Advanced Drilling Engineering

4 Buckling and Bending of Drill String

4.1 Introduction
Tubular string buckling is an important issue in drilling engineering. Buckling makes the initially
straight tubular string buckle into curved shapes, which is an important reason for the well
deviation problem. Buckling can also increase both bending stress on the tubular string and the
contact force between the tubular string and the wellbore, which may further lead to serious
down-hole problems such as tubular string failure, casing wear, hard slack off, or even ‘‘lock up.’
Tubular buckling is a challenge that could occur when drilling activities takes place, thereby
making it difficult to carry out well completion and workover operations.

Pipe buckling is defined as a form of instability which causes the pipe or tubing to lose some of
its strength and mechanical properties as a result of too much weight or torque on the drilling
bit.

The major concern when drilling a well is how to follow the well planning program in order to
carry out a safe, usable and economic operation. For the well to be usable, it must be stable and
problem free. One of the integral components of a drilling rig is the drillstring, which is composed
of drill pipe, drill collars, bottom hole assembly and other accessories, the stability of which
determines if the concern of the well planner will be successful or not. Excess loads acting on the
drillstring render it unstable and result in buckling, when a critical force is exceeded. When a
tubular string buckles, it will acquire a curved shape.

Buckling can be caused by moments while the tension created is caused by stress. In most drilling
literature, the buckling tendency is usually given as the sum of all the moments acting in a
particular location within the tubing. It can also be referred to as the effective tension or fictitious
force. Some factors which may create buckles in oil tubular include: Temperature; Surface
pressures; Fluid densities; Slack off and Evacuations. Other factors that could affect buckling
include the angle of inclination and radial clearance between the borehole and pipe.

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4.2 Determination of the neutral point

When the drillstring is lowered into the borehole, the total length of the drillstring is under
tension due to its own weight which is partly counterbalanced by the buoyancy. To drill a well,
the rock beneath the bit has to be destroyed. Part of this destruction force is obtained by a certain
amount of weight on bit (WOB) which forces the bit against the rock. Therefore, during drilling,
the lower part of the drill string is set under compression, leaving the upper part of it still under
tension.

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Thus, the minimum length of drill collars required to eliminate the tendency of drill string to
buckle are as follows:
In air:

Where, WOB is weight on bit in lbf, Wdc is weight of drill collar lbf/ft.

The effect of buoyancy on buckling should also be considered when drilling with a liquid fluid.
The concept of Stability Force (Fs) is then introduced to include the effect of buoyancy on
buckling. This is the force due to pressure Pi inside the pipe and pressure Po outside the pipe.
The Fs is then defined as:

Where Ai is the cross-sectional area computed using inside pipe diameter, di, and Ao is the cross-
sectional area computed using the outside diameter, do.

Considering the fluids in the column of the borehole, the effective weight of the drill collars in
the fluids must be used instead of the weight in air. The minimum length in this instance is thus
computed as follows:

Where Wdce is the effective wight of drill collar in mud/fluid and is given by:

Therefore,

Where rhof is the mud density in lbm/gal, rhos is the steel density – given as 65.5 lbm/gal or 490
lbm/cu ft.

4.3 Worked Example:

A maximum bit weight of 68,000 lbf is anticipated in the next section of hole, which starts at a
depth of 10,600ft. The drill collars have an internal diameter of 3 in and an external diameter of
8 in and the mud density of 15 lbm/gal. Compute the minimum length of the drill collars required
to prevent a buckling tendency from occurring in the 19.5 lbf/ft drill pipe. The drill pipe has an
internal diameter of 4.0206 in and an external diameter of 5 in. Calculate also, the stability force
at the top and bottom of the drill collars. Evaluate the stability force at the bottom of the drill
pipe.

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Take the hydrostatic pressure at the top and bottom of the drill collars as 7,800 and 8,268 psig
respectively. Assume the density of the steel to be 65.5 lbm/ft or 490 lbm/cuft. 1sq. ft = 144 sq.
in. Safety factor of 1.3.

Solution
Recall that:

1. The weight by foot of drilling collars is given by:

The effective weight per foot in the mud is given by:

Substituting the values of each parameter into the above equation yields;

The minimum length of drill collars required for a WOB of 68,000 lbf is given by:

In actuality, a correction factor is always applied to cater for shortfalls and increase the length to
a confident level. Therefore, the acceptable length is practice is:

2. The stability force at the bottom of the collars is

Substituting the values of each parameter into the equation;

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3. The stability force at the top of the collars is

4. The stability force at the bottom of the drill pipe is

4.4 Types of buckling

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4.5 Prevention/Reduction of buckling

There are numerous design options to prevent or reduce buckling problems. Some of the most
common methods are described below.
4.5.1 Well path design
The well path is a compilation of many differing objectives (i.e., collision avoidance, wellbore
stability, target alignment, etc.). However, there may be scope to reduce buckling problems by
designing the well path with buckling in mind. Options include different build or turn rates in the
lower build section for a horizontal well, or varying the casing points or liner tops.

