SPE 137251

A Numerical
1,2
Study
2
on the Deformation
2
of
3
Even Thickness
4
PCP’s
4
Stator
1
Jin Zhang , SPE; Wei Li ; Shicheng Zhang , SPE; Tingwen Wu , Yuguang Zhang , Wanfu Zhou , Baojun Bai , SPE
1
Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2China University of Petroleum (Beijing), 3Henan Oilfield Co. (Downhole)
4
Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd.

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at SPE Progressing Cavity Pumps Confernce held in Edmondon, Alberta, Canada, 12–14 September 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
This study focuses on analyzing the deformation characteristics of the elastomer in an even thickness PCP under several
simulated working conditions. A three dimensional finite element model involving one pitch length of stator is established to
simulate the deformation of the elastomer. It is known that a proper magnitude of interference of the contact pair between
rotor and stator is necessary to ensure a proper contact status. An oversize of interference will induce too severe strain as well
as too much resistance of torque moment. Nevertheless a deficient interference can not meet the requirement to form the
suitable sealed line. Normally an elaborate uniform interference over all contact pair is designed to expect a satisfied contact
interaction. However, not only the magnitude of interference is changed because of several factors, such as cavity pressure,
thickness of sleeve, dissolution expansion of elastomer, deformation due to temperature change, etc., but also the interference
may become unbalanced over the whole contact pair.
In this paper cavity pressure coupled with Poisson’s ratio of elastomer is firstly considered to investigate the deformation rule
of elastomer sleeve. After that a rotor rotating in a stator is simulated to predict the characteristic of torque moment and the
stress and strain of elastomer sleeve.

1. Introduction
To date, experimental methods for testing the deformation and forced state of the elastomer of a stator under actual operating
conditions are still not available. The elastomer in a progressive cavity pump’s (PCP) stator has significant impact to PCP’s
operating performance because it can be easily damaged by the rotor and the conjugate conditions between the stator and
rotor will be changed. It is of course very important to realize the deformation state of the elastomer sleeve in stator and the
contact interaction between stator and rotor. This will be helpful for improving the structure design to extend lifecycle of
even thickness PCP.
Currently, the Finite Element Method (FEM) has been applied to study the deformation of an inner contour line of the
elastomer and its stress and strain state. The difficulty to apply FEM to the study of PCP is due to the complex geometry of
the cavity and the simulation of contact interaction between rotor and stator. For numerical convergence requirement, it is
necessary to enjoy high quality grid elements, which comes out a large scale of finite element model. In this study
ABAQUS/Standard is used and a High Performance Cluster with 32 cores is utilized to run the models.

2. Description of the FEA model

As a case study, an even thickness PCP DGLB800-14 is chosen to determine the geometry parameters which are list in Table
1. Fig.1 shows the assembly model includes 3 pitches (1000mm) of rotor and 1 pitch (500mm) of stator consisted of a steel
pipe and an elastomer sleeve.

The steel pipe and the elastomer sleeve of stator are meshed with 89608 elements and 63008 elements respectively, shown as
Fig.2. All the elements are hexahedral. The modulus of steel pipe is 210 GPa and Poisson’s ratio is 0.3. A linear elastic
material model is used for elastomer sleeve, which Young’s modulus is 4 MPa, whereas 3 kinds of Poisson’s ratio are used to
compare its influence on the sleeve deformation. The rotor is regarded as rigid body. The friction coefficient of contact pair
between rotor and sleeve surfaces is assumed as 0.1.
2 SPE 137251

Table 1. The geometric parameters chosen in the FEA model

Out Diameter Diameter of Eccentric Thickness of Magnitude of

Pitch Length of
Type of Stator Rotor Distance Elastomer Interference
Stator（mm）
(mm） （mm） （mm） Sleeve（mm） （mm）

DGLB800-14 114 500 48 8.5 9 0.5

In this study we investigated the deformation of elastomer sleeve of stator. First we studied the displacement of nodes on
sleeve surface under the condition of only internal pressure presented. Then the interaction with rotor was included to observe
the extra deformation induced by the frictional contact reaction.

