Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology
Volume 51, Number 5, September 2012, pp. 403-410

Summary

This paper presents a numerical model to study the onset and rate of sand production and compares its predictions against physical-model testing data on Salt Wash South (SWS) sandstone. A reliable sand-prediction tool is essential in sand-production management. It enables engineers to improve well-completion design, with the aim of maximizing well productivity without compromising well integrity.

A sanding test on a weakly consolidated sandstone sample was numerically simulated using a finite-difference-based numerical model. The model is based on erosional mechanics in which coupling between fluid flow and mechanical deformation captures some of the key mechanisms that are involved in sand production. Sand is assumed to be produced when the material is fully degraded and hydrodynamic forces are high enough to remove the particles.

The outcome of the numerical model shows a reasonable agreement against perforation-test results in terms of the onset and rate of sand production. The model shows that sand production initiates from the perforation tip and propagates to the top and sides of the perforation cavity. The sanding rate increases at higher flow rates. Furthermore, the model predicts external deformations of the sample, which are in close agreement with the experimental observations.

© 2012. Society of Petroleum Engineers

View full textPDF ( 4,515 KB )

History

• Original manuscript received: 29 March 2011
• Revised manuscript received: 22 September 2011
• Manuscript approved: 17 December 2011
• Published online: 17 July 2012
• Version of record: 5 September 2012