Crisman Annual Report 2009 - Harold Vance Department of ...

A procedure to measure the viscosity of thread
compound was established and used to measure
the viscosities of three different samples of thread
compound at various temperatures. Viscosity values
are shown below:
The experiment known as the grooved plate method
can be carried out using the results from the tight
gas reservoirs as test parameters to identify leak
parameters of API round thread connections.
The slot flow approximation can be used as an
analytical method to reinforce experimental data
or be used instead of conducting lengthy and costly
experiments.
The data above was fitted to a function and
extrapolated to find the viscosity at the average
reservoir temperature found from the review of tight
gas projects. The viscosities of each of the thread
compounds at 256°F are shown below. These values
represent the expected viscosity of thread compound
in tight gas reservoirs.
The thread viscosities found above can be used
in conjunction with the slot flow approximation to
provide a means of finding a pressure gradient along
the grooves of the grooved plate used in the groove
plate method. This pressure gradient can be used to
simulated results by applying the pressure gradient
to determine leak pressure before the experiment
is actually conducted. This can be used as a check
of experimental results to validate experimental
procedure.
Future Work
The measurement of the viscosity of the thread
compound samples can be repeated using the
average temperatures, which can better represent
downhole conditions of tight gas wells.
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Crisman Annual Report 2009