Effects of fluid flow rate and viscosity on gravel-pack plugging and the optimization of sand-control wells production

Abstract

Series of experiments were performed to simulate the invasion of formation sand into and the plugging process of gravel-pack at different viscosities and flowing rates of fluid. Two types of formation sands with the medium size of 0.10 mm and 0.16 mm and the quartz sand and ceramsite of 0.6—1.2 mm were used in the experiments. A new viscosity-velocity index (the product of fluid viscosity and velocity) was put forward to characterize the influencing mechanism and law of physical property and flow condition of formation fluid on gravel-pack plugging, and a new method to optimize the production rate of wells controlling sand production with gravel-packing was proposed. The results show that the permeability of formation sand invaded zone and final permeability of plugged gravel-pack have negative correlations with viscosity and flow velocity of fluid, the higher the flow velocity and viscosity, the lower the permeability of formation sand invaded zone and final permeability of plugged gravel-pack will be. The flow velocity and viscosity of fluid are key factors affecting plugging degree of the gravel zone. The viscosity-velocity index (v-v index) can reflect the flow characteristics of fluid very well and make it easier to analyze the plugging mechanism of gravel zone. For different combinations of fluid viscosity and flow velocity, if the v-v index is the same or close, their impact on the final gravel permeability would be the same or close. With the increase of the v-v index, the permeability of plugged gravel zone decreases first, then the reduction rate slows down till the permeability stabilizes. By optimizing production and increasing production step by step, the optimal working scheme for sand-control well can reduce the damage to gravel-pack zone permeability caused by sand-carrying fluid effectively, and increase well productivity and extend the sand control life. Key words: gravel-pack, sand retention experiment, plugging law, viscosity-velocity index, working scheme, optimization method, plugging simulation