For convenience of data process, a representative sector is chosen as Fig.3. Also a path is specified as Fig.4. Hereinafter we
will focus on the displacement analysis on this path. Normally the output displacement components comply with global
coordinate system XYZ, which is shown in Fig.1(a). For a better understanding of the deformation characteristic, a local
coordinate system n-t is defined as Fig.4, in which the normal direction n and the tangential direction t for the path line are
specified. Also a natural coordinate s is used to denote the path distance from the start point.

= + +

(a) Assembly (b) Stator. SteelPipe (c) Stator. ElastomerSleeve (d) Rotor

Fig. 1 The assembly is composed of three parts

Fig. 2 FEA model for steel pipe and elastomer sleeve of stator
SPE 137251 3

A representative sector for data analysis

Fig. 3 The location of the representative sector

t
n n
t
Path direction

t
n n
t
Start point of the path

Fig. 4 The specified path on boundary line of stator sleeve

3. Deformation analysis under the condition of cavity pressure

Pressure difference exists or not may influence the stator deformation very much. In order to demonstrate the extent of this
effect, 5 MPa uniform distribution internal pressure and 0.5 MPa pressure difference conditions are simulated respectively.
Displacement components and shear strain distribution along the specified path are processed under these two conditions.

3.1 Deformation results with uniform distribution pressure of 5MPa: When uniform pressure is exerted on the
cavity surface, the displacement vectors of the nodes on the specified path are shown in Fig.5. These displacement vectors
can be decomposed into normal, tangential and axial components, un, ut and uz, according to the local coordinate system
defined in Fig.4. Fig.6 shows normal displacement un , predominate over the other two components very much. Also the
value of displacements may increase to ten times when Poisson’s ratio of sleeve elastomer is changed from 0.499 to 0.490.
That means the compressibility of sleeve elastomer may take great effect on deformation character as well as the performance
of PCP. Similarly the influence of Poisson’s ratio on engineering shear strain along the specified path is also obvious, as
shown in Fig. 7. And shear strain γ XY , which is in the plane of cross section, is dominant compared with shear strain γ XZ .
4 SPE 137251

Fig. 5 Displacement vector under uniform cavity pressure

0.8
0.15
0.7

0.6 0.10

0.5
ut (mm)

0.05
un (mm)

0.4
0.00
0.3
μ=0.490
-0.05
0.2 μ=0.495 μ=0.490
μ=0.499 μ=0.495
0.1 -0.10 μ=0.499

0.0 -0.15
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250

s (mm) s (mm)
(a) Normal direction (b) Tangential direction

0.15

0.10

0.05
uZ (mm)

0.00

-0.05
μ=0.490
-0.10 μ=0.495
μ=0.499

-0.15
0 50 100 150 200 250

s (mm)
(c) Axial direction

Fig. 6 Displacement components along the specified path

s
SPE 137251 5

0.04
0.15
0.03
0.10 0.02

0.05 0.01

γXZ
0.00
0.00
γXY

-0.01
-0.05
μ=0.490 -0.02
μ=0.490
-0.10 μ=0.495 μ=0.495
-0.03
μ=0.499 μ=0.499
-0.15 -0.04
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250

s (mm) s (mm)
Fig. 7 Shear strains along the specified path

step1 μ=0.499 u1-inc1

0.07
u1-inc2
u1-inc3
0.06
u1-inc4
u1-inc5
0.05
u1-inc6
u1-inc7
un (mm)

0.04 u1-inc8
u1-inc9
0.03 u1-inc10
u1-inc11
0.02 u1-inc12
u1-inc13
0.01 u1-inc14
u1-inc15
0.00
0 50 100 150 200 250

S (mm)
Fig. 8 Normal displacement change with the increase of pressure

It is obvious that the distribution for all displacement components is periodic. We chose the dominant displacement un to
further investigate its distribution rule and how about the relationship between the displacement and cavity pressure. For this
purpose we process a series displacement distribution referring to different cavity pressure, as shown in Fig. 8. By trial and
error, the Fourier series including first three order items is verified to be good enough to fit the distribution rule, see the
following equation
3
u n = a 0 + ∑ [a n cos nπ (CS + D ) + bn sin nπ (CS + D )] (1)
n =1

where S is variant representing location coordinate along the specified path. And a0 , an , bn (n＝1，2，3), C and D are
fitting coefficients. For this case shown in Fig.8, these coefficients are:

