A purpose-built finite-element model (FEM) is applied to simulate radial displacement of a casing string constrained within an outer wellbore. The FEM represents a fully stiff-string model wherein the casing is approximated by general-beam elements with six degrees of freedom at each node to account for all possible physical displacements and rotations. Results predicted include deflection of the casing centerline from the wellbore centerline, effective dogleg curvature, bending deformation, wall-contact forces, and bendingstress magnification. These results will provide for a more-accurate assessment of well integrity in terms of casing-stress safety factors and centralization before cementing, as well as more accurate prediction of running loads during the drilling phase.In critical-well-casing design, accurate assumptions regarding bending stiffness may be necessary to avoid overly conservative as well as nonconservative analysis. Challenging finite high-pressure/ high-temperature (HP/HT) and extreme-temperature wells are opportunities for increased design efficiency by avoiding overly conservative and costly designs, which can be crucial. Alternatively, design for extreme loads such as overpull loads in long deviated wells may be nonconservative if severe bending stresses are not considered.A realistic case study is presented that demonstrates the possibility to achieve cost efficiency by means of optimized casing design. A case study also is presented in which a nonconservative design may result if severe bending loads are not modeled. The purpose-built FEM code is in many ways preferable to the use of commercial finite-element-analysis (FEA) packages because of the time-consuming effort required to build up the detailed model.In typical casing and tubular-stress design, a soft-string model assumes casing strings are coincident with the wellbore centerline. The known or assumed wellbore curvature is applied directly to the casing string. Any effect of casing-string stiffness and allowable radial displacement within the outer wellbore is ignored. In many cases, this results in an overly conservative analysis. Likewise, the impact of bending-stress magnification is typically ignored, along with the effects of centralizer placement. This may also be nonconservative for critical overpull situations, such as in extended-reach-drilling (ERD) and horizontal wells.

A purpose-built finite-element model (FEM) is applied to simulate radial displacement of a casing string constrained within an outer wellbore. The FEM represents a fully stiff-string model wherein the casing is approximated by general beam elements with 6 degrees of freedom at each node to account for all possible physical displacements and rotations. Results predicted include deflection of the casing centerline from the wellbore centerline, effective dogleg curvature, bending deformation, wall contact forces, and bending stress magnification. In critical well casing design, accurate assumptions regarding bending stiffness may be necessary to avoid overly-conservative as well as non-conservative analysis. Challenging HPHT and extreme temperature wells are opportunities where increased design efficiency can be crucial. Alternatively, design for extreme loads such as overpull loads in long deviated wells may be non-conservative if severe bending stresses are not considered. A realistic case study is presented which demonstrates the possibility to achieve cost efficiency by means of optimized casing design. Also a case study is presented where a non-conservative design may result if severe bending loads are not modeled. The purpose-built FEM code is in many ways preferable to use of commercial FEA packages because of the timeconsuming effort required to build up the detailed model. In typical casing and tubular stress design, a "soft-string" model assumes casing strings are coincident with the wellbore centerline. The known or assumed wellbore curvature is applied directly to the casing string. Any effect of casing string stiffness and allowable radial displacement within the outer wellbore is ignored. In many cases this results in an overlyconservative analysis. Likewise the impact of bending stress magnification is typically ignored along with the effects of centralizer placement. This may also be non-conservative for critical overpull situations such as in ERD and horizontal wells.