Effect of Hole on Oil Well Cement and Failure Mechanism: Application for Oil and Gas Wells

Cementing is an important operation in the drilling process. During the cementing process, mud cake, fracturing, perforation, and so on will cause holes in the cement sheath. Thereby, the size effect will reduce the cement strength, which will seriously affect the cementing quality. Several hole types were drilled to study the mechanical properties and damage mechanism of oil well cement. The stress distribution and failure process of cement containing a hole were studied using RFPA^2D software. The experimental and simulation results demonstrate that an internal hole has an obvious effect on the cement performance. The hole will change the cement bearing capacity and affect the fracture direction. Three crack types exist: tensile, shear, and far-field. Both 2 and 5 mm vertical eccentric holes can reduce the cement tensile stress. Furthermore, the specimen tensile strength decreases with an increase in the diameter of holes. Horizontal eccentric holes with diameters of 2 and 5 mm will increase the cement tensile strength. Among these, the sample L2-2 exhibits a long crack path, high energy consumption, and a remarkable enhancement effect.