Gunnar Skúlason Kaldal
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland / ÍSOR – Iceland GeoSurvey, Reykjavík, Iceland
Magnus Thor Jonsson
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
Halldór Pálsson
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
Sigrún Nanna Karlsdóttir
Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
Download articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp17138391Published in: Proceedings of the 58th Conference on Simulation and Modelling (SIMS 58) Reykjavik, Iceland, September 25th – 27th, 2017
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 138:52, p. 391-398
Published: 2017-09-27
ISBN: 978-91-7685-417-4
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
With recent increasing interest in drilling deep geothermal wells in order to produce from higher
enthalpy heat sources than before, the strength of the casing becomes one of the most limiting
factors. Casing failures include collapse or partial collapse (bulges) and tensile ruptures if wells
are allowed to cool down or are killed by pumping water into them. Structural impact of large
temperature and pressure changes remains one of the challenges to be solved for utilization of
deep geothermal wells. Thermal expansion of materials, degradation of structural properties at
elevated temperatures, corrosion and cyclic loads are of particular concern as well as
determining how many thermal cycles casings can go through before failure occurs. A nonlinear
structural finite-element model of the cased section of high temperature geothermal well is
presented and discussed here. The purpose of the model is to evaluate the structural integrity of
casings when subjected to large temperature and pressure loads. The model can be used further
to evaluate well designs and material selections for deep geothermal wells.
Casings, structural analysis, finite-element method, thermal loads, deep drilling