Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

Design and study of gas-tight premium threads for tubing and casing
Fen Cui a,b, Weijun Li a, Guozheng Wang a,b, Zhaolin Gu a, Zanshe Wang a,n
a
School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, No. 28, Xianning West Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, China
b
Tuha Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Hami 839000, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Two premium threaded connections with buttress threads and torque shoulders are established in this
Received 6 November 2013 paper. One premium threaded connection uses the taper difference fit model and the other uses the arc
Received in revised form and straight line fit model for the sealing surfaces of the pipe body and the collar body. 3D models are
6 June 2015
established to consider the frictional shear stress during the make-up process. The finite element ana-
Accepted 10 June 2015
lyses of the two connection models are performed to obtain the stress distribution and deformation-
Available online 19 June 2015
induced space variation on the connection models. In addition, the characteristics of the designed
Keywords: structures are analyzed and the tubing and casing make-up curves are deduced based on these char-
Premium thread acteristics. Finally, an experimental test with the arc and straight line fit model is carried out. As a result,
Gas-tight
the arc and straight line fit model shows good gas seal performance in the make-up and break-out
Make-up torque
operation tests. This study is expected to provide a theoretical guide to practical operations in China,
Finite element analysis
thereby reducing the damage probability of tubing and casing during make-up.
& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction in manufacturing, a clearance occurs not only between the tooth

Easily accessible oil and natural gas resources have been de-
creasing dramatically due to the continuous exploitation in recent
years. Many oilfields have entered a production stage involving the
exploitation of deep and ultra-deep wells. The operating condi-
tions in the deep and ultra-deep wells are extremely complex and
present great challenges for tubing and casing operations. The API
standard threads used for shallow well operations cannot meet the
requirements because of their defects in sealing property and
connection strength. Therefore, premium threaded tubing and
casing connections with better connection strength and sealing
property are in urgent need to ensure the safety operations of
downhole tubing and casing strings.
2. Defects of API standard threads
Tubing and casing are thread-connected as a string of several
hundred meters in length, and the thread connection is the
weakest link in the whole string. API standard threads are gen-
erally adopted in shallow wells; however, they have apparent
defects in sealing property and connection strength (Xu and Guo,
2012). Firstly, due to the thread profile and thread angle tolerances
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wangzs@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Z. Wang).
top and tooth bottom but also between the internal and external
guide surfaces and the bearing surfaces after thread engagement
(Fig. 1), leading to the formation of a spiral leakage channel;
therefore, API threads have no sealing ability (Xiaolei, 1997). The
clearance can be filled with thread sealing grease to ensure sealing
(Jiaoqi et al., 1997). In addition, the profile angle of API round
threads is 60° and the bearing surface angle of the tooth side is
30°. When threads are stressed, such a large bearing angle will
generate a large radial component force and cause external ex-
pansion of collar threads and internal shrinkage of tube threads.
As a result, the connection strength of the threads is only 60–75%
of that of the pipe body (Zhanghua et al., 2004). According to a
survey by American oil industry, failure in tubing or casing strings
connected with API threads is closely related to the connection
threads, and 86% of casing string failure and 55% of tubing string
failure occur at threaded connections (Weiner and True, 1969).
In recent years, petroleum companies have focused on how to
make a profit from petroleum development and on the subsequent
oil production. However, continuous merger and structural chan-
ges of large petroleum companies give rise to fierce competition in
the world petroleum industry (My and Kunishige, 2002). Large
oilfields all over the world are continuously producing oil and
natural gases and oil and gas resources are decreasing dramati-
cally; therefore, many oil and gas fields have entered a production
stage involving exploitation of deep and ultra-deep wells. These
wells are over 6000 m in depth (approximately 2000 m deeper

