An integrated laboratory experiment of realistic diagenesis, perforation and sand production using a large artificial sandstone specimen

Abstract

Sand production is, a challenging issue in petroleum industry, mainly associated with weak unconsolidated formations. A novel testing procedure and a new apparatus were developed to conduct an integrated experiment of diagenesis, perforation and sand production on a single large cylindrical artificial sandstone specimen, where solid and fluid pressures can be independently controlled such that realistic reservoir historical conditions can be well simulated in the laboratory. Fluid injection can be performed in both radial and vertical directions, where both single- and two-phase flows can be implemented for study of sand production behaviors at different reservoir's maturity stages. The equipment consists of an intensive instrumentation system to monitor pressures, displacements and material states continuously. The produced sand particles were filtered and monitored in real-time for the study of time-dependent phenomena. The experimental results showed similar patterns to that observed in the field and provided valuable insight for the development of prediction methods for sand production of similar materials.

Keywords

• Sand production
• Equipment development
• Geotechnical testing
• Weak sandstone formations
• New testing procedure