).
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Gao and Miska (2008b, 2010) performed theoretical and
EIw sin α pffiffiffi
F ncr ¼ γ 3 ; γ3 ¼ 2 2 ð14Þ experimental study on the dynamic buckling and snaking motions
r
of rotating pipe in a horizontal well. They used a perturbation
Some other researchers proposed different formulations for the solution for fourth-order nonlinear partial-differential equations.
coefficient γ3 in Eq. (14) that is shown in Table 2. In small-scale experiments, two different kinds of snaking motions
 M. Hajianmaleki, J.S. Daily / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144 139

were observed, which supported the analytical solution. They also for small r/R
concluded that rotating speed does not affect the critical load for 2 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3
the onset of snaking motion. Arslan (Arslan et al., 2012) studied n 8EI 4 rR2 w sin α5
F cr ¼ 1þ 1þ ð24Þ
the buckling of floated pipes with different geometries, and fluid rR 2EI
densities and showed that Eq. (8) is not accurate when the
effective weight becomes very small. They proposed a formulation Higher values of buckling loads proposed by Wu and Juvkam-Wold
for a correction factor based on experimental results. Yuan and in Eqs. (17) and (18) are due to their two dimensional modeling.
Wang solved the non-linear differential equation of buckling However, this assumption cannot be correct especially when
inside inclined (Yuan and Wang, 2012) and horizontal (Wang considering helical buckling. He and Kyllingstad (He et al., 1991;
and Yuan, 2012) wellbore using the discrete singular convolution He and Kyllingstad, 1995a; Kyllingstad, 1995) investigated on the
algorithm together with the Newton–Raphson method. They equations for critical load on buckling and lockup conditions of
verified their numerical model with finite element analysis (FEA) coiled tubing in curved and horizontal wells. The relation between
and concluded that under certain circumstance, only lateral or wall contact force per unit length and axial critical load (before
helical buckling alone will occur. On some other circumstance, helical buckling) was found to be
both lateral buckling and helical buckling may occur and the rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
critical helical buckling loads are higher than the critical lateral βEIF W
F cr ¼ ð25Þ
buckling loads if friction is not considered. r
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2.3. Curved wells FW ¼ ðw sin α þ F a ai Þ2 þ ðF a sin αaϕ Þ2 ð26Þ

Curvature is believed to have a stabilizing effect (Schuh, 1991; where β equals 4 for sinusoidal and 8 for helical buckling.
McCann and Suryanarayana, 1994; Aasen and Aadnoy, 2002). They proposed formulations for WCF in curved wellbores and
Schuh (1991) studied the critical buckling force and stresses of different states.
pipe in curved boreholes. Eq. (8) was modified to account for the For straight pipe
shape of curved borehole. Vaz and Patel (1995) added another load Fa
due to curvature of the well to the equations and used the Galerkin FW ¼ þ w sin α ð27Þ
R
method to find static deflection, sinusoidal buckling load and
natural frequencies of string in straight and curved wells. Akgun For sinusoidal buckling
 
(Akgun et al., 1996) did sensitivity analysis on some parameters 16π 4 EIrA2 2πs 2πs 2πs
affecting drill pipe stability conditions in curved wellbore by FW ¼ 4
 A2 cos 4 þ 3 sin 2  4 cos 2
p p p p
experiments and finite element analysis (FEA) using ANSYS. In    
4π 2 rA2 EI 2πs F a
another research, Akgun et al. (Akgun, 1999) used FEM to find the þ F a þ 2 cos 2 þ þ w sin α cos θ ð28Þ
p2 R p R
optimum spacing for multiple stabilizers in order to increase the
critical buckling load. where A is the amplitude of the sine curve and is related to axial
Wu and Juvkam-Wold (1995) proposed the following formula- force by
tions for sinusoidal and helical buckling in build wellbores, sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
respectively. EIw sin αðð3=2ÞA2 þ 1Þð1 ðA2 =8ÞÞ

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi F ¼2 ð29Þ
4EI r
F cr ¼ 1 þ ð1 þrR2 w sin α=4EIÞ ð17Þ
rR
For helically buckled pipe