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2015.06.007
0920-4105/& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 1. Clearance in API threads. (a) Tooth top and bottom clearance caused by
thread profile tolerance. (b) Maximum clearance caused by thread angle tolerance.
than conventional oil wells), with an operation pressure over
60 MPa (nearly twice as high as that in conventional wells) and a
bottom hole temperature is 20–40 °C higher than that in con-
ventional wells. Under high pressures, sealing grease will be
squeezed out and round threads will lose its sealing property; at
high temperatures, sealing grease will be ablated and cause seal
failures. Therefore, this sort of grease sealing for API threads is no
longer applicable to operations in deep and ultra-deep wells. In
addition, the connection strength of standard API threads cannot
reach requirements for such complex operating conditions. To
realize effective sealing and prevent thread-off accidents, non-API
thread connections, i.e. premium threaded connections, have been
studied and adopted widely. Premium threaded connections are
high-end products for tubing and casing, mostly manufactured in
such countries as the United States, Germany and Japan. Only a
few types of premium threaded connections are produced in-
dependently in China and these connections have some problems
with reliability (Lianxin and Jiaoq, 2008), such as sealing surface
scuffing. For this reason, this paper is aimed to put forward some
design ideas for premium threads.
3. Existing premium connections on Chinese market
Currently, some common premium threaded connections on
Chinese market (Bai et al., 2011; Guan and Yang, 1999; Piao and
Zhang, 2006) are listed in Table 1, and their structure diagrams of
premium threaded connections are shown in Fig. 2.
As shown above, the common premium connections on Chi-
nese market are divided into two types according to the metal
sealing form, one sealing structure is by taper/taper, and the other
209
Table 1
The premium connections on Chinese market.
Connector Main sealing Torque should- Threads Manufacturers
surface er (deg)
TP-CQ Taper/taper 15 Improved TPCO
buttress
HSM-1 Taper/taper 15 Improved HYST
buttress
BGC Sphere/ 15 Improved BAOSTEEL
cylinder buttress
WSP-1 T Sphere/ 15 Improved WSP
cylinder buttress
is by sphere/cylinder. Under the load of make-up process, the
contact area is smaller in sphere/cylinder than that in taper/taper.
Although the gas-tight performance is well in sphere/cylinder, the
machining precision of cylinder surface is high and the main-
tenance is not convenient in the actual field.
In traditional premium connections, the sealing structure with
taper/taper is widely used in API standard threads, and improved
taper difference threads are used in premium threaded connec-
tions. The taper is usually 1:10 in taper/taper structure, the contact
area is large and the contact stress is uniform and small, however,
the contact stress changes violently under the load of make-up
process.
4. Design ideas for premium threads
Generally, a premium threaded connection consists of threaded
connection, metal seal and torque shoulder, as shown in Fig. 3. The
threaded connection is used for fixing, connection, and pre-tigh-
tening of the sealing surface and torque shoulder. The threaded
connection uses buttress threads, with a bearing angle about 3°
and a radial component force far smaller than that of standard API
round threads, which can effectively prevent thread-off accidents.
The metal seal is the primary sealing part, which is composed of
the same taper fit model along with a small transition arc in tube
body and a large transition arc in collar; however it often re-
presents a weak link in practical operations because of the local
plastic deformation. Fig. 4 shows the real pictures with local
plastic deformation which happened between the small transition
arc in tube body and the large transition arc in collar. In this paper,
two metal sealing structures are used for pipe body sealing surface
and collar sealing surface: (1) the taper difference fit model and
(2) the arc and straight line fit model, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6,
respectively. Comparative analysis is conducted between the two
models, with an aim to provide a theoretical guide to practical
operations in oilfields and to reduce the damage probability of
tubing and casing during make-up.
The taper difference fit model has a conical sealing surface at
the end of the pipe body on the external thread and one at the end
of the collar body on the internal thread. The two sealing surfaces
have a geometric taper difference of about 1.5° to help realize the
interference fit along the taper direction during make-up. The
interference fit with such a small taper difference can improve the
stress distribution on the conical sealing surfaces. Most im-
portantly, there is a transitional arc connection between the con-
ical sealing surface and the torque shoulder in both the tube body
and the collar body, and the diameter of the large arc in the tube
body is about 2–3 times larger than that of the small arc in the
collar body (Fig. 5). Due to the existence of the two transitional arc
connections, a deformation release space is formed between the
two arc areas to protect the conical sealing surfaces and ensure
effective sealing in the event of conical sealing surface
210 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217

Fig. 2. The common premium connections on Chinese market.

