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Ndeh, Akumah Ndeh-Ngwa

University of British Columbia

Primary cementing is a critical process in the construction of which entails the placement of a cement slurry into the annulus formed by the steel casing and the rock formation. The placed cement sheath serves a multitude of purposes, including structural support, zonal isolation, and well integrity. Many issues can cause failure during primary cementing, so the pre-cement job planning has to account for these by: developing a good centralization program, a good mud removal plan, proper fluid (cement and others) design, and the use of relevant computer simulators. Cement job failure comes with consequences such as environmental damage from leakage of greenhouse gases and zonal communication as a result of poor bonding, which is ultimately costly for stakeholders. Existing software solutions in the market for simulating the primary cementing process come with a huge financial wall, making it accessible only to a select few. Interest parties who cannot afford them ignore design elements, which may lead to poor cement jobs and increase the chances of integrity failure. Added to these accessibility issues, the models used in existing software solutions are, for the most part, unknown and in some cases do not accurately represent the realities that occur downhole. Also, some of these software solutions come with a steep learning curve as their interfaces are not intuitive enough for the average person. Over the past two decades, the Complex Fluids Research Group at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has developed advanced mathematical and computational models to simulate the process of fluid placement in annuli, matched with extensive laboratory-scale experiments. These models account for the complex displacement of Newtonian/non-Newtonian fluids in inclined, non-concentric, narrow annuli as well as in pipes. These have employed rheological fluid models in 1D, 2D, and 3D simulations. This thesis focuses on the amalgamation of these cutting-edge prediction models into a market-standard computer simulator for primary cementing. The resulting simulator, built for researchers, field engineers, and cement job designers, also takes into account the human need for the visually appealing and ease of use.

Text

2025-05-02

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90988

Mechanical Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/