RELIABILITY-BASED CASING DESIGN

The present paper describes the development of reliability-based desig n criteria for oil and/or gas well casing/tubing. The approach is base d on the fundamental principles of limit state design. Limit states fo r tubulars are discussed and specific techniques for the stochastic mo deling of loading and resistance variables are described. Zonation met hods and calibration techniques are developed which are geared specifi cally to the characteristic tubular design for both hydrocarbon drilli ng and production applications. The application of quantitative risk a nalysis to the development of risk-consistent design criteria is shown to be a major and necessary step forward in achieving more economic t ubular design.