Experimental and numerical study of the sealing performance of BT seal during oil testing

Purpose This study aims to understand whether the reverse pressure test of BT seals can accurately detect its sealing performance by means of experiment and simulation. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the sealing performance test of BT seal in the process of pressure testing is designed. To ensure the correctness of the test findings, this study developed a complete analytical model for the sealing performance of the BT seal, taking into account the entire process of BT seal installation, injection molding, pressure testing and pressure-bearing. This study uses restart technology to transfer data between analysis steps, fluid cavity technology to model the BT seal’s injection molding and pressure penetration technology to simulate the BT seal’s pressure testing and pressure-bearing. Findings In this paper, the sealing performance of BT seal in the process of pressure test is studied by means of experiment and simulation. The results show that the reverse pressure test of BT seal can accurately detect its sealing performance when the fluid pressure is 80% of the casing anti-extrusion strength, that is, 40.48 MPa. Simulations also indicate that with an injection pressure of 40.48 MPa, the BT seal performs well under fluid pressures up to 69.2 MPa. Therefore, it is advised to increase the BT seal test pressure to 100% of the casing’s strength against internal pressure. Originality/value The research methodology and results of this paper provide strong technical support to ensure the safety of oil and gas wellhead tests. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2024-0452/