Fig. 3. Premium threaded connection.
deformation under complex operating conditions of deep wells.
The arc and straight line fit model has a convex arc-shaped
sealing surface at the end of the pipe body on the external thread
and a conical sealing surface at the end of the collar body on the
internal thread. In addition, the point of tangency where the
convex arc-shaped sealing surface touches the torque shoulder of
the pipe body is located at 2.5 mm below the point of tangency
where the small transition arc of the conical sealing surface of the
collar body touches the torque shoulder (Fig. 6). During the make-
up of the pipe body and the collar body, the convex arc-shaped
sealing surface and the conical sealing surface start with linear
contact and gradually realize interference fit. Meanwhile, two
geometric spaces are formed at the end of the pipe body on the
convex arc-shaped sealing surface and the conical sealing surface,
respectively. The two geometric spaces form a deformation release
space to protect the sealing surfaces and realize effective sealing in
the event of sealing surface deformation under complex operating
conditions of deep wells.
In these two models, two parallel reverse torque shoulders,
with an angle of 30° against the vertical direction, are built under
the sealing surfaces of the pipe body and the collar, respectively.
The reverse torque shoulders play roles in make-up torque control
and auxiliary sealing after make-up and they are under the largest
stress in the whole process of the premium threaded connection.
The main advantage of the designed premium threaded con-
nections lie in the introduction of the concept of the deformation
release space formed between the two sealing surfaces. In the
following section, the equivalent stresses exerted on the two fit
models during make-up are comparatively analyzed to prove the
effectiveness of the deformation release space in protecting seal-
ing surfaces and ensuring effective sealing.

Fig. 4. Local plastic deformation in metal seal.

