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PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS

Cumulative Fatigue Damage of Drill Pipe in Dog-Legs


J. E. HANSFORD
A. LUBINSKI
MEMBER AIME

ABSTRACT
Rotating drill pipe passing through dog-legs suffers fatigue damage due to cyclic bending stresses. Curves of the
cumulative fatigue damage incurred in either steel or aluminum drill pipe going through such dog-legs are presented.
These curves provide means for properly planning the
rate of angle build-up in directionally drilled wells and allow discarding of drill pipe which has been fatigue-damaged in dog-legs.

INTRODUCTION
Drill pipe which is subjected to bending as it rotates, experiences a cyclically varying bending stress. If this bending stress is sufficiently large, the drill pipe is fatigue-damaged by each revolution, and ages as fatigue damage accumulates.
Drill pipe can be bent intentionally, as in the case of
directionally drilled holes, or unintentionally due to undesired changes in hole direction caused by variations in
formation properties, weight on bit, etc. These changes in
hole direction, whether intentional or unintentional, are
called dog-legs.
The theoretical limits of dog-legs which are permissible
before the drill pipe begins to fatigue can be calculated!
However, in wells where the maximum permissible dogleg is exceeded, the concept of cumulative fatigue damage
can be used to estimate damage suffered by the drill pipe.
This concept has already been used to estimate the cumulative fatigue damage of drill pipe due to drilling vessel
roll.' The purpose of this paper is to extend the usage of
the cumulative fatigue damage concept to drill pipe in doglegs, and to draw conclusions which may be beneficial in
preventing numerous frustrating and expensive drill pipe
failures.

PAN AMERICAN PETROLEUM CORP.


TULSA, OKLA.

der tension is the largest in the vicinity of the tool joint,'


3. Concept of why dog-leg severity which drill pipe can
withstand decreases with an increase in tension,' and
4. Definition of the rate of change of over-all hole
angle (dog-leg severity).'
Figs. 1 and 2 indicate the aging (fraction of life expended) of steel drill pipe passing through a gradual and
long dog-leg. Both figures have a left-hand ordinate scale
labled Length of Drill Pipe Below Dog-Legs. This scale can
be used for cases in which the drill collar weight is applied
to the bit and does not contribute to the tension in the
drill pipe. It can be used for either 31;2-, 41;2 - or 5-in.
drill pipe. This is due to the fact that, if the drill collars
do not contribute to the drill pipe tension, then the effect
of pipe tension on bending due to a change in pipe size is
nearly compensated for by a corresponding change in pipe
rigidity. On the other hand, if drill pipe is rotated off bottom, then drill collars contribute to the tension in the drill
pipe and this increase in tension is not compensated for. In
this case, one of the three right-hand ordinates must be
used (the one which corresponds to the correct drill pipe
size).
In the right-hand ordinates, tension should be understood
as the weight in mud of the portion of the drilling string
below the dog-leg, minus the weight on bit.
PERCENT FATIGUE LIFE
EXPENDED IN A 30 FOOT INTERVAL

oo

It is taken for granted that, if necessary, the reader will

become familiar with the definitions and concepts which


follow by examining the reference cited in each case. For
Ref. 1, it will suffice to read only through the section
Abrupt Dog-Legs.
1. Concept of the two extreme kinds of idealized doglegs: gradual and long dog-legs and abrupt dog-legs,'
2. Concept of why the bending moment in drill pipe unOriginal manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineers offiC'
July 23. 1965. Revised manuscript of SPE 1258 received Feb. 7, 1966.
Paper was presented at SPE Annual Fall Meeting held in Denver,
Colo., Oct. 3-6, 1965.
lReferences given at end of paper.
Discussion of this and all following technical papers is invited. Discussion in writing (three copies) may be sent to the office of the
Journal of Petroleu1l1, Technology. Any discussion offered after Dec. 31,
1966, should be in the form of a new paper. No discussion should exceed 10 per cent of the manuscript being discussed.
MARCH,1966

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FATIGUE OF STEEL DRILL PIPE IN IDEALIZED


GRADUAL AND LONG DOG-LEGS

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FIG. I-FATIGUE DAMAGE OF STEEL DRILL PIPE IN GRADUAL DOGLEGS (NON-CORROSIVE ENVIRONMENT: DRILL PIPE,
AND
5 IN. GRADE E STEEL; ROTARY SPEED, 100 RPM; DRILLING RATE,
10 FT/HR).

