Prediction of sand problems of a horizontal well from sand production histories of perforated cased wells

This paper compares numerical model predictions and laboratory data on sand production and borehole stability tests. It also compares numerical model predictions and field data on sand production and borehole stability tests. These comparisons show that model predictions agree with both field and laboratory results for sand production problems, however, for borehole stability problems, the model prediction does not necessarily agree with both laboratory and field results. The laboratory results show strong size effect, and the predicted borehole failure conditions lie between those predicted with the non-linear Mohr Coulomb and the non-linear Drucker-Prager. However, the field borehole is generally more stable than the laboratory results and its failure condition is close to the value predicted by the nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb constitutive theory. Using the field calibrated model predictions, a parametric analysis was conducted on the difference of the well flowing pressure between perforated wells and horizontal openholes. The analysis shows that the well flowing pressure to induce sand production for cased wells are normally lower than that of horizontal wells. The pressure difference mainly depends on the horizontal and axial stress ratio, rock deformation and strength properties.