 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 5. Taper difference fit model. (a) Taper difference fit. (b) Metal seal.
5. Finite element analysis
5.1. Establishment of finite element models
Because of manufacturing errors, it is difficult to determine the
specific causes for tubing and casing failure even if various strain
measuring instruments are used in a full scale test. Finite element
models present a solution to this issue since they are extremely
suitable for parameter analyses and can be used to accurately
predict connection failure loads and connection failure modes
(Dvorkin and Toscano, 2003).
Here, the diameter of the tubing is Ø73.03  5.51 mm2, the
tubing material is P110 steel, and the material properties are
shown in Table 2. According to the equivalent stress yield criterion,
an actual elastoplastic material can be assumed as an ideal elas-
toplastic material in analysis and calculation (Baragetti and Ter-
ranova, 2004); thus, the true stress and plastic strain of the ma-
terial are expressed by a linear reinforced elastoplastic model.
In the taper difference fit model, the angle between the sealing
surfaces of the pipe body and the collar is 1.5°, and the diameters
of the large and small arcs are 0.8 mm and 0.4 mm, respectively. In
the arc and straight line fit model, the diameter of the transitional
arc between the metal seal and torque shoulder is 2 mm.
Since both the fit models are symmetrical in structure, only one
side of the plane of symmetry is used for modeling, with sym-
metric constraint applied to the modeled plane of symmetry.
The finite element analyses of tubing and casing connections
have been reported in literature. The model is generally simplified
into a 2D axisymmetric model (Chen et al., 2011; Dvorkin et al.,
211
Fig. 6. Arc and straight line fit model. (b) Arc and straight line fit. (b) Metal seal.
Table 2
Properties of P110 Steel.
Modulus of elasti- Poisson’s ratio Yield strength Tensile strength
city (GPa) (MPa) (MPa)
200 0.3 800 862
1996; Lin et al., 2011), thereby greatly shortening the calculation
time; however, the friction shear stress during make-up is ne-
glected since torque cannot be applied on the 2D axisymmetric
model (Kwon et al., 1990; Liao et al., 2009; Pai and Hess, 2002; Van
Wittenberghe et al., 2010). In order to obtain more accurate cal-
culation results, 3D dynamic models are established and simplified
in this work, i.e., the impact of the lead angle is neglected because
the lead angle is normally as small as about 2°30′.
In order to analyze the stress distributions in the metal seal and
torque shoulder, nine sampling points were marked on the taper
difference fit model and seven sampling points on the arc and
straight line fit model, as shown in Fig. 7.
The established 3D models are imported into the workbench of
ANSYS for elasto-plastic static calculations, and then the spiral
motion of the pipe body during make-up is simulated by applying
torque and magnitude of interference to the two models.
5.2. Finite element analysis result interpretation
The make-up process is simulated by applying torque and
212 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 7. Sampling points. (a) Taper difference fit model. (b) Arc and straight line fit
model.
Fig. 8. Bilinear Isotropic Hardening Model.
magnitude of interference to the two models. In our simulations,
the casing is fixed and the symmetry constraints are applied at the
right end (collar); the pipe is constantly exerted by 1000 N m
torque and the magnitude of interference increases gradually to
reach the large-area yielding of the small end of pipe body. The
Bilinear Isotropic Hardening model is adopted in the elasto-plastic
simulations of the above two structures. Two parameters of yield
strength (800 MPa) and Tangent Modulus (1000 MPa) need to be
given in the simulations. The stress–strain curve of Bilinear Iso-
tropic Hardening model is shown in Fig. 8.
When the magnitude of interference of the sealing surface is
0.1 mm, the torque shoulders start to contact each other and both
Fig. 9. Stress distribution nephogram of the taper difference fit model at 0.1 mm
magnitude of interference of sealing surface. (For interpretation of the references to
color in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
models gain a magnitude of interference large enough to realize
auxiliary sealing. When the magnitude of interference is 0.2 mm,
large-area yielding occurs in the two models, especially in the
taper difference fit model where yielding occurs in such a large
area that the make-up and tensioning cannot be performed any
further. The situations at 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm magnitudes of in-
terference are highly representative of the make-up process. In the
following, the two situations are analyzed using nephograms of
the stress distribution.
During the make-up, the taper difference fit model starts with
the linear sealing. As illustrated in Fig. 9, at the magnitude of in-
terference of 0.1 mm, part of the stresses on the sealing line just
exceed the yielding limit 800 MPa, and yielding occurs. Most
stresses on the small end of the pipe body are in the scope of 500–
700 MPa, indicated as green and yellow in the figure. The de-
formation release space formed between the pipe body and the
collar arc area is still large and further make-up and tensioning can
be performed to ensure sufficient sealing strength.
As illustrated in Fig. 10, at the magnitude of interference of
0.2 mm, the stress is largely increased, when compared with that
at 0.1 mm magnitude of interference. In addition, large-area
yielding occurs at the small end of the pipe body and the stresses
are in the range of 750–850 MPa, as indicated by the orange color.
This is because the deformation release space formed between the
pipe body and the collar arc area has been jammed with the de-
formed sealing surface of the pipe body.
The comparisons are performed between the stresses on the
pipe body sealing surface, transition arc and torque shoulder of the
Fig. 10. Stress distribution nephogram of the taper difference fit model at 0.2 mm
magnitude of interference of the sealing surface. (For interpretation of the refer-
ences to color in this figure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 11. Comparison of the equivalent stresses on the taper difference fit model at
0.1 mm and 0.2 mm magnitudes of interference.
Fig. 12. Stress distribution nephogram of the arc and straight line fit model at
0.1 mm magnitude of interference of the sealing surface.
Fig. 13. Stress distribution nephogram of the arc and straight line fit model at
0.2 mm magnitude of interference of the sealing surface.
taper difference fit model at 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm magnitudes of
interference in Fig. 11, respectively. The points in Fig. 11 corre-
spond to the grid nodes shown in Fig. 7(a). During the make-up,
node 1 contacts with the casing firstly, forming the initial linear
sealing, then the torque shoulder gradually contacts with the
casing from node 9 extending to other nodes. Although the
equivalent stress on node 1 at 0.1 mm magnitudes of interference
213
Fig. 14. Comparison of equivalent stresses on the arc and straight line fit model at
0.1 mm and 0.2 mm magnitudes of interference.
Fig. 15. Make-up torque curve of the taper difference fit model.
Fig. 16. Make-up torque curve of the arc and straight line fit model.
reached the maximum, already exceeding the yielding strength
800 MPa, the equivalent stress on nodes 7–9 grows in the order
and the equivalent stress on transition arc (nodes 4 and 5) is also
larger relative to other neighboring nodes because of the tension
from both sides over the transition arc, all of them are not beyond
214 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217

