Analysis of tube expansion using 3D digital image correlation and numerical modeling

Solid Expandable Tubular Technology (SETT) finds its extensive applications in the oil and gas industries where it is used for well completion and remediation. The purpose of his work is to investigate the material behavior upon expansion and to optimize the parameters that are relevant to the expansion process. Tube expansion tests have been performed using a newly designed experimental setup. Seamless stainless steel (AISI 304) tubes have been deformed and monitored using a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system to measure the full field displacement. A parametric study has been performed in order to study the effect of key expansion parameters such us mandrel geometry (angle), expansion ratio, mandrel-tube friction on the tube expansion and its buckling. The commercial code VIC-3D has been used to process the strain and displacement data obtained by the charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras. Moreover, the tests have been modeled numerically using the Finite Element Method (FEM) to gain further insight into the stress and strain distributions during metal forming. A good correlation has been observed between the numerical and experimental results.