An experimental study on the erosion of stainless steel wire mesh sand screen using sand blasting technique

Abstract

Sand screens are widely used as a mechanical sand control method to minimize sand production at surface. Functioning as a filter, the sand screen retains the formation sand while providing a conduit for fluids to flow into the well. Throughout the producing life of the well, sand erosion takes place which reduces the efficiency of the sand screen to retain sand particles. The factors which affect the sand screen erosion rates include sand characteristics, flow characteristics and impact conditions. In this study, an experimental approach using the sand blasting technique was adapted to study the impact of sand particle size, carrier fluid velocity and impingement angle on the erosive wear of grade 316 stainless steel wire mesh sand screen. The experiments were conducted using three different sand sizes namely 150 μm, 450 μm and 750 μm. The erosive wear of the wire mesh sand screen was tested at impact angles of 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° with air velocities ranging from 74.58 m/s to 33.46 m/s. The results were analysed quantitatively using the weight loss measurements taken before and after the erosion test. In addition, the surface morphology of the eroded wire mesh coupons was analysed qualitatively using the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipment. The erosive wear increased from 1.414 g/g to 4.871 g/g with an increase in particle size from 150 μm to 750 μm. Similar trend was also observed when the air velocity was increased from 33.46 m/s to 74.58 m/s. In addition, the highest erosive wear (12.409 g/g) was recorded at an impact angle of 45° corresponding to the trend observed by other researchers using ductile metals for erosion studies. The morphology evaluation of the eroded wire mesh coupons indicates that the erosion mechanism varies according to the sand characteristics and flow properties. The number and magnitude of craters increased as the particle size and impact velocity was increased, showing an increment in energy levels of the erodent. Moreover, SEM analysis shows a shift in the erosion mechanism from micro-ploughing to deeper ploughing and pitting mechanism when the impact angle was increased from 30° to 45°. However, the magnitude of ploughing and pitting reduced as the impact angle was increased to 60° and 90°. The surface morphology evaluation corresponds with the weight loss measurements whereby the highest weight loss was observed at an impact angle of 45°.