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi    
12EI 16π 4 EIr 4π 2 r EI Fa
F ncr ¼ 1 þ ð1 þ rR2 w sin α=8EIÞ ð18Þ FW ¼  þ F a þ þ þ w sin α cos θ ð30Þ
rR p4 p2 R2 R
Qui et al. (1998a, 1998b) studied buckling of tubulars inside vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u
constant curvature wellbores using the energy method and u EIrðð3=2ÞA2 þ 1Þ
p ¼ 2π t ð31Þ
proposed the following formulations for minimum buckling load w sin αð1  ðA2 =8ÞÞ
and maximum stable sinusoidal configuration load.
2 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3  
2 2πs
2EI 41  þ 1 þ rR w sin α  r 5
r θ ¼ A sin ð32Þ
F min
cr ¼ ð19Þ p
rR 2R EI R
This formulation results in a 4th order differential equation that
2 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3 was solved and verified for horizontal and curved wells in a small
max 7:04EI 4 r rR2 w sin α r 5 scale experiment. They found that a positive or a large negative
F cr ¼ 1 þ 1þ  ð20Þ
rR 7:04R 3:52EI 3:52R inclination build rate increases the critical buckling force while a
moderate inclination drop rate decreases it. Also azimuth build
in practice, r/R is very small and these equations will change to rate increases the critical buckling force.

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2EI McCann and Suryanarayana (1994) experimentally verified Eqs.
F cr ¼ 1 þ ð1 þrR2 w sin α=EIÞ ð21Þ
rR (7), (13) and (24). Field curves for critical buckling loads in straight
and curved wellbores using this formulation was proposed by Hill

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
7:04EI and Chandler (1998). Kuru et al. (1999, 2000) performed experi-
F cr ¼ 1 þ ð1 þ rR2 w sin α=3:52EIÞ ð22Þ
rR ments on a vertical–curved–horizontal test setup and found the
effect of static internal pressure on the buckling behavior to be
and for helical buckling
2 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3 insignificant. Tikhonov et al. (2001) compared the results of BUCKL
8EI 4 r rR2 w sin α r 5 TJ2 software developed by Aquatic company to experiments made
n
F cr ¼ 1 þ 1þ  ð23Þ by Kuru et al. (1999, 2000) and found the results of sinusoidal and
rR 4R 2EI 2R
helical buckling loads close to experimental values.
140 M. Hajianmaleki, J.S. Daily / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144

