A comprehensive approach in predicting excessive sand production

摘要

In this paper, a comprehensive geomechanical approach is proposed to predict the excessive sand production in an effective way that includes: a) employing analytical method with the combination of experience-based empirical rules and analytical expressions from the simplified sanding model (e.g., determining the correlation between critical drawdown rate and formation rock strength, delineating the sand-free envelope based on the reservoir depletion history and desired critical bottomhole flowing pressure as well as formation compressive strength, and assessing the suitability of each method under a particular case); b) performing a numerical method using the complex constitutive relationships and realistic completion configurations in three-dimensional field environment (e.g., recording the transition of formation from brittle to ductile states with increasing drawdown pressure until the catastrophic failure occurs, i.e., the rock plastic deformation exceeds the critical value; employing the finite element techniques to represent the behavior of heterogeneous rocks, such as faults; and simulating the production scenario under desired sand prevention devices); and c) conducting an experimental method using laboratory rock mechanical testing techniques (e.g., determining the correlation between wellbore strength and maximum differential pressure via thick-wall cylinder tests, calculating the maximum drawdown pressure using simulated depletion tests, and determining the impact of stress path on the maximum depletion from pore-volume compressibility tests).