Casing Design

Chapter 2: Casing Design

Calculations of Loads on a Casing

Prepared by: Dr. Tan Nguyen

Casing Design

Casing Design
Introduction
The casing design process
involves three distinct operations:

1. The selection of the casing

sizes and setting depths;

2. The definition of the

operational scenarios which
will result in burst, collapse and
axial loads

3. The calculation of the

magnitude of these loads and
selection of an appropriate
weight and grade of casing.

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Axial Load or Pipe Body Yield Strength

The axial load on the casing can be either tensile or compressive,

depending on the operating conditions.

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Axial Load or Pipe Body Yield Strength

The force Ften tending to pull apart the pipe is resisted by

the stregth of the pipe walls, which exert a counterforce F2.

Ften  s yield As 1

Where syield is the minimum yield strength and As is the

cross-sectional area of steel. Thus, the pipe-body strength:


Ften  s yield d n2  d 2  2
4

Equation 2 is used to calculate the minimum force that

would be expected to cause permanent deformation of the
pipe.

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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending

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Casing Design

Example 1

Compute the body-yield strength for 20’’, K-55 casing with a nominal wall

thickness of 0.635’’ and a nominal weight per foot of 133 lbf/ft.

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Casing Design

Example 1

Solution:

d = 20.00 – 2(0.635) = 18.73’’


Ften  s yield d n2  d 2 
4


Ften 
4
 
55,000 20 2  18.73 2  2,125,000 lbf

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Burst Pressure

The casing will experience a net burst loading if the internal radial load exceeds

the external radial load.

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Burst Pressure

Let  be small enough

d
ds  r sin d  rd  d
2
d
F1  Pbr L d
2
 
F 2  s s tL
d
F2  s s tL
2

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Burst Pressure

F1  2F2  0

2s s t
Pbr  3
d

where ss is the nominal steel strength. Equation (3) is used only for thin-
wall casing. In drilling application, it is suggested that one should use
Barlow’s equation to calculate Pbr for thick-wall casing.
2s yield t
Pbr  0.875 4
dn

API recommends use of this equation with wall thickness rounded to the
nearest 0.001’’ and the results rounded to the nearest 10 psi.
Prepared by: Dr. Tan Nguyen
Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Burst Pressure

If casing is subjected to internal pressure higher than external, it is said that

casing is exposed to burst pressure. Burst pressure conditions occur during
well control operation or squeeze cementing.

Equation (4) is used to calculate the internal pressure at which the

tangential stress at the inner wall of the pipe reaches the yield strength of
the material. The factor 0.875 represents the allowable manufactruing
tolerance of -12.5% on wall thickness.

Because a burst pressure failure will not occur until after the stress exceeds
the ultimate tensile strength, using a yield strength criterion as a measure of
burst strength is an inherently conservative assumption.

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Casing Design

Example 2

Compute the burst-pressure rating for 20’’, K-55 casing with a nominal wall
thickness of 0.635’’ and a nominal weight per foot of 133 lbf/ft

Solution:
2s yield t
Pbr  0.875
dn
2(55,000)(0.635)
Pbr  0.875  3,056 psi
(20)

Rounded to the nearest 10 psi:

Pbr  3,060 psi

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

The casing will experience a net collapse loading if the external radial load
exceeds the internal radial load. The greatest collapse load on the casing
will occur if the casing is evacuated (empty) for any reason.

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

If external pressure exceeds internal pressure, the casing is subjected to

collapse. Such conditions may exist during cementing operations or well
evacuation. Collapse strength is primarily function of the material’s yield
strength and its slenderness ratio, dn/t. Lame’s equations:

dn ro
r sr

t ri
st
Pi Pe

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

pe, pi – external and internal pressure

sr, st – radial and tangential stresses

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

Equations (5) and (6) are used under no axial tension or axial
compression.

Data in Table 7.6 (Applied Drilling Engineering) apply only for zero axial
tension and no pipe bending.

The maximal tangential stress, stmax, occurs at the internal surface of

the pipe where r = ri.

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Casing Design

Example 3

Consider a drillpipe of E-75 4 ½’’ outer diameter with a unit weight of 20

lb/ft inside a wellbore filled with 9.5 ppg mud. At a location of 3800 ft from
the surface, pressure inside the pipe is 2000 psi, and pressure outside
the pipe is 1700 psi. Determine the tangential and radial stresses at r =
ro .

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Casing Design

Example 3

E-75 4 ½’’ and 20 lb/ft drillpipe has an inner diameter of 3.64 in.
Considering “r” is equal to ro = 4.5’’

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Collapse pressure Regimes

Plastic range Yield Range

Transition Range
Stress

Strain

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Collapse pressure Regimes

Primary collapse loads are generated by the hydrostatic head of the fluid
column outside the casing string. These fluids are usually drilling fluids
and sometimes cement slurry.

Casing is also subjected to sever collapse pressure when drilling through

troublesome formations such as: plastic clays and salts.