3Y2, 4Y2

359

PERCENT FATIGUE 1I FE
EXPENDED IN A 30 FOOT INTERVAL
50

4~~'

5"

(!)

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FIG. 2--FATIGUE DAMAGE OF STEEL DRILL PIPE IN GRADUAL DOG


LEGS (EXTREME CORROSION FATIGUE: DRILL PIPE,
AND
5 IN. GRADE E STEEL; ROTARY SPEED, 100 RPM; DRILLING RATE,
10 FT/HR).

3Y2, 4Y2

The abscissa in Figs. 1 and 2 is the per cent of the


original useful life expended in drilling a 30-ft interval.
Various curves are for various values of the rate of change
of over-all hole angle. The change of over-all hole angle
can be determined from directional surveys.,,4
Fig. 1 is for the case in which the drill pipe is working
in a non-corrosive environment, and Fig. 2 is for the case
-of extreme corrosion fatigue conditions.' Figs. 1 and 2
were calculated using a drilling rate of 10 ftl hr and a rotary speed of 100 rpm. Actually, Figs. 1 and 2 can be used
for any rotary speed and drilling rate since the per cent of
drill pipe fatigue life expended is directly proportional to
rotary speed and inversely proportional to drilling rate.
For example, Point A in Fig. 1 shows that 10 per cent
of the drill pipe's fatigue life would be expended in a 30ft interval under the following conditions: (1) environment,
non-corrosivre; (2) tension, 9,500 ft of drill pipe suspended
below the dog-leg; (3) dog-leg severity, 5/100 ft; (4) rotary speed, 100 rpm; and (5) drilling rate, 10 ftlhr. On
the other hand, if the rotary speed were 50 rpm and the
drilling rate 30 ftlhr, then the drill pipe life expended
would be:
50 rpm )( 10 ftlhr)
(10 per cent) ( 100 rpm
30 ftlhr

= 1.7 per cent.

Figs. 1 and 2 were prepared on the basis of fatigue experiments conducted by Hughes Tool Co.' Since the results of these experiments display a great scatter, and since
the lowest envelope of the data is used, it should not be
construed that drill pipe will instantaneously fail when the
calculated fatigue damage reaches 100 per cent. The actual
connotation is that some joints of pipe would fail under
such conditions, but most of them would last appreciably
longer.
FATIGUE OF DRILL PIPE IN IDEALIZED
ABRUPT DOG-LEGS
In Ref. 1 it is demonstrated that if the change of hole
angle over a 30-ft interval in a gradual and long dog-leg is
360

equal to the change of angle in an abrupt dog-leg, then


the bending stress in the drill pipe at the vicinity of the
tool joint (Fig. 1)' is the same in both cases. Therefore, the
rate of fatigue damage is also the same in these two cases.
Throughout a gradual and long dog-leg, however, the
bending stress and rate of fatigue damage at the vicinity
of the tool joint remain constant and maximum as the tool
joint progresses downward. On the other hand, in the case
of the tool joint in an abrupt dog-leg, the bending stress in
the drill pipe decreases exponentially as distance from the
abrupt dog-leg increases. Therefore, as drilling progresses,
any point in the drill pipe is subjected to the maximum rate
of fatigue damage for a short time only. In other words,
when considering the two previous idealized dog-legs, the
fatigue damage over a 30-ft interval is much greater in a
gradual and long dog-leg than in an abrupt dog-leg. Thus,
as far as fatigue is concerned, a gradual and long dog-leg
is more exacting than an abrupt one.
For this reason, abrupt dog-legs will not be considered
any further in this paper. Another reason, sufficient by
itself to disregard abrupt dog-legs, is that abrupt dog-legs
are generally quickly rounded off by the tool joints and
drill pipe, and thus become more or less gradual before the
drill pipe in the dog-leg becomes subjected to high tension,
FATIGUE OF STEEL DRILL PIPE
IN ACTUAL DOG-LEGS
Calculation of the bending stresses necessary for determination of fatigue damage of drill pipe in actual doglegs would be difficult. Many directional surveys above,
through and below the dog-leg would be required, and
calculations would be extremely complex and different for
each dog-leg. As this would not be practical, it is satisfactory to consider an actual dog-leg as if it were an idealized gradual and long dog-leg. This procedure requires
that the change of the over-all angle be found between
only two successive surveying stations.'",4 Therefore, Figs.
1 and 2 of idealized gradual and long dog-legs can be used
for actual field cases.
Consider the following survey in which, for the sake of
simplicity, changes of hole angle are due to changes in
inclination only and not in direction:
Depth
(ft)
6,050
6,100
6,150
6,200
6,250
6,300

