DWC

TM

DRILLING WITH CASING

TUBULAR TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES

OVERVIEW
Casing drilling permits operators to simultaneously drill, case and evaluate oil and gas wells, thereby significantly reducing drilling time and the potential for unscheduled events. Field studies have shown a 20-30% reduction in the time required to drill wells from spud to rig release when utilizing drilling with casing; and drilling with casing has demonstrated improved reservoir productivity. Initially, drilling with casing used traditional casing connections, but these off-the-shelf connections exhibited performance problems because of cyclic-torsion loads, sealing capability to overcome dramatic cyclic loads and significant fatigue. Grant Prideco, the North American leader in the development of premium tubulars and connections, was faced with a technical challenge to design and develop a special connection for casing drilling applications that would provide: Sound economics; high resistance to cyclic torsional loads; superior sealing capability while subjected to dramatic cyclic loads; enhanced fatigue resistance; and field-friendly running procedures. There are a number of casing connections in the market that provide two, three and sometimes even four of these characteristics. Grant Prideco's drilling with casing coupled (DWC/C) connection was developed to meet all five of the requirements dictated by the new emerging marketplace. The DWC technology is a family of semi-premium connections designed for the rigorous conditions seen with casing drilling technology.

FIELD USE/HISTORY
The DWC/C connection can be used with different types of casing drilling practices including a top drive or a kelly and rotary table. The connection has been used to drill entire wells, ranging from 2,000 to 8,400 feet of drilling depth in areas such as the Greater Green River Basin in Southern Wyoming and in the Lobo Trend in South Texas.

US Patent 6,406,070 B1

DWC/C RATINGS AND FEATURES

PIN-TO-PIN INTERNAL TORQUE SHOULDER Mill-end pin made up to a position makeup mark; Field-end pin made up to a makeup torque; Positive stop controls position of field-end pin; Tight tolerances for torque shoulder control; and Adds preload into the shoulder for fatigue resistance. STRESS REDUCTION GROOVE Patented stress reduction groove reduces the stresses in the coupling to enhance fatigue life; Allows pin noses to shoulder without a long pin nose addition; Allows for a shorter coupling compared to API BTC. API BUTTRESS THREAD FORM Widely accepted thread form; Easily run; Widely accepted pressure resistance; Thread sealing obtained with any API connection thread compound. OPTIONAL TEFLON SEAL RING All DWC models are offered with an optional seal ring groove; Seal provided by entrapped seal ring; Provides a reliable seal for the life of the string, unlike the thread seal which relies on solids in the thread compound to provide the sealing mechanism; Seal ring modification does not affect the connection's tensile rating. AVAILABLE SIZES The DWC/C connection comes in sizes from 3 1/2 in to 13 3/8 in.

MODELS
DWC/C and DWC/C-SR are the most common models of the DWC design family and are the recommended connection for most or all of the casing strings in typical casing drilling applications. The DWC/C engineered design incorporates a torque-shouldering system developed specifically for the torque and fatigue requirements associated with casing drilling operations. The special coupling element of the torquing system includes a patented Stress Reduction Groove in the center of the coupling that enhances the coupling's resistance to cyclic loading typically generated during casing drilling operations. The DWC/C is also the most economical model of DWC offered for casing drilling applications. The coupling turned ODs are the same as for API connections.

DWC/C

DWC/DS and DWC/DS-SR were engineered for applications needing more stability in the bottom hole assembly region of the casing string or to add weight on bit, or both. The DWC/DS is designed with torque shoulders at both the pin nose and the coupling face. This system increases the torque strength and improves the stress concentration of the connections, which improves the DWC/DS resistance to fatigue loading. The number of joints needed depends on the application but the DWC/DS has historically been used in 10 to 12 joint assemblies on the bottom of the casing string. The typical method used to make these psuedo drill collars is to use a heavy wall casing that has an OD similar to the coupling OD of the DWC/C size being used, which is typically the next casing OD size. For instance, 7-in DWC/C casing could use 7 5/8-in pipe for the DWC/DS without the need of a crossover. The 7 5/8-in pipe may be selected so that the ID is very similar to the 7-in casing.

DWC/DS

DWC/U and DWC/U-SR were designed so that the DWC connection design can be machined on upset pipe, eliminating the coupling. This integral connection is upset on one end for the box. The pin is threaded on plain-end pipe.