C = 0.0183 , D = −0.4992 (2)

and
a0 = 0.0133P , a1 = 0 , a 2 = 0.000158P , a3 = 0 ;
b1 = 0.000710P , b2 = 0 , b3 = 0 (3)
6 SPE 137251

where, P is cavity pressure. Equation (2) means phase angle in equation (1) is independent to cavity pressure. Whereas
equation (3) shows the amplitude coefficients of equation (1) depend on cavity pressure linearly. It is noticed that the
amplitude coefficients may influenced by Poisson’s ratio of sleeve elastomer, see Table 2 for detail results.

Table 2. The amplitude coefficients for different Poisson ratios

Poisson ratio a0 （mm） b1 （mm） a2 （mm）

0.499 0.0133 P 0.00071 P 0.000158P

0.495 0.06432 P 0.00326 P 0.000659P

0.490 0.12376 P 0.00583 P 0.00129P

Compared to that of a conventional PCP[1], the deformation of an even thickness PCP is much small, also the displacement
distribution is more uniform. For example, table 3 shows the difference of deformation between these two kinds of PCP,
where the cavity dimension is same and Poisson’s ratio is 0.499. u n MAX , un represent the peak value and the average value
of normal displacement, and Δun means the variable amplitude between peak value and valley value.

Table 3. Deformation comparison between a conventional PCP and an even thickness PCP

u nMAX （mm） un （mm） Δu n （mm）

Conventional PCP 0.2123 0.15294 0.12452

Even thickness PCP 0.06936 0.06649 0.00715

3.2 Deformation results with 0.5MPa pressure difference

When pressure difference is exerted, the severe deformation occur near the interface of higher and lower pressure, as shown
in Fig. 9. Comparing Fig.6 and Fig.7 to Fig.10 and Fig.11, some observations can be summarized as follows:
1) For normal displacement, the pressure difference mainly induces a little bigger displacement in the proximity of
interface.
2) For tangential and axial displacements, the pressure difference can induce several times of extra displacement, and
the influence range is more extensive.
3) For shear strain, the pressure difference only takes minor effect near the interface.

Interface

Fig. 9 Displacement vector along the specified path, with pressure difference
SPE 137251 7

1.2 0.6
μ=0.490
1.0 μ=0.495 μ=0.490
0.4
μ=0.499 μ=0.495
0.8 μ=0.499
0.2
un (mm)

ut (mm)
0.6
0.0
0.4
-0.2
0.2

0.0 -0.4

-0.2 -0.6
0 50 100 150 200 250 0 50 100 150 200 250

s (mm) s (mm)

0.3

μ=0.490
0.2
μ=0.495
μ=0.499
0.1
uZ (mm)

0.0

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3
0 50 100 150 200 250

s (mm)
Fig. 10 Displacement components along the specified path, with pressure difference

0.04
0.15
μ=0.490
0.03 μ=0.495
0.10
μ=0.499
0.02
0.05
γXZ
γXY

0.01
0.00
0.00
-0.05 -0.01

-0.10 μ=0.490
-0.02
μ=0.495
-0.15 μ=0.499 -0.03

0 50 100 150 200 250 -0.04

0 50 100 150 200 250
s (mm) s (mm)
Fig. 11 Shear strains along the specified path, with pressure difference
8 SPE 137251

4 Reaction analysis between the stator and rotor

4.1 Torque moment on rotor due to contact reaction with stator Because liquid is not included in the FEA model,
only the contact pair between rotor and stator can bring forth the torque moment on the rotor. So the extent of the interaction
related to contact pair can be evaluated according to the total torque moment. According to the eccentric distance, the center
of torque moment can be determined. In this study, the same geometry model like Fig.1 is utilized to investigate the behavior
of PCP under the condition of different material parameter or boundary condition, which is shown in table 4. Fig. 12 shows
torque moment vs. rotation angle during one rotation of rotor. It is seen that Poisson’s ratio may influence torque value a
little. Obviously cavity pressure can reduce torque value very much and change the curve shape. Because deformation due to
cavity pressure exists, the geometry of cavity is changed, i.e., the interferent extent become smaller and its distribution
become uneven over the contact pair. By calculating the integral of torque curve, work of torque moment can be obtained for
reference, as shown in Table 4.

