Model of Fracture Propagation in Hydraulic Isolation of the Wellbore

Abstract

A model of fracture initiation and propagation along the boundary of a cement plug and a steel casing in a plugged wellbore is proposed. The model allows predicting the conditions of hydraulic isolation failure of a cement plug induced by reservoir pressure. The model describes the stress state of the cement and it’s breakaway from the steel casing caused by the pressure of the pore fluid flowing into the fracture. Numerical experiments show that the fracture propagation velocity and the stability of the hydraulic isolation are sensitive to the reservoir pressure and to the prestressed state of the cement. It is shown also that the quality of cement adhesion to steel and the size of the initial cementing defects have little effect on the initiation conditions and fracture propagation velocity.