Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
  • E21B43/00—Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells
  • E21B43/02—Subsoil filtering
  • E21B43/10—Setting of casings, screens, liners or the like in wells
  • E21B43/103—Setting of casings, screens, liners or the like in wells of expandable casings, screens, liners, or the like
  • E21B43/108—Expandable screens or perforated liners

Definitions

• This disclosure relates generally to methods and apparatus for expanding a tubular member in a wellbore. More specifically, this disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for expanding a tubular member into an oversized base casing.
• Expandable casings, liners, and other tubulars are utilized in the construction of wells to line the wellbore. Expandable tubulars are disposed in a well in an unexpanded state and then can be radially expanded to increase the diameter of the tubular. The expansion typically takes place via the application of mechanical expansion tools, hydraulic pressure, or a combination thereof to plastically deform the tubular. Expandable tubulars can therefore provide an increased tubular diameter as compared to the use of conventional tubulars.
• Expandable tubulars are often secured in a wellbore by compressing an elastomer between a portion of the expanded tubular and the existing base casing.
• the existing base casing may have an inner diameter that makes the compression of the elastomer difficult due to the size of the inner diameter of the base casing and the expanded diameter of the expandable tubular. If the inner diameter of the base casing is too large, the expansion of the expandable tubular may not provide sufficient compression of the elastomer or require the use of an increased thickness of elastomer. In the most extreme of these applications, the size of the base casing may prevent the use of conventional expandable tubulars or may require special preparation of the wellbore to accommodate a larger expandable tubular.
• An expandable tubular member comprises a first portion having a first inner diameter and a first wall thickness.
• a second portion of the expandable tubular member has an increased inner diameter and an increased wall thickness.
• a transition portion of the expandable tubular member is defined by a wall thickness that varies non-linearly between the first wall thickness and the increased wall thickness.
• Figure 1 is a partial sectional schematic illustration of a wellbore with an expandable liner.
• Figure 2 is a partial sectional schematic illustration of a wellbore with an expandable liner having an increased wall thickness in an upper portion of the liner.
• Figure 3 is a partial sectional view of a portion of an expandable liner having an increased wall thickness.
• Figure 4 is a graphical representation of the expansion force required to expand the liner shown in Figure 3.
• Figure 5 is a partial sectional view of a portion of an expandable liner with the wall thickness transitioning to an increased wall thickness.
• Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of a portion of an expandable liner with the wall thickness transitioning to an increased wall thickness.
• Figure 7 is a partial sectional view of a portion of an expandable liner with the wall thickness transitioning to an increased wall thickness.
• Figure 8 is a graphical representation of the expansion force required to expand the liners shown in Figures 5-7.
• first and second features are formed in direct contact
• additional features may be formed interposing the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact.
• exemplary embodiments presented below may be combined in any combination of ways, i.e., any element from one exemplary embodiment may be used in any other exemplary embodiment, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
• an expandable tubular member 10 is disposed within a wellbore 12.
• An upper end 14 of the expandable tubular member 10 is in an overlapping relationship with an existing base casing 16.
• An expansion cone 18 is moved longitudinally through the expandable tubular member 10 so as to increase the inner diameter of the tubular from an unexpanded diameter 20 to an expanded diameter 22.
• Anchor members 24 are disposed about the upper end 14 of the expandable tubular member 10 and engage the base casing 16 as the tubular member 10 is expanded. To properly engage the base casing 16 and secure the tubular member 10 to the base casing 16, the anchor members 24 are compressed in the annulus between the tubular and the base casing.
• the expanded diameter 22 of the tubular member 10 plus the thickness 26 of the tubular may not provide for sufficient compression of the anchor members 24 in the annulus between the tubular and the base casing 16.
• the thickness of the anchor members 24 may be increased so that sufficient compression can be achieved.
• the thickness 26 of a portion of the expandable tubular member 10 can be increased, as shown in Figure 2. Increasing the thickness 26 in the section of the expandable tubular member 10 onto which the anchor members 24 are mounted allows for the anchor members to be sufficiently compressed in a larger sized base casing 10.
• Figure 3 illustrates a portion of an expandable tubular member 10 having a section 14 with an increased wall thickness 26 and a constant inner diameter 20.
• the expansion force required to move cone 18 through tubular member 10 is graphically illustrated in Figure 4 where the horizontal axis is the force in pounds and the vertical axis is distance traveled by the cone.
• the tubular member 10 has a nominal wall thickness of 0.495 inches and an increased wall thickness 26 of 1.06 inches and is being radially expanded by 8.26 percent.
• the expansion force needed to expand the portion of the tubular member 10 having an increased wall thickness 26 is substantially greater than the expansion force needed to expand the other portions of the tubular member.
• this increased expansion force may exceed the operational parameters of the expansion system and/or the expandable tubular. Therefore, the increased wall thickness 26 is limited by the allowable expansion forces and may not provide the necessary thickness to sufficiently compress the anchor members 24.
• the wall thickness can be decreased by increasing the inner diameter through the thickened section. Increasing the unexpanded inner diameter reduces the amount of radial expansion that is seen by the increased thickness section. Because the amount radial expansion is decreased, the expansion force is also decreased.