Inclination
(degrees)
411<1
4V<!
7 V<!
9%
10
10

Furthermore, assume that the environment is non-corrosive, that the length of drill pipe below the dog-legs is
10,000 ft and that rotary speed and drilling rate are 100
rpm and 10 ftlhr respectively. In the interval of 6,100 to
6,150 ft, the change of angle in 50 ft is 3 0; i.e., the dogleg severity is 6/100 ft.
Point B of Fig. 1 indicates that the fatigue life expended for these conditions is 29 per cent over a 30-ft interval, or 29(50/30) = 48 per cent over the interval under
consideration. Proceeding similarly, for the interval of
6,150 to 6,200 ft, Point C of Fig. 1 shows that the fatigue
life expended is 20 per cent. In the next interval, it is seen
that the dog-leg severity is too small to cause any further
fatigue damage to the drill pipe. Thus, total fatigue life
expended in this particular case is 68 per cent. Moreover,
it is easy to see that if the well is drilled deeper, the calculated fatigue damage for this particular dog-leg might
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

reach 100 per cent, in which case damaged joints of pipe


would have to be discarded without delay. Generally, the
decision of when to discard damaged pipe would have to
be made taking into account the pipe's previous history.
Figs. 1 and 2 are for Grade E steel drill pipe only. Although fatigue experiments on small and polished specimens display great improvement with steel strength, experiments conducted on full-size joints show that fatigue
characteristics either remain the same or improve very
little. As a matter fact, higher strength steels displaying
a greater notch sensitivity might even be inferior in fatigue performance.
In the previous calculations, it is assumed that survey
spacing is of the order of 50 ft. With larger survey spacings, incorrect results might be obtained. To illustrate this
point, consider that a 2 change of the over-all angle is
measured over a surveying interval of 200 ft. As the actual
geometry of the dog-leg cannot be ascertained with such
a survey, assume first that the dog-leg is gradual, which
results in a calculated dog-leg severity of 1 / 100 ft. Consider that the length of drill pipe below the dog-leg is of
the order of 12,000 ft and that the environment is noncorrosive. Fig. 1 then indicates that the drill pipe will not
fatigue at all. However, it is possible that the 2 change
of the over-all angle occurred over a portion of the 200ft interval; for instance, over a length of only 50 ft. If
such is the case, then the dog-leg severity in the shorter
interval would be 4/100 ft. Then, Point D of Fig. 1 indicates that under such conditions the fatigue life expended would be 11 per cent over a 30-ft interval (equivalent
to 18 per cent over the 50-ft interval under consideration). In other words, the per cent fatigue life expended
becomes larger as the unknown distance over which the
angle change occurs is assumed shorter. If one assumed
that the angle change occurs over 25 ft, the situation would
be still worse. However, as mentioned earlier, any abrupt
dog-leg in a hole is quickly rounded-off, and field evidence indicates that usually this rounding occurs over at
least a 30-ft interval, and probably at 50-foot or even
greater.
For this reason, it is believed that, generally, surveying
intervals of 30 to 50 ft are adequate for dog-leg measurements. In fact, intervals shorter than 30 ft lead to large
errors due to surveying instrument imprecision and other
reasons.'
FATIGUE OF ALUMINUM DRILL PIPE

