Microwave sensing of sand production from petroleum wells

Abstract

Sand production in petroleum wells is a major concern for the petroleum industry. Sand production results in erosion of pipelines and damage to equipment which may lead to production shutdown and large economic losses. Detection of produced sand is important for optimizing flow rates and measuring the success of sand mitigation techniques. Recently, microwave nondestructive testing was considered as a potential new sensing solution for the detection of sand production. This paper presents preliminary simulations and measurements for such a sensing approach using open-ended waveguides. Different production scenarios are considered for a stratified flow regime. The results indicate that this sensing method can detect the presence of sand. Preliminary measurements are also presented for varying amounts of sand that further support the potential of this technique.