An Analysis on the Transmission Shaft Fracture of Screw Drill

摘要

The transmission shaft of the underground screw drill fractured when milling-shoe and grinding bridge plug was applied to the coiled tubes in a horizontal well of Sichuan province, but the position of this transmission shaft fracture did not occur at the minor-diameter retracting position and reducing position that were easy to fracture. An analysis of the transverse planes of the fracture found that the cause of the transmission shaft fracture surface was that the defects of the initial surface were propagating to cracks and gave rise to the fracture under torque load. To specifically know well the strength of the transmission shaft under damaging fracture, a statics analysis was conducted on the transmission shaft through ANSYS finite element simulation software, and the finite element models under no cracks, different-depth circumferential cracks, and similar situation of the transverse planes of fracture were established respectively. An analysis of the crack-free finite element model found that the fracture of the transmission shaft was really not caused by the self-structure of the transmission shaft; an analysis of circumferential crack finite element model found that strong stress concentration would appear in the tip of cracks, and the value of the stress would increase along with the increase of the circumferential crack depth, the stress of the entire crack top tended to fluctuate like waves, and also the strength of the transmission shaft was greatly impacted by the presence of cracks; an analysis of the similar crack finite element model found that stress concentration would appear in the tip of cracks, and the initial cracks always started to propagate from the tip of the external surface of the transmission shaft and would propagate inward until the propagating areas of two cracks overlapped, and finally reached the position of transient interruption, and then the transmission shaft fractured completely and the fracture strength was only 1/5 of that under no cracks.