E. Lécolier

• PhD
• Researcher at IFP Energies nouvelles

Boehmite (AlOOH) is considered as an important precursor for γ-Al2O3, which when calcinated undergoes topotactic transformation to form the latter. Alumina has extensive applications in fields such as catalysis, abrasives, and cosmetics among others. Boehmite falls under the category of hierarchical structures whose structural and textural properti...

Colloidal gels respond as soft solids at rest, whereas they flow as liquids under external shear. Starting from a fluidized state under an applied shear rate γ˙p, abrupt flow cessation triggers a liquid-to-solid transition during which the stress relaxes towards a so-called residual stress σres that tallies a macroscopic signature of previous shear...

Improving industrial processes such as filtration of colloidal suspensions requires an in depth understanding of colloidal stability that is linked to interparticle interactions. One way of investigating such phenomena is to determine colloidal phase diagrams and to characterize structure and rheology in various regions of the phase diagrams. Such...

References [1] Albert B., Guy B. and Damidot D. (2006) Water chemical potential: a key parameter to determine the thermodynamic stability of some hydrated cement phases in concrete?

A multi-scale homogenization approach coupled with a hydration model is adopted to predict the bulk and shear moduli evolution of an oilwell cement paste at a very early age (up to one day). Calorimetric experiments were performed to be compared with the results of the kinetics model and also to study the pressure and temperature effects on the hyd...

The selection of an optimal cementitious material is critical to maintain zonal isolation for the lifetime of oil and gas wells not only for primary cementing but also for well abandonment. Polymer powder/cement composites present good mechanical and durability properties since polymer latex promotes improved adhesion and flexibility to the hardene...

Porous extrudates consisting of a packing of model spherical alumina particles with different median diamters (1.7 µm and 19 µm) were prepared. Peptized boehmite and aluminophosphate binders were used in order to ensure the cohesion of the materials. Combined effect of the multiscale packing of porous alumina particles contributed to generate suppo...

Old wells could be exposed to severe environment. This study reports the characterization of a class G oilwell cement paste exposed to a brine at high pressure and high temperature.The results showed that pressure had a strong impact on the phenomenology and the kinetics of oilwell cement paste degradation in selected downhole conditions. The alter...

Geopolymers constitute a potential sustainable alternative to Portland cement. They are amorphous silica-aluminates products of the reaction of metakaolin or fly ashes with an alkali silicate solution. The usage of geopolymer pastes as cementing materials is hindered by a lack of data, understanding and control concerning the rheology of the paste...

In the next few decades, the production of oilfields with high contents of associated sour gases will increase. For instance, we estimate that 40% of the world remaining gas reserves contain more than 2% of CO2 and/or more than 100 ppm of H2S. Therefore, investigations on technologies to produce such fields are of utmost importance. Due to the pres...

The selection of an optimal cementitious material is critical to maintain zonal isolation for the lifetime of oil & gas or gas storage wells not only for primary cementing but also after well abandonment. Polymer powder/cement composites present good mechanical and durability properties since polymer latex promotes improved adhesion and flexibility...

Long-term durability of cement-based materials used in oil wells is a major concern for the oil and gas industry and the emerging industry of the carbon dioxide geological storage. Therefore, understanding of physico-chemical processes leading to cement paste degradation is of utmost importance. The aim of this study was twofold: the first one was...

In the near future, the production of oilfields with high contents of associated sour gases will increase. Research on technologies to produce such fields are therefore of utmost importance. Due to the presence of corrosive gas, special attention has to be paid to the design of well materials (casing, cementing materials). However, published data o...

In this paper, we have investigated the viscoelastic properties of aqueous clay suspensions. The complex modulus has been measured on a very extended scale ranging from 10−5 to 102 rad s−1. For this purpose, we used two sets of experiments: a controlled shear rate and a controlled stress rheometer. The data show that the relaxation mechanisms are v...

All oil and gas wells will have to be plugged and abandoned at some time. The plugging and abandonment procedure must provide an effective isolation of the well fluids all along the well to reduce environmental risks of contamination and prevent from costly remedial jobs. Previous works have analyzed the plug behavior when submitted to local pressu...