Fig. 17. Gas seal test equipment (static conditions). (a) Test equipment with strain foil pasted. (b) Leakage detecting system. (c) Bubbles bottle used to detect sealability.

Table 3
Loading sequence.

Item Tensile load Camber Internal pressure Time (min)

(/kN) (°/30m) (MPa)

1 2140.5 0 0 5
2 1516.0 0 0 1
3 1516.0 0 56.9 30
4 1443.0 0 56.9 1
5 1443.0 3 56.9 30
6 1370.0 3 56.9 1
7 1370.0 6 56.9 30
8 1272.6 6 56.9 1
9 1272.6 10 56.9 30
10 1272.6 0 56.9 1

Table 4
Loading sequence of pressure and temperature.

Item Pressure (MPa) Temperature (°C) Time (min)

1 56.9 26.7 60
2 56.9 26.7 15
3 56.9 26.7 240
4 56.9 176.7 60
5 56.9 176.7 15
6 56.9 176.7 480
7 56.9 176.7 15
8 90.1 26.7 60
9 90.1 26.7 15
10 90.1 26.7 240
11 90.1 26.7 15
12 85.4 176.7 60
13 85.4 176.7 15
Fig. 18. Gas seal test equipment (tensile and bending states at high temperatures
14 85.4 176.7 480
and pressures).
15 85.4 176.7 15