• FIGs 5-7 illustrate alternate embodiments for transitioning the wall of an expandable tubular between a nominal wall thickness and an increased wall thickness.
• Each of the embodiments shown illustrate one end of the increased wall thickness portion and it is understood that the features shown can be also be present at the other end of the increased wall thickness portion.
• each end of the increased wall thickness portion is described as having identical features but in certain embodiments, it may be found that having different features on each end of the increased wall thickness portion may be desired.
• like numbers are used to refer to like structural features.
• expandable tubular member 30 has a nominal inner diameter 32, nominal wall thickness 34, increased inner diameter 36, and an increased wall thickness 38.
• the outer surface of the expandable tubular 30 has an outer taper 40 along the transition portion between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• the inner surface of the expandable tubular 30 has an inner taper 42 along the transition portion between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• the inner taper 42 and outer taper 40 are selected so that the thickness of the wall increases linearly between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• expandable tubular 44 has a nominal inner diameter 32, nominal wall thickness 34, increased inner diameter 36, and an increased wall thickness 38.
• the outer surface of the expandable tubular 44 has an outer taper 40.
• the inner surface of the expandable tubular 44 is defined by a first fillet radius 46 and a second fillet radius 48 that create a smooth transition along the inner surface. This smooth transition creates a wall thickness that varies nonlinearly in the transition portion between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• the outer surface of the expandable tubular 44 may also have one or more fillet radii along the transition portion between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• expandable tubular 50 has a nominal inner diameter 32, nominal wall thickness 34, increased inner diameter 36, and an increased wall thickness 38.
• the outer surface of the expandable tubular 50 has an outer taper 40 along the transition portion between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• the inner surface of the expandable tubular 50 has an inner taper 52 along the transition portion between the nominal wall thickness 34 and the increased wall thickness 38.
• the inner taper 52 and outer taper 40 are substantially equal so that the wall thickness remains constant until the inner taper 52 intersects with the increased inner diameter 36.
• Figure 8 illustrates the results of an analysis performed on expandable tubulars having features such as those shown in Figure 5-7.
• finite element analysis was used to simulate the expansion of a tubular member with an expansion cone having an outer diameter of 16.250 inches.
• the nominal inner diameter, nominal wall thickness, increased inner diameter, increased wall thickness, and the outer taper were identical for each analyzed embodiment.
• the chart below lists the common dimensions of the expandable tubular used in the illustrated analysis.
• expansion force curve 54 represents the expansion force curve for the expansion of the embodiment of Figure 5.
• Expansion force curve 56 represents the expansion force curve for the expansion of the embodiment of Figure 6.
• Expansion force curve 58 represents the expansion force curve for the expansion of the embodiment of Figure 7.
• Each of the expansion force curves 54, 56, 58 is substantially equal during the expansion of the portions of the tubular where the inner diameter and thickness are constant.
• the expansion force curves 54, 56, 58 diverge as the diameter and/or thickness of the tubular transitions from the nominal thickness portions to the increased thickness portions.
• Expansion force curve 54 shows an increase in expansion force during the transition portion between the nominal thickness portions and the increased thickness portion of the tubular. This increased expansion force is due to the increasing wall thickness of the tubular and the changing expansion percentage of the tubular. Because the wall thickness is increasing linearly and the expansion percentage is decreasing non- linearly, the expansion force is changing in a non-linear fashion. It is also observed that the transitions from the nominal thickness sections to the increased thickness section require more expansion force than expanding through either of the constant diameter/constant thickness sections.
• the expansion force curve 56 shows that by increasing the wall thickness in a non-linear manner (as shown in Figure 6), the increased forces seen in expansion force curve 54 can be reduced.
• the expansion force curve 56 shows little increase in the expansion force over the transition portions as compared to the constant wall thickness sections.
• expansion force curve 58 The expansion force needed to expand the expandable tubular shown in Figure 7 is represented by expansion force curve 58.
• the expansion force curve 58 indicates that the expansion force through the transition between wall thicknesses actually decreases relative to the expansion force needed for the constant wall thickness portions.
• the maximum expansion force is shown to occur in the section with an increased wall thickness.
• any of the embodiments illustrated in Figures 5-7 can allow the expansion of a tubular having a portion with an increased wall thickness while maintaining expansion forces within desired ranges.
• the embodiments disclosed herein may be used in applications where a portion of an expandable tubular may require an increased outer diameter after expansion.
• embodiments incorporating one or more of the concepts disclosed herein may be used to create an increased outer diameter portion for use as a hanger joint and/or to achieve a seal with an existing casing or the wellbore. These embodiments may be especially useful in applications where the maximum diameter of the unexpanded system is limited by a wellbore restriction.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Earth Drilling (AREA)

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• 2012
  • 2012-12-13 US US13/713,726 patent/US20140166310A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2013
  • 2013-11-20 EP EP13862644.5A patent/EP2932012A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-11-20 WO PCT/US2013/070889 patent/WO2014092949A1/en not_active Ceased

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