This paper presents a model describing the process of sand production to predict the stability of wellbores and perforation tunnels as well as mass of sand produced. The sand production model incorporates formation failure and flow-driven sand erosion mechanisms. It is shown that rock failure, near wellbore damage, and fluid flow are important in the sand production process. The model has a small number of required input parameters that can be directly measured in the lab and does not require the use of empirical correlations for determining sand erosion. In addition, the effect of two-phase flow was incorporated in the model to understand a change in sanding pattern when there is water breakthrough.

Two sand production tests are presented in the paper. The first test involved a thick-walled cylinder testing with single-phase flow, which served as a baseline test to validate the model. Water production was simulated by applying a two-phase model. The second test was conducted on a perforated Castlegate sample. It represented a true downhole condition where the perforation damage has impacts on the sanding and must be accounted for. Both tests were simulated using the proposed numerical model and the results successfully demonstrated the model’s capability to predict sand production under different conditions.