Modeling the Critical Velocity of Cement Slurry with Changes in the Size of a Wellbore

This work investigated the variation of the critical velocity of cement slurry with changes in the size (diameter) of a wellbore during the cementing of oil and gas wells. Pipes of different internal diameters were used to represent different sections of a wellbore to simulate variation in the size of the wellbore. This also implies simulating wellbores of different sizes (diameters). Results revealed that the critical velocity of cement slurry increased with an increase in the size of the wellbore. Results showed that the critical velocity of cement slurry decreased with a reduction in the size of the wellbore. Mathematical models generated to predict the variation of the critical velocity of the cement slurry with open-hole (wellbore) size have a very high correlation coefficient (R2 ), confirming that they can be used with a very high degree of certainty to predict the variation of the critical velocity of cement slurry with the size of a wellbore. Application of the results of this study will improve cementing job design and execution in the oil and gas industry.