Mitchell (1999) proposed the following formulation for buck- In curved wellbore
ling load in curved wellbores  
2 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi3 8EI π 2 3πT
F ncr ¼ 
2EI 4 r rR2 ðw sin α  ðEI=R3 ÞÞ5 rR p p
F cr ¼ 1 þ 1þ ð33Þ where
rR 2R EI sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1
0
 2
π 1@ R2 ðwr sin α þ 2π 3 r 2 T=p3  6prT=pRÞA
Neglecting the terms of 1/R2 we have the same equation as (21). ¼ 1þ 1þ ð43Þ
p rR 8EI
Mitchell also reviewed the buckling formulation proposed for
tubings and concluded that the remaining challenges are tapered
Li developed fundamental equations for dynamic analysis of
strings and friction. He especially noted the friction force direction
strings in wells including torque loads (Li, 1999b) and found linear
(Mitchell, 2006a, 2008a) and studied the effect of expansion joints
and nonlinear solutions (Li, 1999a; Li and Li, 2002). The solution
(Mitchell, 2007a) and buckling inside casing (Mitchell) in other
for critical load and wall contact force agreed with Eqs. (7), (10),
research.
and (13). They studied weightless strings under axial force and
torque and linear contact force under torque only was found to be
3. Effect of torque  3  4
3 T
FW ¼ r ð44Þ
EI 4
He et al. proposed the following equation for critical load for a
string under only torque (He et al., 1995) Belayneh (2006) proposed the following formulation for helical
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi buckling load using the energy method
3
4 ðEIÞ w sin θ rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
T cr ¼ 2:09 ð34Þ n
pffiffiffi EIw sin α 2 2I
r F cr ¼ 2 2 þ ð1 þ υÞT
r EJ 2 r 3 w sin α
Miska and Cunha proposed the same equation and also showed rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
that this load is usually higher than yield limit (Miska and Cunha, 2w sin α 4 EI
T þ πw cos α ð45Þ
1995). They proposed the following relation for effect of torque on EIr 2w sin α
helical buckling Mitchell (2003, 2004) proposed equations for induced torque and
8π 2 EI 2πT shear in a helically buckled pipe. He found that the induced shear
F cr ¼  ð35Þ is less than 10% of the axial force and is not important in most
p2 p
applications. However, induced twisting moment in case of a small
He et al. (1995) studied the effects of torque in helical buckling and diameter tubing and large clearance can exceed minimum make-
concluded that torque lowers the buckling load and increases the up torque for connections. His formulations were verified by the
WCF. They proposed the following formulation for effect of torque experiments of Zdvizhkov et al. (2005, 2009) and were found to be
on helical buckling and radial contact load. These effects can be conservative.
generalized to curved wellbores.
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !
r
F ncr ¼ F h 1  0:42 4 T ð36Þ 4. Effect of boundary conditions
ðEIÞ3 w
! Wu and Juvkam-Wold (1993b, 1995) suggested that if the
rF 2a T buckled pipe has 3.5 or more pitches, the assumption of long pipe
FW ¼ 1 þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð37Þ
4EI EIF a =2 can be made. Martinez (1999) experimentally investigated on the
effect of length and end supports on tubular instability. He
Wu (1997) proposed the following equations for average axial load
concluded that in terms of sinusoidal buckling behavior, simply
during helical buckling under the torque effect.
supported boundary conditions have the same effect as an infinite
For a vertical wellbore
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pipe. The critical helical buckling load was reported to be inde-
33 πT pendent of the boundary conditions.
F ncr ¼ ð16π 2 EI  4πTLh Þw2  ð38Þ
4 Lh Challamel (2000) studied the motion of a drilling structure in
where Lh is buckling length that can be found by torsion. The direct method of Liapounov was used for stability of the
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi solution. The stick–slip phenomenon was studied and the boundary
3 ð16π EI  4πTLh Þ
2
Lh ¼ ð39Þ condition linked to the rock destruction process was found based on
w the rock/bit interaction function using rock mechanics. Gao and Miska
In an inclined wellbore (2008a, 2009b) studied the effect of boundary conditions and friction
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi on buckling in horizontal wells and showed that if the dimensionless
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
n ð8EI  2TLh =π  w cos αL3h =ð2π 2 ÞÞw sin α 3wLh cos α πT length ð 4 ðw=EIrÞlÞ is more than 5π the assumption of long drill pipe
F cr ¼ þ 
r 4 Lh (free of boundary conditions) can be applied and if this length is less
ð40Þ than 0.5π the assumption of short pipe (Euler column buckling
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi formula) can be applied.
4 ð8π 4 rEI  2π 3 rTL  w cos αL π 2 r=2Þ
3
h h
Lh ¼ ð41Þ
w sin α
5. Friction effect
For horizontal wellbores Eq. (44) reduces to
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Friction is always present in experiments and increases the
ð8EI  2pT=πÞw πT
F ncr ¼  critical load (McCann and Suryanarayana, 1994). Friction has also
r p
been known as the cause for inducing snapping, load reversal,
and
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi helix reversal, and finally lockup. Researchers compared their
4 ð8π rEI  2π rTpÞ
4 3
frictionless models to unloading part of experiments or use
p¼ ð42Þ
w high-frequency vibrators to omit friction effects. Johancsik et al.
 M. Hajianmaleki, J.S. Daily / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144 141

(1984) found from their field data that sliding friction coefficients helical buckling. However, in sliding mode, the axial load transfer
in a seawater-base mud lies between 0.25 and 0.40. decreases with well tortuosity.
Aasen and Aadnoy (2002) reviewed the research on buckling of Su et al. (2013) analyzed the dynamic equations of motion of a
tubulars in 2002 and applied the effect of dogleg severity (DLS) to drill string inside inclined wellbore under the friction effect using
Eq. (3) for critical buckling load. Fourier series. They showed that with dry friction, the rod can
p ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi tolerate substantial perturbation without buckling even after the
EI
F ncr ¼  5:55 EIw2 
3
DLS system stiffness turns negative. Furthermore, friction strongly
4900r
affects the buckling mode. Modes higher than the frictionless
18000
DLS ¼ ð46Þ buckling mode are triggered at high friction coefficients, while
πR=12
modes lower than the frictionless one can never be triggered.
They developed nonlinear equations of motion for drill string in a Hajianmaleki et al. (2013) modeled the various aspects of drill
curved well and used Riccati linearization and numerical techni- string buckling inside wellbore including the effect of friction and
ques to solve the equations. The equations of equilibrium are then friction induced moment using the explicit finite element method
! and could successfully simulate the complete load–displacement
dF a rRF 2a results of experiment by Arslan et al. (2012).
¼μ  F a þ wR sin α  wR cos α ð47Þ
dx 4EI