on this point remains basically the same when the magnitude of

the yield strength. When the magnitude of interference reaches
0.2 mm, the stresses increase remarkably to over 800 MPa and
yielding occurs. In addition, the stresses on these nodes do not
increase at the same pace. However, when they increase to over
800 MPa, they stop increasing sharply. The initial sealing point
starts to yield at 0.1 mm magnitude of interference and the stress
interference reaches 0.2 mm. This is because the deformation re-
lease space reserved between the pipe body and the collar pro-
vides deformation space large enough for the plastically de-
formation part, so that the stress on these points will not increase
sharply. These analytic results agree well with the results shown
by the above nephograms.
 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 19. Hydraulic pressure failure test. (a) Hydraulic pressure blasting system.
(b) Failure test result.
Fig. 20. Anti-galling performance test.
When the arc and straight line fit model has a large arc of
1.6 mm in radius as the pipe body sealing surface, the initial
sealing is face sealing and the pipe body sealing surface does not
yield at 0.1 mm magnitude of interference of the pipe body sealing
surface and the collar sealing surface, as shown in Fig. 12.
At 0.2 mm magnitude of interference of the pipe body sealing
215
surface and the collar sealing surface, most stresses on the small
end of the pipe body are in the orange area. Yielding occurs only
on a small part of the area near the torque shoulder where the
stresses exceed 800 MPa. The stresses on other parts near the
torque shoulder are around 780 MPa. In addition, the arc and
straight line fit model has a larger advantage over the taper dif-
ference fit model in that the deformation release space formed at
0.2 mm magnitude of interference between its pipe body and
collar is still large enough for further make-up and tensioning,
thereby ensuring sufficient sealing strength and connection
strength, as shown in Fig. 13.
In addition, the maximum equivalent stress at 0.1 mm magni-
tude of interference is larger than that at 0.2 mm magnitude of
interference for both the arc and straight line fit model and the
taper difference fit model. The reason is that less magnitude of
interference produces less contact area between the small end of
the pipe body and the casing, and this deformation effect dom-
inates, resulting in the maximum equivalent stress not increasing
with the magnitude of interference.
Fig. 14 shows the comparison of the stresses on the pipe body
sealing surface, transition arc and torque shoulder of the arc and
straight line fit model at 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm magnitudes of in-
terference, respectively. The points in Fig. 14 correspond to the
grid nodes shown in Fig. 7(b). During the make-up, node 2 con-
tacts with casing firstly then torque shoulder contacts with casing
from node 7 extending to other nodes. The equivalent stress on
nodes 2, 4 and 7 at 0.1 mm magnitude of interference is larger
relative to other nodes, especially the large equivalent stress on
node 4 results from the tension of both sides over the transition
arc, nevertheless, the equivalent stress on nodes 2, 4 and 7 is not
beyond the yield strength 800 MPa. When the magnitude of in-
terference reaches 0.2 mm, even the stresses on other nodes
(nodes 1, 3, 5, and 6) increase remarkably, the stresses on all nodes
are still under the yield strength.
The make-up process is simulated and calculations are made at
0.04 mm, 0.06 mm, 0.08 mm, 0.12 mm, 0.14 mm, 0.16 mm,
0.18 mm, 0.24 mm, 0.28 mm, 0.32 mm, 0.36 mm and 0.40 mm
magnitudes of interference in addition to 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm
magnitudes of interference. Based on the calculation results, the
features of the sealing state and the variation tendency of the
stresses during the make-up using the taper difference fit model
are shown as follows.
During the make-up process, the linear sealing is initially
achieved between the pipe body and the collar. When the mag-
nitude of interference is extremely small, the stress on the sealing
line exceeds 800 MPa and thus yielding occurs. As the magnitude
of interference is continuously increased, the linear sealing is
gradually changed into the face sealing of the taper difference
sealing surface the stresses on the sealing surfaces are also in-
creased accordingly. The stress on the initial sealing line is basi-
cally unchanged, even reduced to a certain degree. When the
magnitude of interference approaches 0.1 mm, the torque
shoulder begins to bear part of the stress and form two sealing
areas. When the magnitude of interference is further increased,
the small end of the pipe body begins to yield and the deformation
release space is continuously decreased. When the magnitude of
interference exceeds 0.2 mm, full-scale yielding of the small end of
the pipe body occurs and the deformation release space is reduced
to 0 and the make-up limit is reached.
The characteristics of the sealing state and stress variation of
the arc and straight line fit model are basically the same as those
of the taper difference fit model, except that the initial sealing of
the former is the face sealing. When the magnitude of interference
is extremely small, the stress on the sealing surface of the arc and
straight line fit model is also small and yielding does not occur. In
addition, the deformation release space of the arc and straight line
216 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 21. Result of anti-galling performance test.
fit model is far larger than that of the taper difference fit model.
When the magnitude of interference reaches 0.2 mm, the small
end of the pipe body does not yield in a large area and further
