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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references and index.

The first main goal of this research is to develop comprehensive analytical and numerical models for the stress distribution around an inclined cased wellbore by considering all wellbore processes and to amend erroneous models of most previous work. The second main goal is to apply the developed models to explain near wellbore phenomena such as cement failure and sand production. To achieve these goals, this work checked the eligibility of using simple elastic approaches for the system by using a poroelastic undrained condition and a steady state condition for stresses induced by wellbore temperature variation. It utilized the generalized plane strain to compensate for the limitation of the plane strain which most previous work had used. In addition, this research developed comprehensive models to improve previous work by using superposing principles. For applying the developed models to cement failure, Mogi-Coulomb criterion for shear failure instead of Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager criteria was used to properly consider the intermediate stress. Additionally, ABAQUSr was utilized for numerical models with the "model change" option to simulate and combine all individual wellbore processes while MATLABr was used for analytical models. For predicting sand production, fully coupled poroelastic solutions for an inclined open wellbore were modified to obtain the stress distribution around a perforation tunnel after perforating. Then, modified Lade failure criterion was used to calculate the critical drawdown when sand production occurs, that is, when the perforation tunnel starts failure. This research obtained the following results. For developing models, the analytical models improved the previous research. However, the numerical results under a vertical tectonic stress showed discrepancies because of the difference between the generalized plane strain and numerical models. For cement failure, Young's modulus of cement, wellbore pressure and wellbore temperature variation could affect shear failure more significantly than the other factors. The numerical results showed closer to the failure envelopes than the analytical results. For predicting sand production, well completion affected sand production near wellbore and the critical drawdown converged to asymptotic values. In addition, perforating along the minimum horizontal stress direction was most preferable in a vertical cased wellbore under a normal stress regime. / text

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta procedimentos para análise dos esforços em colunas de revestimento instaladas em um poço de petróleo, sob a ação do fenômeno de fluência do sal, sendo também abordado os principais aspectos da estabilidade e deformabilidade das rochas salinas durante a fase de perfuração. Para a discretização e solução das equações diferenciais de equilíbrio do contínuo, utiliza-se no presente trabalho o método dos elementos finitos, através do programa ANVEC(1) . O comportamento tensão-deformação do sal foi descrito através de leis constitutivas obtidas a partir de dados sobre mineração subterrânea de evaporitos. O comportamento dos revestimentos é analisado segundo o enfoque adotado pela indústria do petróleo, no qual o carregamento salino é considerado independente do tempo e de intensidade igual a coluna litostática, na parede externa do revestimento. Os resultados obtidos comprovam que, para a solução do problema de se revestir uma seção salina é fundamental um trabalho eficiente de cimentação primária dos revestimentos, concêntricos, frente ao sal. Ao final, examina-se o comportamento de fluência de uma seção evaporítica típica de um poço de perfurado da Bacia de Campos, comparando-se as simulações numéricas com medições in-situ. / [en] This thesis presents an approach for analysis of casing stresses in oil wells due to the fenomena of creep of rock salt. The main aspects of wellbore stability and deformability while drilling salt formations are also discussed. In order to obtain the solutions for the differential equations of continous salt media, the finite element method has been used through the application of the ANVEC program for underground excavation analysis, utilizing constitutive laws obtained from salt mining projects. The mechanical behavior of casings are also analized according with the procedures considered in the petroleum literature, in which the salt loads are considered as time-independent. The results are in agreement with the observations of several autors that a sucessfull primary cement job is the main concern for keep the integrity of casing strings set acoss salt formations for long time. At the end of this work, the salt creep behaviour of a section of one well drilled in Campos basin are simulated and compared with field data. / [es] Este trabajo presenta procedimientos para análisis de los refuerzos en colunas de revestimiento instaladas en un pozo de petróleo, bajo la acción del fenómeno de fluencia de sal, abordando también los principales aspectos de estabilidad y deformabilidad de las rocas salinas durante la fase de perforación. Para la discretización y solución de las equaciones diferenciales de equilibrio del contínuo, se utiliza en el presente trabajo el método de los elementos finitos, a través del programa ANVEC. El comportamiento tensión-deformación de la sal fue descrito a través de las leyes constitutivas, obtenidas a partir de datos sobre mineración subterránea de evaporitos. Se analiza el comportamiento de los revestimientos según el enfoque adoptado por la industria del petróleo, en el cual, la concentración salina se considera independiente del tiempo y de intensidad igual a la columna litostática, en la pared externa del revestimiento. Los resultados obtenidos comprueban que, para la solución del problema de revestir uma sección salina, es fundamental un trabajo eficiente de cimentación primaria de los revestimientos, concéntricos, frente a la sal. Al final, se examina el comportamiento de fluencia de una sección evaporítica típica de um pozo de perforación de la Bacia de Campos, comparando las simulaciones numéricas con mediciones in situ.