Casing/cementing/zonal isolation

Studies Quantify Cement Sealing Performance Under Downhole Conditions

The authors discuss a modified ultrasonic-cement-analyzer (UCA) vessel that allows assessment of slurry sealing performance under representative downhole conditions while running otherwise standard UCA equipment.

The multiplug setup, which allows simultaneous curing of up to five 0.38m-long, 2″ diameter cement plugs under downhole conditions. The plugs are subsequently tested individually to evaluate their sealing performance.
The multiplug setup, which allows simultaneous curing of up to five 0.38m-long, 2″ diameter cement plugs under downhole conditions. The plugs are subsequently tested individually to evaluate their sealing performance.

Reliable evaluation of cement-plug sealing performance requires testing under elevated temperature and pressure conditions representative of downhole conditions. In the complete paper, two laboratory setups designed for this purpose are described. In both setups, plugs are cured and tested under downhole conditions inside sections of steel pipe. Using this equipment, a strong positive correlation was found between the amount of interfacial stress buildup and the sealing performance of the set cement plug against gas flow.

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