Experimental study on the integrity of casing-cement sheath in shale gas wells under pressure and temperature cycle loading

Abstract

During large-scale multistage hydraulic fracturing in shale-gas wells, the cement sheath loses its integrity easily because of repeated temperature and pressure variations in the wellbore. This is likely to form a potential leak path, subsequently leading to the loss of zonal isolation and sustained casing pressure. To prevent such barrier failures, it is crucial to investigate and understand the failure mechanism of cement sheath. In this study, an experimental apparatus and evaluation method of the sealing integrity and mechanical integrity for casing-cement sheath under temperatures and pressures cycle loading have been presented in this paper by which sixteen groups of full-scale integrity tests of general and high-strength cement sheath have been conducted under temperature ranging from 30 to 150 °C and pressure ranging from 0 to 70 MPa cycling loading. The anti-channeling/sealing performance and interface mechanical behavior of casing-cement sheath are measured and characterized respectively under different loading-unloading methods. The cycle numbers required for sealing integrity failure of cement sheath under different cyclic temperatures and pressures have been obtained. The interface mechanical properties (cementing force, friction force, shearing strength and lateral bonding strength) of cement sheath have been obtained, and effects of alternating temperatures and pressures on those mechanical properties and late integrity have been analyzed. Research results can provide a very important reference for the fracturing design of shale-gas wells.