Swelling Elastomers and Tubular Expansion—Numerical Investigation

Abstract

Swell packers were initially used for repair of old and damaged wells, but they are now increasingly used for higher productivity and profitability through developments like slim well design and reduced-cement or cementless completions. Solid expandable tubular (SET) technology has gained popularity in the petroleum development industry as it can reduce well costs and improve well performance. A conical mandrel is pushed or pulled through a petroleum tubular, either hydraulically or mechanically, to expand it (in-situ) to the desired diameter. In SET applications such as water shutoff and zonal isolation, swelling elastomers are an obvious choice as a sealing material. For proper downhole deployment of swell packers in SET applications, it is important to have a good idea about their behavior under a given set of field conditions. Design and manufacturing of SET applications using swelling elastomers as sealing elements also needs some sort of seal performance analysis.