Abstract：

　　Generally, deep-water drilling procedures include four main steps: jetting installation operations for the deep-water conductor, drilling operations for surface casings under the mudline, installation operations of marine drilling risers and blowout preventers (BOP), and subsequent drilling operations. These involve three kinds of tubular strings; deep-water conductor, marine drilling riser and landing string. The tubular mechanics in deep-water drilling are complex and different from those in onshore and shallow offshore drilling and they have a strong impact on the safety and efficiency of drilling operations. Therefore, it is of great significance to study tubular mechanics and design control techniques to improve deep-water drilling performance and efficiency. The conductor jetting operations are used to meet the special requirements of deep-water drilling. It is the first step of well construction in deep-water drilling aimed to establish a stable subsea wellhead for the subsequent drilling operations. The deep-water conductor and landing string are indispensable during conductor jetting operations. In order to maintain the subsea wellhead stability, it is necessary to study the landing string mechanics and the bearing capacity of deep-water conductors by analyzing the subsea soil-pipe interaction. This can help realize the engineering goals of the conductor jetting operation. In this paper, progress in the design strength and checking of the landing string, the jetting operation process and the bearing capacity of deep-water conductors are reviewed and predicted from two aspects: technical research & development and engineering applications. Further studies of conductor jetting operations should be focused on the driving depth and the bearing capacity of deep-water conductors under some extreme working conditions, parameter optimization, risk assessment and reliability prediction, and simulation experiments. The marine drilling riser is the important connection between the subsea wellhead and the floating drilling platform. It plays an irreplaceable role in providing the channel for the drilling fluid, supporting auxiliary pipelines, guiding the drilling tools, installing and retrieving the BOP stack, etc. The drilling riser is involved in three main operation processes during deep-water drilling: installation, normal drilling and emergency disconnection and evacuation. Due to the dynamic effects of wave and current forces, the riser shows complex mechanical behavior, such as axial tension, lateral bending and coupled vibrations, which bring huge challenges for safe operations. Thus, riser mechanics is one of the key issues considered in deep-water drilling. Some mechanical characteristics to drilling risers, such as top tension control, lateral deformation and dynamic characteristics, longitudinal dynamic characteristics, coupled dynamic characteristics and vortex-induced vibration (VIV) are illustrated in this paper. Some problems still exist in loading calculations, control equations and boundary conditions. Methods for deriving solutions are also presented. In the future, research into the analysis and prediction of marine drilling riser installation windows, VIV response and prevention measures, fatigue life evaluation and simulation experiments should be undertaken to improve marine riser design. To ensure oil and gas well integrity in deep-water conditions, it is necessary to do more research to prevent shallow flow invasion and casing failure, to improve the cementing quality. In this paper, research progress in the prediction and prevention of damage to deep-water wells is reviewed from the following aspects: temperature distribution, annular pressure and stress distribution. Issues include unsteady heat transfer from the formation, circulating temperature distribution of the well annulus, additional load caused by heating expansion of fluids in the sealed annulus and its precautionary approaches, annulus pressures in multilayer casing strings and thermal-mechanical coupled response of the casing-cement-formation. Future research should be focused on the corresponding design optimization methods for well structures and casing strings, well integrity risk assessment and control techniques with consideration of the special processes and working conditions in deep-water drilling. It is necessary to carry out tubular mechanics simulation experiments to obtain valid data for improving research into tubular mechanics and design control techniques in deep-water drilling. A deep-water tubular mechanics experimental facility has been built by China University of Petroleum, Beijing. It is introduced in detail by describing the structural compositions, operating methods, technical parameters and main functions, etc. Simultaneously, some marine drilling riser mechanics experiments and fatigue life testing are presented in this paper. This review is intended to guide future research on tubular mechanics and design control techniques for deep-water drilling.

Key words： deep-water drilling tubular mechanics design control techniques deep-water conductor marine drilling riser

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Cite this article：GAO Deli,WANG Yanbin. Progress in tubular mechanics and design control techniques for deep-water drilling[J]. 石油科学通报, 2016, 1(1): 61-80.

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