one brand of 4V2-in. aluminum drill pipe only. Fig. 4 is a


corresponding graph for 511z -in. aluminum drill pipe. Comparison of Figs. 3 and 4 shows that the rate of fatigue
damage is somewhat greater for 51h -in. pipe than for
4V2 -in. pipe. However, comparison of Figs. 1 and 4 shows
that even 5V2 -in. aluminum drill pipe will fatigue much
less than any size of steel drill pipe.
Figs. 1 and 2 for steel pipe were actually prepared for
a 10 Ib/ gal mud. In a heavier drilling fluid, the bending
stresses and resulting rate of fatigue damage would be
somewhat less due to additional buoyancy. This effect,
however, is so small for steel pipe that it can be disregarded. On the other hand, this effect is somewhat greater
for aluminum drill pipe. For instance, Fig. 3 shows that
41h -in. aluminum drill pipe in 10 lb/ gal mud would age
32 per cent under the circumstances described by Point G.
In 18 lb/gal mud, everything else being equal, the drill
pipe would age only 10 per cent.
Fig. 2 is for extreme corrosion fatigue of steel drill pipe.
On the other hand, no curves for corrosion fatigue of aluminum drill pipe are presented. The reason for this is that
according to Reynolds Metals Co., failures due to corrosion fatigue of aluminum drill pipe have never been observed. However, it is possible that this lack of failures
might simply be due to the fact that aluminum drill pipe
can withstand much more severe dog-legs than steel drill
pipe. Therefore, for some conditions, the corrosion fatigue
phenomenon might be present, but still not observable
under current drilling conditions.
PERCENT FATIGUE LIFE
EXPENDED IN A 30 FOOT INTERVAL
100
50
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Fig. 3 for 41h -in. aluminum drill pipe is similar to Fig.


for steel drill pipe. Comparisons of Figs. 1 and 3 lead
to the conclusion that aluminum drill pipe can pass through
much more severe dog-legs without damage than can steel
drill pipe. For example, Point E in Fig. 1 shows that the
steel drill pipe ages 87 per cent when passing through 30
ft of a 10/100 ft dog-leg if 7,500 ft of drill pipe is hanging below. On the other hand, under the same conditions,
aging of 4 11z -in. aluminum drill pipe is negligible (Point
F, Fig. 3).
Thus, from the standpoint of fatigue in dog-legs, aluminum drill pipe is much better than steel drill pipe. Of
course, pipe fatigue is not the only detrimental effect of
dog-legs. The other effect is the lateral force between the
tool joint or the pipe body and the wall of the hole.' However, due to its lighter weight, this lateral force (Eq. 32
of Ref. 1) on the aluminum drill pipe is less than half that
on steel drill pipe. Therefore, use of aluminum drill pipe
will also minimize such troubles as key seats in the wall
of the hole, grooves in the casing, etc.
As previously mentioned, Figs. 1 and 2 are for three
sizes of steel drill pipe. On the other hand, Fig. 3 is for
MARCH,1966

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DOG-LEG SEVERI Y
DEGREES /10;) FT

:t
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100~

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FIG. 3-FATIGUE DAMAGE OF ALUMINUM DRILL PIPE IN GRADUAL


DOG LEGS (FOR 4V:!IN. ALUMINUM DRILL PIPE: ROTARY SPEED, 100
RPM; DRILLING RATE, 10 FT/HR; AND MUD, 10 I.E/GAL).
361

Of course, aluminum drill pipe is equipped with steel


tool joints, which are subjected to corrosion fatigue. However, it is believed that corrosion fatigue of tool joints
should not be a problem because their wall thickness is
much greater than that of the pipe. The authors have no
knowledge of any published results of laboratory experiments on the topic. Initiation of such experiments would
be useful, as the results would supply the industry with
knowledge of how to take full advantage of aluminum
drill pipe in directional drilling.
Calculation of the rate of fatigue damage is based upon
experimentally-determined, so-called SoN curves, in which
S stands for the reversing or the maximum cyclic stress
level and N is the number of cycles to failure at that stress
level. The SoN curve' for steel drill pipe used in this work
is based upon extensive experimental results by Hughes
on full-size drill pipe specimens. On the other hand, the
SoN curve for aluminum drill pipe (see Appendix) provided
by Reynolds is based only on a small number of experiments of full-size specimens. It is therefore possible that
the curves in Figs. 3 and 4 could be somewhat different if
more numerous experimental data were available. The
authors believe, however, that additional experimentation
would not change their conclusions regarding the usefulness of aluminum drill pipe in dog-legs.
Thus, aluminum drill pipe is definitely superior to steel
drill pipe from the standpoint of fatigue in dog-legs. It
should, however, be remembered that aluminum drill pipe
has its limitations,' such as its inability to withstand high
temperatures and some ranges of mud pH.
PERCENT FATIGUE LI FE
EXPENDED IN A 30 FOOT INTERVAL

