Shearable Landing Collar for Cement Displacement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cementing operations in the drilling and completion industry face challenges in efficiently landing and removing wiper plugs, which can hinder rapid and complete cement displacement and circulation, leading to suboptimal well completion and increased drillout times.
Innovation Solution
A shearable landing collar with a tubular body and a longitudinally extending main flow path, featuring a shearable liner wiper plug landing seat and a ball seat assembly, allows for fluid communication to be established by increasing pressure, enabling the wiper plug to be landed and then sheared, facilitating the bypassing of plugs for continued cement displacement and circulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a traditional landing collar with a fixed landing seat is used, then the wiper plug can be landed and supported, but the plug and seat must be drilled out after cementing, increasing drillout time and operational complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The landing seat is designed with a yield strength parameter that is intentionally lowered through material selection and geometric design (thin-walled structure) so that it yields at a predetermined low pressure threshold during cementing operations, eliminating the need for subsequent drillout operations and reducing operational time
Solution Approach 2:
The landing seat is designed as a single-use, sacrificial component that is discarded after serving its temporary purpose of supporting the wiper plug during cementing. The yieldable structure is intentionally designed to fail at low pressure, creating a disposable component that eliminates the need for time-consuming drillout operations
2Productivity
If pressure is increased to shear the landing seat for fluid communication, then cement displacement is completed efficiently, but the structural integrity of the collar is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The landing seat is designed with non-uniform wall thickness, being thinner at critical locations where yielding is desired, while other portions of the collar maintain full structural strength. This localized weakness allows pressure-activated shearing at the landing seat without compromising the overall structural integrity of the collar body
3Ease of operation
If a shearable landing seat is used to enable fluid communication, then plug bypassing is facilitated, but the device complexity increases due to the yieldable structure design
Solution Approach 1:
The landing seat is designed to automatically yield and open fluid communication pathways when a predetermined pressure threshold is reached during cementing operations. This self-activating mechanism eliminates the need for external control systems, complex actuation mechanisms, or manual intervention, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining ease of operation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables rapid and complete cement displacement, allowing for a wet shoe completion without initial drillout of plugs, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing completion time by maintaining fluid communication through the sheared landing seat and flow channels.
Implementation Method 1
increasing pressure within the landing collar to shear the landing seat
Implementation Method 2
increasing pressure within the landing collar to shear the landing seat; establishing fluid communication from uphole the landing seat to downhole the landing seat via a fluid communication path between the landing seat and the body
Data Source
AI summary
A landing collar includes a tubular body having a longitudinally extending main flow path; and, a shearable liner wiper plug landing seat installed within the body and configured to receive a liner wiper plug in an unsheared condition of the landing seat. The landing seat movable in a downhole direction within the body in a sheared condition of the landing seat. The landing seat including at least one radial fluid communication passageway through a wall of the landing seat; wherein, in the sheared condition of the landing seat. The fluid communication passageway of the landing seat is in fluid communication with a fluid communication path between the tubular body and the landing seat. A method of completing a cemented liner with a wet shoe.