A multi-scale approach to characterize and analyze the effect of temperature and pressure on the life well integrity of oil well cements

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The oil and gas production plays a major role in the North American energy resources as shown by the number of hydrocarbon boreholes which has been increasing impressively in the last 10 years. Well cements is a critical aspect of a well for 3 reasons: (1) provide hydraulic isolation between various water, gas, and oil bearing formations within the wellbore; (2) provide adequate support for the casing (e.g., cracking, buckling prevention, etc.); (3) provide external casing corrosion protection. Well cements can have complex mix designs to withstand severe conditions in term of temperature and pressure. The physical and chemical behaviour of well cements changes significantly at high temperature and pressure. Furthermore, temperature and pressure affect the mechanical properties (e.g., viscosity and toughness) which govern the risk of cracking. Unfortunately, the data available in open literature on the effect of temperature and pressure on the behaviour of oil well cements is quite limited. By bringing together international experts, the proposed research project will employ an innovative and comprehensive approach based on multi-scale techniques to achieve the following objectives: (1) To characterize the effect of temperature and pressure on the behaviour of well cements; (2) To better understand the effect of temperatures and pressures on the durability of well cements employed in Canada;(3) To develop an engineering model for assessing the long term durability of well cement sheaths; (4) To set-up a new test methodology for automatically characterizing mechanical and chemical properties of the microstructure of a cement paste. By improving the current knowledge on oil well cements, the project will: (i) advance the current practise for well cement sheaths; (ii) reduce the risk of water contamination; (iii) improve the preservation of the Canadian environment and resources.