In Situ Visualization of Swell Packer Failure
Benjamin Druecke (MIT), Nathan Wicks (Schlumberger), Elizabeth Dussan V. (), Agathe Robisson (Schlumberger), Anette Hosoi (MIT)
Engineering Mechanics and Materials in the Oilfield
Tue 10:45 - 12:15
Sayles 105
Swell packers are elastomeric oil field devices used as seals in oil and gas wells. They have recently found widespread use in multistage hydraulic fracturing due to their low cost and autonomous activation. Swell packers can support a finite differential pressure before leakage. There is difficulty in predicting this critical pressure due, in part, to an inability to observe packer behavior under load. A novel experimental device enabling visualization of a laboratory-scale swell packer under applied differential pressure up to the point of failure has been constructed. Experiments show that packer leakage is preceded by non-axisymmetric material failure and extrusion on the low-pressure end as well as large elastic deformation on the high pressure end.