A Simplified Model for the Prediction of the Erosion of a Metal Screen for Sand Control

Abstract

In oil drilling processes, sand production in the oil layer is a common issue, generally mitigated by means of sand control screens. To prevent or reduce the risk of damage of these screens and to improve the related service life, it is necessary to investigate the related erosion dynamics. In this study, a screen mesh model based on the flow field similarity theory is proposed to overcome the otherwise too complex geometric structure of this type of equipment. Such model is optimized using experimental data. The predicted results are in good agreement with the measured values, and the error is less than 15%. The results also show that the simplified geometric screen model and the optimized Zhang et al. erosion model have high reliability; therefore, they could effective be used to select underground screen meshes and improve the design of production process.