Integrity and Performance Evaluation of Offshore Gravel-Pack Sand Control Completions in Unconsolidated Sandstone Reservoirs

Abstract

Unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs, particularly in offshore and marine environments, are highly susceptible to sand production, which leads to flow-capacity degradation, plugging evolution, sand-retention instability, and erosion–corrosion damage in gravel-pack completion systems. To address the lack of system-level and quantitative integrity evaluation methods, a unified assessment framework is developed by coupling flow behavior, sand-retention mechanisms, and erosion–corrosion damage processes. The gravel-pack completion system is idealized as a concentric multilayer porous-medium structure under steady-state radial Darcy flow, and an equivalent radial permeability model is established to characterize flow capacity and anti-plugging performance, which enables consistent comparison of different completion schemes under identical plugging conditions. Based on sand-retention mechanisms, a sand-retention capacity index is proposed by integrating formation particle size distribution, screen aperture, gravel size, and sand-leakage risk. An erosion–corrosion coupled damage model is further developed to predict screen damage rates in CO2-containing environments, and an integrity index is formulated to link damage evolution with long-term service performance. By integrating flow capacity, anti-plugging performance, sand-retention capacity, and structural integrity using a weighted geometric mean, a comprehensive evaluation index is established for overall system integrity assessment. Using the proposed framework, a representative formation sand with d10 = 30 μm, d50 = 180 μm, and d90 = 500 μm is evaluated. The optimal sand control design corresponds to a gravel median size of 971.53 μm (equivalent to a standard 16/20 mesh gravel) and an optimal screen aperture of 523.11 μm, with a screen porosity of 0.56. Under these conditions, the selected screen aperture and gravel size are well matched with the formation sand size, falling within recommended engineering ranges and achieving a favorable balance among sand retention, flow capacity, anti-plugging performance, and structural integrity. The proposed framework provides a quantitative and engineering-applicable basis for the optimization and integrity classification of offshore gravel-pack sand control completions under multi-constraint operating conditions.

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