Résumé — Durabilité d'une pâte de ciment durcie utilisée pour la cimentation des puits pétroliers — Les problèmes de durabilité des matériaux utilisés pour les sondages pétroliers sont une question essentielle pour l'industrie pétrolière. Nous avons mené des essais de vieillissement d'une pâte de ciment dans deux types de fluides en variant la proc...

The selection of an optimal cementitious material is critical to maintain zonal isolation for the lifetime of oil and gas wells not only for primary cementing but also for well abandonment. Polymer powder/cement composites present good mechanical and durability properties since polymer latex promotes improved adhesion and flexibility to the hardene...

Recently, Low Permeability Cement formulation has been developed for oilwell cementing. Therefore, it is important to understand the physical and chemical processes causing cement degradation in the downhole environment. In this study, we have characterised a Low Permeability Class G oilwell Cement immersed for one year in brine at T = 293 K, p = 1...

The prime objective of the plug-and-abandon operations is to provide zonal isolation for infinite time. Cement-based materials are generally used as plugging materials. Therefore, it is important to understand the physical and chemical processes causing cement degradation in the downhole environment. In this study, we have characterised a Class G o...

The problems due to lost circulation events may represent a major source of expenses for drilling operators, even if their consequences do not have all the same level of gravity. Probably the most problematic situations are the naturally fractured formations where the operator may face total loss with no mud return in the annular. The voids or larg...

The durability of cement depends mainly on cement microstructure parameters such as pore size distribution. In this study, we have observed pore size distribution in a Class G oil-well cement immersed for 1 year in brine at T = 293 K, P = 10(5) Pa and in a down-hole condition at T = 353 K, P = 7.10(6) Pa by proton nuclear magnetic spin-lattice rela...

Résumé : Nous nous intéressons au comportement rhéologique de dispersions très concentrées -ou pâtes -de particules granulaires ou colloïdales de ciment ou de silice. Nous analysons les conditions dans lesquelles ce comportement passe d'un régime dans lequel la dissipation d'énergie est dominée par la dissipation hydrodynamique du fluide de dispers...

The prime objective of the plug-and-abandon operations is to provide zonal isolation for infinite time. Cement-based materials are generally used as plugging materials. Therefore, it is important to understand physical and chemical processes causing cement degradation in downhole environment. In this study, we have characterised two cement formulat...

The rheological behavior of cement slurries may be described in terms of a few elementary behaviors: the rapid formation of a gel, at rest; the collapse of this gel under a critical stress directly related to the strength of the interparticle forces; the progressive destruction of the gel fragments under moderate shear rate, with an increasingly sh...

Several suspensions of disklike colloids undergo puzzling liquid—solid transitions. The case of laponite, a synthetic clay, is a demonstrative example which has recently generated a good deal of experimental and theoretical study. At relatively high ionic strength, above 10-4 M, a transition from a liquid to a soft solid appears. Typical nematic de...

We study suspensions of synthetic clay Laponite at very low ionic strength. We show the existence, for these charged disk-like particles, of a liquid-soft solid transition mainly driven by electrostatic repulsive interactions. Such a process defines a re-entrant transition line in the phase diagram. Location of this line is predicted using basi...

Relations between thermodynamics, structural, and mechanical properties of Laponite suspensions were recently discussed in the literature. One important issue concerning the liquid/gel transition of the Laponite suspensions is to understand why a mechanical gel appears concomitantly with what appears as an incomplete nematic transition. To get some...

23Na relaxation studies of aqueous clay dispersions showed influence of the order/disorder transition of clay gels and the quadrupolar relaxation of neutralizing sodium counterions. Detection of the fast and slow components of the 23Na transverse magnetization gives access to the microstructural and dynamical properties of colloidal dispersions. Nu...

We discuss the phase diagram of aqueous dispersions of colloidal platelike charged particles (300 Angstrom x 10 Angstrom). Particle concentration and ionic strength are the two parameters controlling the system. The suspensions undergo a sol/gel transition without macroscopic phase separation. Shear theology is used to monitor this transition and t...

Durability of materials used for the completion of oilwell is of utmost importance for oil and gas industry. We carried out ageing tests on a hardened cement paste in two types of fluid by varying the experimental procedure. We show that the observed alterations are highly dependent on the way of conducting the tests. To correctly assess the long-t...