Coupler Compliance Tuning for Well Perforating Shock Mitigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current shock models for well perforating are inadequate in predicting axial, bending, and torsional stresses in perforating strings, lacking accurate measurements of strains, loads, stresses, pressures, and accelerations, which hinders the design of robust perforating string components and prevents damage to equipment.
Innovation Solution
A method that uses a three-dimensional shock model to predict perforating effects, incorporating compliance curves for couplers optimized by the model, and employs shock sensing tools to measure actual loads and accelerations, allowing for precise calibration and refinement of the model to improve design accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional shock models are used for perforating predictions, then general perforating effects can be estimated, but they cannot predict axial, bending, and torsional stresses accurately in three-dimensional structures
Solution Approach 1:
The shock model is segmented into multiple specialized components: axial shock prediction module, bending shock prediction module, and torsional shock prediction module. Each module handles a specific type of stress independently, allowing accurate prediction of all three stress types while maintaining manageable model complexity through modular architecture.
2Length of moving object
If perforating string length is increased to reach deeper wells, then enhanced production from deeper wells is achieved, but shock effects and stresses on the perforating string increase
Solution Approach 1:
The model transitions from traditional one-dimensional axial shock analysis to three-dimensional shock analysis by incorporating bending and torsional stress components. This dimensional expansion allows accurate prediction of complex stress states in long perforating strings subjected to multi-directional shock loads during perforating operations.
3Power
If explosive loading is increased to achieve enhanced production, then perforating effectiveness improves, but shock transmitted to equipment above the packer increases and can cause damage
Solution Approach 1:
The model incorporates dynamic parameter changes by analyzing how shock characteristics evolve during the perforating process. It predicts time-varying axial, bending, and torsional stress parameters, enabling assessment of peak shock loads transmitted to equipment above the packer and optimization of explosive loading parameters to minimize harmful shock transmission.
4Reliability
If satisfactory measurements of strains, loads, stresses, pressures, and accelerations are obtained, then shock model verification and refinement is enabled, but measurement complexity and difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The shock model serves multiple functions: it predicts axial stresses, bending stresses, and torsional stresses simultaneously; it can be applied to various perforating string configurations and well conditions; and it provides a unified framework for model verification using measurement data from different sources, reducing the overall complexity of the verification process.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of mitigating perforating effects produced by well perforating can include causing a shock model to predict perforating effects for a proposed perforating string, optimizing a compliance curve of at least one proposed coupler, thereby mitigating the perforating effects for the proposed perforating string, and providing at least one actual coupler having substantially the same compliance curve as the proposed coupler. A well system can comprise a perforating string including at least one perforating gun and multiple couplers, each of the couplers having a compliance curve, and at least two of the compliance curves being different from each other. A method of mitigating perforating effects produced by well perforating can include interconnecting multiple couplers spaced apart in a perforating string, each of the couplers having a compliance curve, and selecting the compliance curves based on predictions by a shock model of shock generated by the perforating string.