Analysis of Material Optimization and Performance Parameter Difference of Expandable Sand Screen

Abstract

Sand control technology of expansion sand screen is one of the effective methods to solve the sand problem in oil wells, due to its unique working mode, which has significant benefits in improving production and reducing costs, and has been widely used in the oilfield field. However, the operational conditions that expansion sand screens are subjected to, such as high temperatures, high pressure and high corrosion, exert greater demands on the material performance of the expansion sand screens. The advancement of this technology is predominantly constrained by the intrinsic characteristics of the material in question. In this study, five materials were selected as the base tube materials of the expansion sand screen, namely stainless steel 654SMo, stainless steel Incoloy 27-7Mo, stainless steel 2507, stainless steel Incoloy 625 and stainless steel 316L. These materials were chosen based on their performance requirements in relation to the expansion sand screen. The impact of diverse materials on the expansion performance of base tubes was investigated through a multifaceted approach, integrating tensile experiments, prototype expansion experiments, and finite element analysis. The experimental results demonstrate that stainless steel 316L is a more suitable base tube material under the condition of relatively low requirements for temperature and corrosive environment. Conversely, stainless steel Incoloy 27-7Mo is a more suitable base tube material in more demanding deep well environments. Finally, stainless steel Incoloy 625 is a more suitable base tube material for working conditions with higher requirements for corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. A comparison of the results of the finite element analysis with those of the prototype expansion experiment indicates that the volume percentage of the high stress region is a useful indicator of the expansibility of the base tube to a certain extent. The findings of this study provide a novel evaluation metric for the optimisation of parameters and the selection of materials for expandable sand screen. This has the potential to reduce costs and time during the research process.