where μ is the friction coefficient. They found that the critical force
for buckling in a curved well with the friction effect can be much 6. Effect of flow rate
lower than the force in a straight well.
Mitchell applied friction force in displacement-based equations The effect of mud is mostly considered only as a buoyancy
of equilibrium and solved actual cases using the Galerkin method force. However, some researchers studied the effects of hydraulic
(Mitchell, 1986a) and the finite element method (Mitchell, 1996). and centrifugal inertial forces caused by fluid. Newnan et al. (1989)
He also proposed typical friction coefficient for various interfaces. studied the effect of internal pressure on onset of buckling and
In another research (Mitchell, 2006b, 2007b), Mitchell pro- showed that in some cases with the use of internal pressure the
posed equations for effective weight versus friction coefficient to tubing stiffness increases and critical load increases accordingly.
find the critical sinusoidal buckling load in different rotating/non- Mitchell (Mitchell, 1993; Mitchell, 1996) studied the effects of fluid
rotating conditions. pressures and flowing fluid momentum on curved tubing, casing,
Wu and Juvkam-Wold (1993b) used Eq. (10) and found axial or drill pipe in a wellbore. Problems such as the effect of tubing
force distribution for horizontal wellbore eccentricity on fluid forces were identified.
   h
  Kokkinis and Bernitsas (1987) studied the effect of fluid static
EIw 0:5 rw i0:5 r 0:5 pressure on the immediate post-buckling behavior of heavy
F a ðxÞ ¼ 2 tan μx þ arctan F 0 ð48Þ
r 4EI 4EIw tubular columns using the finite element method and showed
that the initial post-buckling behavior of heavy tubular columns
Lockup happens when the expression on tangent equals π=2. For
becomes unstable if the ratio of the densities of the fluids inside
vertical wellbores, the axial force would be
and outside the column exceeds a certain value. Zhang et al.
   hμrwi0:5
 
EIw 0:5 μr 0:5 (2000) applied hydraulic and inertia forces due to fluid motion
F a ðxÞ ¼ 2 tanh  x þ arctanh F 0
r 4EI 4EIw into the equations of equilibrium and solved the equations using
ð49Þ Fourier series approximation. They found that the critical flow rate
decreases rapidly by increase of the string length and the effect of
where x in these formulations is measured for helically buckled flow in the pipe is greater the fluid in annulus. Gulyayev et al.
portion of the pipe. They assumed in vertical wellbore there is no (Gulyaev and Gorbunovich, 2008; Gulyaev et al., 2009a, 2009b)
friction before helical buckling. Similar formulations for inclined studied the buckling of elongated rotating string taking into
wellbore was proposed by Miska et al. (1996). Gao and Miska account the effects of buoyancy, stabilizers, external WOB, external
(2009a, 2010) proposed a coefficient to critical sinusoidal buckling TOB, distributed centrifugal inertia forces of rotation and distrib-
load that could be found as a function of drill pipe conditions and uted centrifugal inertia forces induced by motion of mud (Eq. (50))
friction coefficient. inside the curved wellbores. The equations of motion were found
Barakat et al. (2007) experimentally studied the effect of based on classical theory of elasticity and were solved using the
hydraulic vibrations on initiation of buckling and axial force state-space approach.
transfer for helically buckled pipes and found that the hydraulic
4 2 3
vibrations can cause 11–45% drop in buckling load and enhance d u d u du d v
EI  F a 2 þ ðρt  ρm ÞgAt  T 3  ðρt At þ ρm Am Þω2 u ¼ 0
the axial load transfer such that 30–100% decrease in friction force dz4 dz dz dz
was observed. Menand et al. (2006, 2009a) developed a software 4
d v
2
d v dv d u
3