4.5.2 Drill Pipe Size and Stiffness

The most common method of managing buckling is to place Heavy Weight Drill Pipes (HWDP) at
strategically located intervals in the drillstring. This method was originally developed for use in
conventional horizontal wells. While still quite effective in ERD wells, there are distinct
disadvantages of relying on these methods for ERD applications. On a conventional vertical-to-
horizontal well, the HWDP does not contribute significantly to increased torque and drag.
Furthermore, hydraulics are not usually a limitation on vertical wells. Because of this, HWDP can
be used quite easily to prevent buckling (shown below).

However, on an ERD well, the HWDP will be placed in a high angle section of the well, and
therefore results in significantly more torque and drag, while also increasing surface pump
pressures. As such, the use of HWDP is less appropriate on ERD wells if there are torque, drag or

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surface pressure limitations. It is preferable to keep the drillstring as stiff as possible without
increasing its weight significantly.

This can often be accomplished by increasing the size of the pipe that is being used. The use of
51⁄2”, 57⁄8” and 65⁄8” drill pipe for improved hydraulics and buckling performance is common
in ERD applications. The use of Non-rotating Drill pipe Protectors is also a common practice to
prevent buckling by stiffening the existing drill string at strategic locations.

Increasing the diameter of the tubular improves buckling performance because the pipe stiffness
is a function of the radius to the power of four. That is,

This explains why 4” drill pipe is significantly better for buckling compared to 31⁄2” drill pipe, and
why 65/8” drill pipe and casing are basically immune to buckling.
The use of larger pipe, to avoid buckling, needs to consider the possible increase in ECD’s. This is
especially important on very shallow ERD wells.

4.5.2.1 3 Special Downhole Tools to Improve Drill pipe Stiffness

There are several specialized downhole tools that can stiffen drill pipe. Most of these items
require some planning since they are relatively expensive and usually must be ordered in
advance. There are also drillstring management issues, and in some cases, there are also other
risks that must be considered.

Bladed Drill pipe - Integral bladed-drill pipe (or spiralled drill pipe) will improve pipe stiffness
without significantly increasing weight. This drill pipe will also aid hole cleaning, while being more
resistant to buckling.
Non-Rotating Drill Pipe Protectors / Roller Bearing Subs - Non-Rotating Drill Pipe Protectors
(NRDPP’s) or Roller Bearing Subs (RBS) can be used to stiffen the drill pipe without increasing
drag, (drag will increase while running through build section only) while also reducing torque.
While effective at preventing buckling, there are obvious cost and drillstring management issues
involved with these tools. Further, there is some risk of losing at least some of these downhole if
improperly applied. In general, these tools have been found to be quite sturdy and reliable, but
experience has shown that you cannot afford to take shortcuts with the quantity or type of tools
required. The side-load forces must be modelled and sufficient quantities of these tools applied.
The increased ECD’s that will result from the application of these tools must also be considered.

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Roller Centralizers for Casing and Completions - “Roller” centralizers can be added to a casing or
completion string if buckling is a problem. These minimize buckling by reducing the overall drag
on the string (effectively reducing the slack-off friction factor as well as stiffening the string).
These centralizers can be used on casing, conventional jointed tubing or coiled tubing.

4.5.3 Rotation and Flotation

The best defence against pipe buckling is to preserve the ability to rotate. This applies to drilling
as well as running of liners and casing (floated). This cannot, generally, be applied to coiled tubing
or conventional completion programs.

Rotary Steerable tools (RST’s) are helping to overcome many of the drilling problems seen with
buckling when using steerable motors.

When running liners, premium high torque connections are available that allow rotation while
running in the hole and during cementing operations. Roller centralizers can also be used that
allow significant reduction of both torque and drag.
Another option to limit buckling with casing and liners is flotation. By floating the string, the
weight is significantly reduced, which results in much lower drag. However, under the right
conditions, flotation may also result in increased buckling, as the casing will have less buckling
resistance when its weight is lower. Where possible, the ability to rotate should always be
designed in as a contingency on a difficult casing run.