make-up and tensioning can be performed.
6. Make-up curves
The torque can be divided into friction torque and deformation
torque in any stage of the make-up process. In addition, the total
torque is mainly decided by the friction torque since the de-
formation torque is far smaller than the friction torque (Guangjie
et al., 2006). The friction torque is calculated by
TFR = ∑ ∫SK μσn r dS K
K (1)
where μ is the friction coefficient, sn is the normal stress on the
contact surface, N m 2, and r is the radius of all contact points, m.
The total friction torque, i.e. make-up torque, is calculated as the
sum of the friction torques on the torque shoulder and the sealing
surface.
The make-up torque curves of the taper difference fit model
and the arc and straight line fit model are shown in Figs. 15 and 16,
respectively. The taper difference fit model comes into plastic
deformation at 0.12 mm magnitude of interference and the max-
imum make-up torque is 10,100 N m, while the arc and straight
line fit model comes into plastic deformation at 0.10 mm magni-
tude of interference and the maximum make-up torque is
11,300 N m.
7. Experimental test
The arc and straight line fit model are chosen and manu-
factured for the experimental tests, the purpose of the experiment
is to detect the gas seal performance under different conditions
and the anti-galling performance.
7.1. Gas seal tests
The first test is the gas seal test performed under tensile load
conditions (Fig. 17). Three bi-directional strain gages are bound to
the pipe body at 120° angle intervals along the circumference di-
rection to measure the stress variation (Fig. 17a). The loading se-
quence is shown in Table 3. During the test, the bubbles bottle was
used to detect the sealability of the seal surfaces.
The test results show that no bubbles appear throughout the
experiment, which proves that the arc and straight line fit model is
qualified under tensile load conditions.
The second test is the gas seal test performed under high
temperature and high pressure conditions. The loading sequence
of pressures and temperatures is shown in Table 4. The test sample
is installed in the heating and pressure system, as shown in Fig. 18.
The bubbles bottle was used to detect the sealability of the seal
surfaces.
The test results show that no bubbles appear throughout the
experiment, which proves that the arc and straight line fit model is
qualified under the high temperature and high pressure
conditions.
The third test is the failure test under internal pressure con-
ditions. A hydraulic pressure blasting system, as shown in Fig. 19,
is used for the failure test. The water temperature is 26.7 °C, and
the failure pressure reaches 139 MPa, the fail-point is not observed
in the seal surface, but in the pipe body, as shown in Fig. 19b. The
failure pressure measured is higher than the yielding pressure of
the pipe body (87.1 MPa).
7.2. Anti-galling performance tests
In order to test the anti-galling performance of the sealing
surface, four samples are tested in the make-up and break-out
process under the maximum torque (Fig. 20). The make-up speed
is 5–10 rpm, the maximum torque is 11,500 N m and the minimum
torque is 9500 N m. All samples are tested twice, then the sealing
surface is checked to see whether or not scratches occur.
The test results show that no thread gluing is observed on the
sealing surface of all test samples (Fig. 21).
8. Conclusions
In order to study the potential applications of premium
threaded connection for the extremely complex operating condi-
tions of oil and natural gas exploration on Chinese market, two
premium threaded connection fit model, the taper difference fit
model and the arc and straight line fit model for the sealing sur-
faces of the pipe body and the collar body, are established in this
study, and analyzed by finite element analysis, then the experi-
mental test of the arc and straight line fit model are carried out to
detect the gas seal performance. The finite element analyses show
 F. Cui et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133 (2015) 208–217
that the arc and straight line fit model is to a large extent struc-
turally advantageous over the taper difference fit model in that the
deformation release space between its pipe body and collar is still
large enough for further make-up and tensioning. During the
make-up process, the taper difference fit model starts with the
linear sealing and, therefore, local yielding earlier than that in the
arc and straight line fit model. Due to the far larger deformation
release space formed in the arc and straight line fit model, full-
scale yielding of the small end of the pipe body occurs earlier in
the arc and straight line fit model than in the taper difference fit
model during make-up. After exceeding the yielding limit, P110
steel is not damaged immediately; instead, it enters a yielding
stage and experiences plastic deformation. In addition, the stress is
increased to a small extent and accordingly, the make-up torque
tends to increase linearly and then slowly. The maximum make-up
torque values show that the arc and straight line fit model is larger
(about 11,300 N m) than that in the taper difference fit model
(about 10,100 N m).
The experimental test with the arc and straight line fit model
are carried out, including the gas seal test performed under tensile
load conditions and under high temperature and high pressure
conditions, the failure test under internal pressure conditions, and
finally the anti-galling performance, the results show that gas seal
is always well in different conditions and no thread gluing
happens.
Acknowledgments
This project is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds
for the Central Universities (xjj2011066).
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