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DOG-LEG SEVERITY
DEGREES /100 FEET

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FACTORS OTHER THAN DOG-LEGS


WHICH CAUSE DRILL PIPE FATIGUE
Using Figs. 1 through 4, the cumulative fatigue damage
of any joint of drill pipe due to dog-legs encountered in
drilling one or several wells can be calculated. However,
it should be realized that dog-legs are not the only cause
of drill pipe fatigue. A major source of fatigue in all rotary drilling operations is vibration. Cyclic or reversing
stresses are generated at the bit and propagated throughout the string. The vibration can be longitudinal, torsional or transverse. The latter can be either two-dimensional or helical in nature. Also, there is a frequent exchange of energy between these various modes. Present
knowledge in this field is insufficient to calculate the cyclic
stress level resulting from various conditions encountered
in drilling. Therefore, calculation of cumulative fatigue
damage due to vibration is still in the future. We believe
that successful research in this field could result in a major
reduction in drilling costs.
The properties of aluminum drill pipe that enable it to
withstand dog-legs so remarkedly also enhance its use in
other cases in which drill pipe is rotated while bent. Such
cases occur when drilling offshore from a vessel. Drilling
with aluminum drill pipe will permit more vessel movement off location, roll, pitch, etc.
MINER'S HYPOTHESIS
Figs. 1 through 4 are based on a linear method of calculation of cumulative fatigue damage, i.e., on the so-called
Miner's hypothesis: In the terms of this paper, the meaning of Miner's hypothesis is that the per cent cumulative fatigue damage due to several dog-legs of different
severity, is independent of the order in which these doglegs are encountered. Recent progress in the field indicates
that the actual per cent fatigue damage due to a severe
dog-leg is greater when this dog-leg is encountered early
rather than late in the fatigue life of the pipe.' Means for
quantitatively taking this effect into consideration cannot
be developed, as the new theory is based on experimentation conducted on small specimens rather than full-size
joints of pipe.
For this reason, Miner's hypothesis is used in this paper.
However, as a result, failures could occur when only 50
per cent of the calculated fatigue life is expended. Thus,
to be conservative, values on the abscissa scales in Figs. 1
through 4 would have to be doubled. Fatigue was calculated on that basis in Ref. 2. For the purposes of this
paper, such a procedure was not in order, since for calcu~

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REVOLUTIONS TO FAILURE, N
FIG. 4--FATIGUE DAMAGE OF ALUMINUM DRILL PIPE IN GRADUAL
DOG-LEGS (FOR 5lh-IN_ ALUMINUM DRILL PIPE: ROTARY SPEED,
100 RPM; DRLLING RATE, 10 FT/HR; AND MUD, 10 LB/GAL).

362

FIG.

5--S-N

CURVE FOR ALUMINUM DRILL PIPE (THE ORDINATE


SCALE TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE EFFECT OF TENSION).

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

lating, dog-legs were assumed to be gradual, and this assumption yields conservative results.

CONCLUSIONS
1. The rate of drill pipe fatigue damage, which can be
obtained from the charts of this paper, increases with the
severity of the dog-leg, and the tension in the drill pipe
at the dog-leg.
2. Provided well conditions are suitable for its usage,
aluminum drill pipe will suffer much less fatigue damage
than steel drill pipe in dog-legs or when drilling from a
floating vessel.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank Pan American Petroleum
Corp. for having released this paper to the industry, and
Reynolds Metals Co. for permission to use results of their
full-scale aluminum drill pipe fatigue experiments. The
authors thank the following for having read the paper
and presented constructive criticism: P. F. Hawley, A. H.
Jageler, W. R. Franey, J. A. Muckleroy and J. P. Barrett
of Pan American Petroleum Corp.; H. B. Woods and A.
P. Farr of Hughes Tool Co.; H. M. Rollins of Drilco Oil
Tool Co.; H. V. Menking, L. E. Pennington, R. S. Dalrymple and L. F. Wong of Reynolds Metals Co.; and W. B.
Reinhold of Abegg and Reinhold.
REFERENCES
1. Lubinski, A.: "Maximum Permissible DogLegs in Rotary Boreholes", Jour. Pet. Tech. (Feb., 1961) 175.
2. Hansford, J. E. and Lnbinski, A.: "The Efleets of Drilling Vessel Pitch or Roll on Kelly and Drill Pipe Fatigue", Jour. Pet.
Tech. (Jan., 1964) 77.
3. Lubinski, A.: "Chart for Determination of Hole Curvature
(Dog-Leg Severity) ", Paper presented at the API Mid-Continent District Study Committee on Straight Hole Drilling, Oklahoma City, Okla. (Oct., 1956). Published under various titles
in the trade journals. Original text available from the author.
4. "Tabular Method for Determining the Change of the Overall
Angle and Dog-Leg Severity", Bull. DB, API.
5. Boice, E. G. and Dalrymple, R. S.: "The Design and Performance Characteristics of Aluminum Drill Pipe", Jour. Pet. Tech.
(Dec., 1963) 1285.
6. Miner, M. A.: "Cumulative Damage in Fatigue", Jour. Applied
Meeh., 12; Trans., ASME (1945) 67, A159.
7. Manson, S. S. et al.: "Further Investigation of a Relation for
Cumulative Fatigue Damage in Bending", Jour. of Eng. for
Ind., Trans., ASME (Feb. 1965).

