Horizontal cylinder-in-cylinder buckling under compression and torsion: Review and application to composite drill pipe

Available analytical results and experiments on the structural behavior of constrained horizontal cylinders subjected to axial compression, torsion, and gravitational loads are reviewed. Such configurations are of interest to the oil-drilling field and provide static design expressions for steel tubulars. The buckling problem is similar to restrained railroad tracks and submerged/underwater pipelines under thermal expansion. Due to outer cylinder constraint and gravitational loads, analysis has shown that long cylinders initiate buckling at loads significantly higher than classical Euler buckling loads. For these constrained long cylinders, buckling initiates in a sinusoidal mode that snakes along the lower surface of the constraining cylinder. Classic analytical expressions hold that as the axial load increases, the cylinder achieves an overall helically buckled state in which the buckled cylinder forms a helix spiraling around the inner surface of the constraining cylinder. Torsion is shown to have little effect on either buckling load but controls the sense/direction of the helical buckling. Little experimental data exist on constrained cylinder buckling, and it is unclear how the initiating sinusoidal mode transitions to the helical mode. Implications of the buckling progression for composite cylinder applications are described including the finding that composites perform poorly relative to steel on the metric of buckling due to lower density and axial stiffness; composites perform well on the metric of lock-up length when friction is considered. Based on this review and findings for composite cylinders, recommendations are made for further work.