New Method to Analyse the Cement Sheath Integrity During the Volume Fracturing of Shale Gas

Mingtao Fan, Jun Li and Gonghui Liu
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Mingtao Fan: College of petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102200, China
Jun Li: College of petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102200, China
Gonghui Liu: College of petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102200, China

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Accurate prediction of the hoop stress distribution of the cement sheath and its variation regularities during volume hydraulic fracturing in shale formations is of great significance for maintaining the wellbore integrity of shale gas horizontal wells. A finite element model of casing-cement sheath-formation system (CCFS) coupling between stresses and temperature was established through a staged finite element method based on the elastic anisotropy of shale. With this new model, the effects of operation parameters and formation mechanical property changes on the cement sheath hoop stress during the multi-stage hydraulic fracturing process were analyzed, and the results were compared with the conventional model. The results revealed that the increase of the temperature of the fracturing fluid could reduce the hoop stress of the cement sheath, which decreased gradually with the decreasing elastic modulus of the cement sheath, and eventually changed to compressive stress from tensile stress. The hoop tensile stress of the cement sheath increases first and then tends to decrease with the increasing internal casing pressure, the larger the local formation stress, the smaller the pore pressure and the smaller the hoop tensile stress of the cement sheath it preforms. The findings of this paper are of great guiding significance to the research of the cement sheath stress variations during volume fracturing in shale formations and to the optimization of fracturing design.

Keywords: shale; hydraulic fracturing; staged finite element; anisotropy; cement sheath (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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