Summary
A slurry-type sand-retention test (SRT) that simulates gradual rock failure
around the wellbore has been used widely in the industry to evaluate the
performance of sand-control screens for standalone-screen (SAS) applications.
Using the test results, screen selection is achieved generally on the basis of
the relative ranking of screen performances rather than absolute
performance.
Chanpura et al. (2011) highlighted recently the drawbacks of the current
practices in slurry-type SRT procedures and proposed a new testing and
interpretation methodology. Mondal et al. (2011) proposed simulation methods
and results that, to the best of our knowledge, modeled screen performance
numerically for the first time and presented comparisons to physical
experiments. However, the approach used by Mondal et al. (2011) considers cases
in which hole collapse occurs on wire-wrapped screens (WWSs) and simulates
"prepack" testing as opposed to the slurry-type tests considered in this
work.
In this paper, we present an analytical and a numerical [Monte Carlo (MC)]
approach for the prediction of sand production through sand screens with slot
geometry. We show that the proposed methods can estimate both mass and size
distribution of the produced solids in a slurry-type SRT, taking into account
the full particle-size distribution (PSD) of formation sand for WWSs.
Simulations show that once the slot opening is covered by particles larger than
the slot opening, sand production becomes negligible unless there is a true
"fines" problem, which is characterized by a bimodal size distribution. The
effect of slot-size variation in screen coupons on sand production demonstrates
the importance of proper quality control or at least accurate determination of
slot sizes in these tests. The proposed methods can be used to estimate sand
production in slurry-type SRTs for different screen sizes and thereby can
enable screen-size selection on the basis of a defined acceptable level of sand
production. Final screen selection can be confirmed through an SRT.
© 2012. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
29 March 2011
- Meeting paper published:
8 June 2011
- Revised manuscript received:
18 January 2012
- Manuscript approved:
27 April 2012
- Published online:
22 August 2012
- Version of record:
18 September 2012
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