Strength of the casing under external pressure depends in: length,

diameter, wall thickness of the casing and the physical properties of the
casing materials (yield point, elastic limit, poisson’s ration, etc.).

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Collapse pressure Regimes

Casing having a low dn/t ratio and low strength, reaches the critical
collapse value as soon as the material begins to yield under the action
of external pressure.

Casings exhibit ideally plastic collapse behavior and the failure due to
external pressure occurs in the so-called yield range.

Casing with high dn/t ratio and high strength, collapses below the yield
strength of the material. In this case, failure is caused by purely elastic
deformation of the casing. The collapse behavior is known as failure in
the elastic range.

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Yield Strength Collapse

The collapse strength criteria consist of four collapse regimes

determined by yield strength and dn/t. Each criterion is discussed next
in order of increasing dn/t.

Yield strength collapse: Yield strength collapse is based on yield at

the inner wall. This criterion does not represent a “collapse” pressure at
all. For thick wall pipes (dn/t < 15), the tangential stress exceeds the
yield strength of the material before a collapse instability failure occurs.

Assumed that the pipe is subjected only to an external pressure pe.

From eq. (6), the absolute value of tangential stress st is always
greatest at the inner wall of the pipe. Hence, the yield strength collapse
occurs at the inner wall: r = ri then equation (6) becomes:
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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Yield Strength Collapse

 2 p e ro2
st  2

ro  ri 2  7

 2 pe ro2
st 
t ro  ri  8

Rearrange equation (8) gives equation (9) to calculate the critical

pressure for yield strength collapse, Pcr

 d n / t  1
PYP  2s Y  2 
 d n / t  
9

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Yield Strength Collapse

Plastic collapse:

Plastic collapse is based on empirical data from 2,488 tests of K-55, N-80
and P-110 seamless casing. No analytic expression has been derived that
accurately models collapse behavior in this regime. The minimum collapse
pressure for the plastic range of collapse is calculated by equation (10).

 F1 
PP  s Y   F2   F3 10
 n
d / t 

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Transition Collapse

Transition Collapse:

Transition collapse is obtained by a numerical curve fitting between the plastic and
elastic regimes. The minimum collapse pressure for the plastic-to-elastic transition
zone is calculated by equation (11)

 F 
PT  s Y  4  F5 
dn / t  11

Prepared by: Dr. Tan Nguyen

Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure – Elastic Collapse
Elastic Collapse:

Elastic collapse is based on theoretical elastic instability failure; this

criterion is independent of yield strength and applicable to thin-wall pipe
(dn/t > 25). The minimum collapse pressure for the elastic range of
collapse is calculated by using equation (12)

46.95 106
PE 
d n / t d n / t   12 12

Most oilfield tubulars experience collapse in the plastic and transition

regimes.

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

Prepared by: Dr. Tan Nguyen

Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

F1  2.8762  0.10679  10 5 Y  0.21301  10 10 Y   0.53132  10 16 Y 

2 3

F2  0.026233  0.50609 106 Y

F3  465.93  0.030867Y  0.10483107 Y   0.36989 1013 Y 

2 3

 3F2 / F1  
3

46.95  10 6  
F4   2  F2 / F1 
 3F2 / F1  3F2 / F1  
2

Y  F2 / F1  1  
 2  F2 / F1    2  F2 / F1 

F5  F4 F2 / F1 

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Casing Design

Calculation of Critical Loads

Critical Collapse Pressure

Apply only when

axial stress is
zero and no
internal pressure

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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending

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Casing Design

Example 4

Compute the collapse pressure rating for 20’’, K-55 casing with a
nominal wall thickness of 0.635’’ and a nominal weight per foot of 133
lbf/ft.

Prepared by: Dr. Tan Nguyen

Casing Design

Example 4

Solution:

dn/t = 20/0.635 = 31.49

This is the transition collapse

 F 
pT  s Y  4  F5 
 dn / t 

 1.989 
pT  55,000  0.036   1,493 psi
 31.49 

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Casing Design

Example

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Casing Design

Critical Collapse Pressure

Combined Stress Effects

All the pipe strength equations previously given are based on a zero axial
stress state. This idealized situation never occurs in oilfield applications
because pipe in a wellbore is always subjected to combined loading
conditions.

The fundamental basis of casing design is that if stresses in the pipe wall
exceed the yield strength of the material, a failure condition exists.

Hence the yield strength is a measure of the maximum allowable stress.

To evaluate the pipe strength under combined loading conditions, the
uniaxial yield strength is compared to the yielding condition.

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Casing Design

Critical Collapse Pressure

Combined Stress Effects

The most widely accepted yielding criterion is based on the maximum

distortion energy theory, which is known as the Huber-Von-Mises
Theory.

This theory states that if the triaxial stress exceeds the yield strength,
a yield failure is indicated.

Note that the triaxial stress is not a true stress. It is a theoretical value
that allows a generalized three-dimensional stress state to be
compared with a uniaxial failure criterion (the yield strength).