APPENDIX
DRILL PIPE UNDER TENSION IN
GRADUAL AND LONG DOG-LEGS
Figs. 1 through 4 in the body of the paper were prefared in the following manner. Let f denote the fraction
of drill pipe life expended in an interval of an infinitely
long, gradual dog-leg. Then:
B

f=JIi'

(A-l)

where B = number of drill pipe revolutions to drill the interval; and N = number of revolutions to failure of the

MARCH, 1966

joint of drill pipe under consideration.


It is self-evident that:

60Rd

'

(A-2)

where R = rotary table speed, rpm; d = length of the dogleg interval, ft; and V = drilling rate, fUhr.
The denominator N of Eq. 1 depends on the bending
stress SB in the pipe, and on the ratio T/ A, denoted S,:
T

S'=A'

(A-3)

where T = weight in fluid of the portion of the drill string


below the joint under consideration, minus the weight on
bit, Ib; and A = cross-sectional area of the pipe wall, sq.
in.
SB is given in Ref. 1, Eq. 7 as all and equals:
Sn

EDc"

(A-4)

where D = outside diameter of the drill pipe, in.; E =


Young's modulus of the drill pipe material, Ib/sq in.; and
Co = maximum pipe curvature which occurs at the vicinity
of the tool joint, radians/ in.
The relationship between the hole curvature c and the
maximum pipe curvature C" is obtained from Eq. 12, Ref.
1 by making c' = c, c'o = C" and tanh KL = 1, which
gives:

= c(KL) ,
where c = hole curvature, radians/in.; and
Co

(A-5)

L = one-half
the length of a drill pipe, in., from Eq. 2t in Ref. 1, and.
K is defined as follows:
K

= V T/(EI)

(A-6)

where I = the moment of inertia of the drill pipe's crosssection with respect to its diameter, in"
The simplification of Eq. 12 of Ref. 1 by which Eq.
A-5 is obtained, is justified for drill pipe under high tension, in the Appendix of Ref. 1 under the section entitled
Drill Pipe Under Tension in Gradual and Long Dog-Legs.
The value (N revolutions to failure) for steel drill pipe
can be read from Fig. 5 of Ref. 2 as function of the
product of SB (denoted a in Ref. 2) and T, defined by
Eq. 1 of Ref. 2. Fig. 5 in this paper is a corresponding
curve for aluminum drill pipe.
Assumptions underlying use of Fig. 5 of Ref. 2 and
Fig. 5 of this paper are the same as in Ref. 2 and will
not be discussed here.
Eq. A-5 is valid if only tool joints, and not drill pipe,
contact the side of the hole. Fig. 3 of Ref. 1 gives the limiting conditions for which 4V2 -in., 16.6 Ib/ ft drill pipe will
contact the side of the hole. From the inspection of that
figure in conjunction with that of Figs. 1 through 4 of
this paper, it can be concluded that frequently there is
contact of the drill pipe with the side of the hole. Use of
Eq. A-5 in the derivations upon which Figs. 1 through 4
are based, is justified, however, as it leads to conservative
results, the reason being that any contact between tool
joints reduces the bending stress in the pipe at the tool
joint.

***

363

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