Sand Control Screen Breach Feature for Fracturing Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sand screens in the resource recovery industry are prone to damage from high pressure and high flow rate fracturing fluids, leading to premature degradation and increased erosion, which raises costs and reduces the effectiveness of recovery operations.
Innovation Solution
A sand control screen system with a housing, filtration configuration, and a breach feature that segregates the filtered volume from the inner diameter, allowing for protection during fracturing operations by isolating the filtration configuration from the high-pressure fracturing fluid and enabling safe communication during production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sand screens are used in hydraulic fracturing operations, then fluid filtration is achieved, but the screens suffer damage from high pressure and high flow rate fluids
Solution Approach 1:
The screen system is divided into distinct functional zones: a fracture zone with high-velocity fluid injection capability and a production zone with filtration capability. The breaching feature acts as a boundary that separates these zones, allowing the filtration media to be protected from direct exposure to high-velocity fracturing fluid while still enabling fluid transfer between zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The breach feature is pre-formed in the housing to create a controlled pathway for fracturing fluid. This preliminary structural feature allows high-velocity fluid to be directed through a specific path that bypasses the filtration media during fracturing operations, preventing damage before it can occur.
2Productivity
If the filtration configuration is exposed to high pressure fracturing fluid, then fluid delivery is enabled, but the filtration media degrades prematurely
Solution Approach 1:
The breaching feature serves as an intermediary element between the fracture zone and the production zone. It provides a controlled interface that allows fracturing fluid to pass from the high-velocity fracture zone to the production zone without directly impacting the filtration media, thus mediating the interaction between productive fluid flow and screen protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful high-velocity fracturing fluid flow is extracted from the path that would otherwise directly contact the filtration media. By creating a separate fracture zone and using the breaching feature as a controlled interface, the dangerous flow characteristics are removed from the environment surrounding the screen, allowing the screen to focus solely on its filtration function.
3Reliability
If the breach feature is not present, then the screen structure is simpler, but the filtration configuration cannot be protected during fracturing
Solution Approach 1:
The breaching feature performs multiple functions: it serves as a structural element of the housing, creates a controlled flow pathway for fracturing fluid, and acts as a protective barrier for the filtration media. By integrating these multiple functions into a single feature, the design achieves screen protection without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A sand control screen system including a housing having an inner diameter, a filtration configuration disposed about the housing, a filtered volume between the housing and the filtration configuration, and a breach feature segregating the filtered volume from the inner diameter.