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Casing Design

Critical Collapse Pressure

Combined Stress Effects – Von Mises Equivalent

s VME 
1
s z  s t 2  s t  s r 2  s r  s z 2  s Y 13
2

Where

sY – minimum yield stress, psi

sVME – triaxial stress, psi

VME: Von Mises Equivalent

sz, st, sr – axial tress,

tangential stress, and radial
stress, psi

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Casing Design

Critical Collapse Pressure

Combined Stress Effects – Von Mises Equivalent

Setting the triaxial stress equal to the yield strength and solving
equation (13) give the results:
2
s t  pi 3  s  pi  1  s z  pi 
  1   z     14
sY 4  sY  2  sY 

Equation (14) is for the ellipse of plasticity. Combining Eq. (14) and eq.
(6) together and let r = ri, will give the combinations of internal
pressure, external pressure and axial stress that will result in a yield
strength mode of failure.

s t  pi s t  pi
< 0 for collapse and > for burst
sY sY

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Casing Design

Critical Collapse Pressure

Combined Stress Effects – Von Mises Equivalent

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Casing Design

Critical Collapse Pressure

Combined Stress Effects

As axial tension increases,

the critical burst-pressure
increases and the critical
collapse-pressure decreases.

In contrast, as the axial

compression increases, the
critical burst-pressure
decreases and the critical
collapse-pressure increases.

2
s t  pi 3  s  pi  1  s z  pi 
  1   z    
sY 4  s Y  2  s Y 

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Casing Design

Example 5

Compute the nominal collapse pressure rating for 5.5’’, N-80 casing with a
nominal wall thickness of 0.476’’ and a nominal weight per foot of 26 lbf/ft.
In addition, determine the collapse pressure for in-service conditions in
which the pipe is subjected to a 40,000 psi axial tension stress and a
10,000 psi internal pressure. Assume a yield strength mode of failure.

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Casing Design

Example 5

For collapse pressure rating, r = ri then eq. (6) becomes

st 
 
pi ro2  ri 2  2 pe ro2
ro2  ri 2

 
pi ro2  ri 2  2 p e ro2
 pi
s t  pi ro2  ri 2

sY sY

s t  pi  2ro2  pi  pe 
  2 
2 

sY  o
r  ri  s Y 

s t  pi  25.52  pi  p e 
  2 
2 

sY  5.5  4. 548  80 ,000 

s t  pi pi  p e  pe
 
sY 12,649 12,649

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Casing Design

Example 5

s z  pi
From eq. (14) with  0 we have
sY
s t  pi
 1
sY
 pe
 1
12,649

pe  12,649 psi

2
s t  pi 3  s  pi  1  s z  pi 
  1   z     14
sY 4  sY  2  sY 

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Casing Design

Example 5

For in-service conditions of sz = 40,000 psi and pi = 10,000 psi

s t  pi 10,000  pe

sY 12,649

s z  pi 40,000  10,000
  0.625
sY 80,000

Solving eq. (14) gives

s t  pi 10,000  pe
  0.841  0.3125  0.5284
sY 12,649

pe  16,684 psi
2
s t  pi 3  s  pi  1  s z  pi 
  1   z     14
sY 4  sY  2  sY 
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Casing Design

Example 5

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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending

In directional wells, the effect of wellbore curvature

and vertical deviation angle on axial stress in the
casing and couplings must be considered in the
casing design.

When a casing is forced to bend, the axial tension on

the convex side of the bend can increase greatly.

On the other hand, in relatively straight sections of

hole with a significant vertical deviation angle, the
axial stress caused by the weight of the pipe is
reduced.

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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending
The maximum increase in axial stress, sb, on the convex side of the pipe is
given by Crandall and Dahl (1995)

sb = ± 0.5EdnK.

In oil field units, where dogleg severity, K, is expressed as the change in

angle in degrees per 100 ft; E (lbf/in2) = stress/strain is elastic modulus.

sb = ± 218dnK.

In terms of an equivalent axial force

Fab = ± 218dnKAs.

In terms of weight per foot of pipe

Fab = ± 64dnKwp.
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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending

Example: Determine the maximum axial stress for 7.625-in, 39-lbf/ft, N-80
casing if the casing is subjected to a 400,000 lbf axial tension load in a
portion of a directional wellbore having a dogleg severity of 40/100ft.
Assuming uniform contact between the casing and the borehole wall.

Note that, the definition for the pipe body yield strength:

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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending

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Casing Design

Casing Design
Effects of Bending

Solution: Nominal API pipe body yield strength for this casing is 895,000 lbf,
and the ID is 6.625. The cross sectional area of steel in the pipe body is

A = /4(7.6252 – 6.6252) = 11.192 in2.

The axial stress without bending: 400,000/11.192 = 35,740 psi

The additional axial stress on the convex side of the pipe due to the bending

sb = ± 218dnK = 218(7.625)(4) = 6,649 psi

The total axial stress = 35,740 + 6,649 = 42,389 psi

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