Abstract
A heavy weight drill pipe (HWDP) was twisted-off and parted during drilling in an Egyptian oil well at depth of 1240 m. Failure investigation has been carried out to identify the root cause of the HWDP failure. Detailed failure investigation was performed including thorough visual examination, elemental chemical analysis, hardness testing, microstructural characterization using light optical microscope (LOM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) fractography and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) of the failed specimens to reveal the nature of failure. The results showed that the failure mechanism of the HWDP was corrosion fatigue cracking initiating mainly at the carbon steel pipe inner surface. The failure was attributed to exposure to cyclic stresses caused by drillstring vibration; high stress concentration points in the HWDP body configuration at the upset transition area and the low toughness of the inhomogeneous microstructure at the interface of the friction welding thermomechanically affected zone and the carbon steel pipe.
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