DWC/U

MAKEUP PROCEDURES

MILL END The mill end of DWC/C couplings is made to a position mark placed on both the mill-end side of the coupling and the mill-end pin. This precise makeup monitors not only the location of the coupling in the axial direction, but also the rotational position of the coupling. This is done to assure a very accurate mill-end pin position in order to obtain a proper field-end makeup. FIELD END The field-end makeup of DWC/C is very similar to a connection that has a torque shoulder. With the mill-end pin accurately positioned, the field-end pin nose shoulders against the mill-end pin nose in the a specified makeup torque. When running a torque-turn system, the graph will be very similar to a premium connection. This eliminates the need to monitor a makeup mark on location.
Ref 20 Max 5200

TYPICAL FIELD-END MAKEUP GRAPH

(ft-lbs)

Max 3314

SHOULDER

TORQUE

center of the coupling to

SHOULDER

TURNS
Applied Torque = 5243 Top Turns = 2.738 Shoulder Torque = 3314 Shoulder Tns = 2.629 Delta Turns = 0.109 Delta Torque = 1929 Top Delta Rate = 17697

5.000

TESTING
With the introduction of fatigue requirements on a casing connection, fatigue-life criteria had to be developed. An acceptable fatigue life at different stress levels was obtained to establish a target for testing. A stress vs. number of cycles curve (S-N curve) was used to define the design window. Once a design envelope was developed, the DWC design criteria was validated by the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and physical testing. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS (FEA) Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed on 4 1/2 in-OD, 11.60 lb/ft, J-55 DWC/C to verify the fatigue resistance of the connection. The connection geometry was meshed to create the computer model used in the FEA. Pure axial tension was applied to the ends of the model for mean stress and ramped up in steps to the final load. The maximum principle stresses for the nodes in the thread root radii and the maximum stress points were used to determine the stress concentration factor (SCF). The SCF was calculated for every nodal point along every pin and box root radius for each load step. The maximum SCF was found in the pin imperfect thread area, where a fatigue failure would be expected. TORQUE-TO-FAILURE Torque-to-failure testing was also conducted on the DWC/C and DWC/U connections to verify the torsional limits of the connection. The connections makeup procedure and then torque was applied until significant yielding was visible on the torqueturn graph. The yield torque values were compared to the theoretical yield values.
5790 Shoulder

TORQUE-TO-FAILURE
Max 15000

TORQUE (ft-lbs)

were made up per the

Yield Torque

TURNS
Applied Torque = 11081 Top Turns = 0.340 Yield Torque = 5790 Yield Tns = 0.079 Delta Turns = 0.261 Delta Torque = 5291 Top Delta Rate = 20272

0.500

0 0 0 0

PHYSICAL FATIGUE TESTING Physical fatigue testing was conducted on 4 1/2-in, 11.60 ppf, J-55, DWC/C and DWC/U connections. All of the fatigue samples were tested to sample failure resulting is a fatigue crack or an empirical infinite life. The fatigue testing was conducted using two different types of fatigue machines, a rotary, four-point fatigue machine and a resonant fatigue machine. The rotary, four-point fatigue machine has a more constant bending moment but is very slow because the pipe rotates during testing at a few hundred RPM. The resonant fatigue machine induces a vibration on the sample to obtain similar loads as the other fatigue machine but operates at a much faster pace, approximately 2428 Hz. This reduces the testing time from days to hours. Similar results were obtained from both of the testing apparatuses. All fatigue cracks were in the pincritical area or on the pipe body at a field induced stress point away from the connection (e.g. tong marks). The physical testing correlates with the findings of the FEA.

MOTOR ROTATABLE ECCENTRIC MASS ROLLERS

MOTOR

EXTENSIOMETER

CYLINDER

RESONANT FATIGUE MACHINE

ROTARY, FOUR-POINT FATIGUE MACHINE

DWC/C Fatigue Test Pin Failure

CORPORATE OFFICE
Grant Prideco, Inc. 1330 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 2700 Houston, Texas 77056 USA 832.681.8000 Tubular Technology and Services 1450 Lake Robbins Drive, Suite 500 The Woodlands, Texas 77380 USA 281.297.8625 Fax: 281.297.8925

www.grantprideco.com/dwc
Grant Prideco has produced this brochure for general information only and it is not intended for design purposes. Although every effort has been made to maintain the accuracy and reliability of its contents, Grant Prideco in no way assumes responsibility of liability for any loss, damage or injury resulting from the use of information and data herein. All applications for the material described are at the user's risk and are the user's responsibility. Grant Prideco is a registered trademark of Grant Prideco, L.P. DWC, DWC/C, DWC/C-SR, DWC/DS, DWC/DS-SR, DWC/U and DWC/U-SR are trademarks of Grant Prideco, L.P. TEFLON is a registered trademark of DuPont de Nemours and Company, Inc.

DWC
TUBULAR TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES
2003 Grant Prideco. All rights reserved. TTS-DWC-10.03-5M-FMC

TM