Plastic Collapse Behaviors of Tubulars with Recess Patterns—Application in Hollow Carrier Perforating Guns

The collapse strength of tubulars with recess patterns machined into their walls is an important topic for oil field downhole tools, especially in hollow carrier perforating gun systems. This paper presents a study of the plastic collapse behavior of thick-walled tubulars (those with an outside diameter to thickness ratio of approximately ten) having different patterns of circular recesses (blind holes partially machined into the tubing wall) that are subjected to external pressure. An empirical relationship between the reduction in collapse strength and the periodic distribution of recesses was constructed to account for the weakening effects of recess diameter, recess depth, axial spacing, angular phasing, etc. This strength reduction factor was introduced into the Tamano formula to predict collapse strength of recessed tubulars. Applicability of this empirical formula was validated with the aid of nonlinear, postbuckling finite element analyses (FEA). The strength reduction factor in combination with the Tamano formula provides a simple way of parametrically predicting the collapse strength of tubulars having circular recess patterns.