(ABIS) for torque, drag and buckling analysis that could include EI  F a 2 þ ðρt  ρm ÞgAt  T 3  ðρt At þ ρm Am Þω2 v ¼ 0 ð50Þ
dz4 dz dz dz
external hydraulic and friction forces. They used ABIS and small
scale tests to study the buckling of drill string in simulated field The general form of Fa is
condition and found that curvature changes (dog-legs) have a
F a ¼ F  ðpi þ ρi v2i ÞAi þ ðpo þ ρo v2o ÞAi ð51Þ
significant effect on buckling since the onset of helical buckling
and tortuous wells can drop the buckling load. Menand et al. pi, po, ρi, ρo are the pressure and density inside and outside the
(2008) studied the effect of friction and rotation on buckling load pipe, respectively. The boundary conditions were both ends
using the ABIS software and small scale tests. The results showed hinged and continuity of displacements and their derivatives at
that a rotating string helically buckles at much lower load (50% for stabilizers. The simplest cases were solved analytically. The critical
a straight horizontal wellbore case) than a non-rotating one. values of TOB vs. WOBs (at zero angular speed and mud speed),
Menand et al. (2009b) studied the axial load transfer of buckled angular speed vs. WOBs and TOBs (with no mud existent), mud
drill pipes. The numerical results of ABIS and experimental results speed vs. TOBs and angular speeds (WOB¼ 0) were found. Two
showed that even in tortuous wells, the axial load transfer in different lengths for the drill string (1500 and 2000 m) were
rotating mode can be enough at twice the critical load level of considered. It was concluded that the characteristic static factors
142 M. Hajianmaleki, J.S. Daily / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 116 (2014) 136–144
can exert destabilizing or stabilizing effects depending on the
combination of their application.
7. Effect of tool joints
Duman et al. (2001, 2003) experimentally studied the effect of
tool joints on sinusoidal and helical buckling load. While the
sinusoidal buckling load was not affected by the presence of tool
joints, the helical buckling load increased by 20%. Axial load
transfer efficiency was increased by 40% and increasing the tool
joint size by 20% did not have a significant effect on buckling.
Mitchell and Miska (2004, 2006) studied the helical buckling of
vertical pipes with connectors and torque. They modeled 3D
displacement pipe divided by connectors and found that the
torque effect can cause considerable (17% in their case) increase
in the bending stress.
Weltzin et al. (2008, 2009) conducted experiments on buckling
of a drill string in a 2020 m measured depth research well. They
used a high accuracy continuous gyro to measure the string
geometry changes as a function of axial load. Their measurements
showed that even at zero WOB, friction force cannot be neglected
in case of sinusoidal buckling due to local irregularities in the well
path. They also showed that the non-uniform stiffness effect of
tool joints at high WOBs can produce frictions to cause lockup
even before helical buckling. Mitchell and Weltzin (2011) used
string position records of two of those tests to analyze the
buckling problem. They found that connectors are very important
in the buckling behavior and the primary buckling mode was
sinusoidal buckling. The WCF and the resulting friction was more
than anticipated.
Mitchell et al. (2011a, 2011b) conducted full-scale buckling
tests and found that drill string buckling occurs at far lower loads
than predicted by current models, possibly caused by minor
deformations inherent in the real drill pipes. They mentioned that
due to irregularities in the inclined wellbores shapes, a factor
between 0.1 and 0.5 should be applied to Eq. (8) formulation in the
industry. The test results were used to develop a semi-empirical
buckling model that predicts contact forces resulting from drill
string buckling and also the torque and drag effects of drill string
whirl. The effect of tool joint was modeled by the length average of
the drill pipe and tool joint diameter and the effect of curvature
was accounted by effective weight of drill pipe. The formulation
for effective weight and clearance are


 J. Sound Vib. 233 (2), 235–254.
DDP ðL  LTJ Þ DTJ ðLTJ Þ
De ¼ þ ð52Þ
L L
Dc  De
re ¼
2 Chen, Y.-C., Lin, Y.-H., Cheatham, J.B., 1990. Tubing and casing buckling in horizontal
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðwL sin α þ F a ai Þ2 þ ðaϕ F a sin αÞ2
we ¼
L
The effective clearance is always higher than normal clearance and
this formulation predicts a higher buckling load. The results of this
model were verified by information on 3 actual Alaskan wells.
Gao et al. (2011) studied the effect of tool joints on the
sinusoidal buckling load in horizontal wells. They found that both
the distance between two connector and radial difference between
pipe and connector have high impact on buckling load. They
showed that when the length of pipe between connectors (Lc) is
small, the radial deflection is small and the effective radius would
be the connector radius. When Lc is close to the first critical value
(where the pipe body touches the wellbore) the buckling load
decreases dramatically and reaches its minimum at the first
critical length. When Lc is higher than the first critical value the
buckling load fluctuates. The equations of equilibrium were solved
by the Runge-Kutta method and they presented a graph for
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
dimensionless forcepβffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
cr ¼ ðF cr =ð2 ðEIw sin α=rÞÞÞversus dimen-
sionless length ςc ¼ 4 ðw=EIrÞLc at different dimensionless radial
differences Δγ c ¼ ðr c  r po =r w  r po Þ. Hajianmaleki et al. (2013)
showed that the formulation by Gao et al. (2011) is the most
accurate using the explicit finite element method.
8. Conclusion
Research on the prediction of critical buckling load for tubulars
inside wellbore has been increasing rapidly in the last two
decades. Researchers have used theoretical elasticity analysis as
well as numerical and experimental methods to propose compre-
hensive models of buckling analysis. However, there still exist
areas that need more research efforts such as friction load,
direction and lockup, especially in curved wellbores, effect of tool
joints, and tapered strings.
Acknowledgment
The authors of this paper would like to acknowledge the
support of Weatherford and the University of Tulsa.
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