12

10
Torque Moment (N.m)

8 8-1
8-2 8-4
6 8-3 8-5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Rotation Angle (rad)

Fig. 12 Torque moment on rotor during one rotation for one pitch of PCP

Table 4. Torque moment and work due to torque for one cycle

Cavity Pressure Max. Torque Work for one cycle

Model No. Poisson’s ratio
(MPa) (N.m) (N.m)
8-1 0.495 5 0.2 0.9
8-2 0.495 2 4.0 24.2
8-3 0.495 0 10.5 63.4
8-4 0.499 0 11.0 66.3
8-5 0.490 0 9.9 60.2

4.2 Shear strain distribution of the elastomer sleeve

For model 8-3 defined in Table 4, herein shear strain due to contact reaction is analyzed. For clearly showing strain
distribution character, two view directions and four contact states which represent four typical location of rotor during one
rotation cycle are chosen like Fig.13 and Fig.14. It is noticed that the motion of rotor includes rotation and translation. So the
relative motion on upper side is larger than that on lower side for location-a and location-b, or vice versa for location-c and
location-d. Accordingly more severe shear strain is on upper side for location-a and location-b, or move to lower side for
location-c and location-d. In addition, in the severe deformation zone, the maximal shear strain exists in the interface of
elastomer sleeve and steel pipe, rather than on the contact surface.
Fig. 15 shows shear strain γ XY distribution varying with the location of rotor. It is seen that the peak value of γ XY for the
four states is almost same. However, Fig. 16 shows the peak value of Mises stress for location-b and location-d is a little
higher than that of location-a and location-c.
SPE 137251 9

Translation
Translation
Rotation Rotation

Location-a Location-b

Translation Translation
Rotation Rotation

Location-c Location-d
Fig. 13 Shear strain γ XY distribution in XY plane for the representative sector (refer to Fig. 3)

Location-a Location-b

Location-c Location-d
Fig. 14 Shear strain γ XY distribution in YZ plane

0.15 0.6
Location-a
0.12
Location-b
0.09 0.5
Location-c
Mises Stress (MPa)

0.06 Location-d
0.4
0.03
0.00 0.3
γXY

-0.03
0.2
-0.06
Location-a
-0.09 Location-b 0.1
-0.12 Location-c
Location-d
-0.15 0.0
0 50 100 150 200 250
0 50 100 150 200 250
s (mm)
s (mm)
Fig. 15 Shear strain γ XY distribution along the Fig. 16 Mises stress distribution along the
specified path specified path
10 SPE 137251

5 Conclusions
• For the elastomer inner contour line of an even thickness PCP’s stator, it has been found its displacement distribution
can be formulated as the first three Fourier series, which reflects the straight edge part of the elastomer part is moved
to the arc-edge trends. Also there is a linear relationship between displacement and cavity pressure.
• Poisson's ratio of the elastomer has tremendous impact on the deformation of the stator.
• Compared to the conventional PCP, the even thickness PCP’s stator has not only a much lower strain, but also more
uniform stain distribution. From point of view of the deformation, the even thickness PCP has a better performance
and a longer operational life.
• FEM is an effective way to optimize the structure design of a PCP considering these main influence factors.

Reference

[1] Jin Zhang, Shicheng Zhang, Guocheng Shi. 2003. A Finite Element Analysis on the Conventional Progressive Cavity Pump. Chinese
Quarterly Mechanics, Vol. 24, No.4: 590～598(in Chinese)
[2] D. W. Nicholson, N. W. Nelson. 1990. Finite-element analysis in design with rubber. Rubber Chemistry and Technology, vol.63, P
368-406.
[3] D. J. Charlton, J. Yang, and K. K. Teh. 1994. A review of methods to characterize rubber elastic behavior for use in finite element
analysis. Rubber Chemistry and Technology,67, pp. 481–503.