Numerical Analysis of Gravel Packing in Water Control Completion for Horizontal Wells: Mathematical Characterization and Experimental Validation

Horizontal well technology has emerged as a key approach in oil and gas development, particularly for addressing sand production and water breakthrough in offshore reservoirs. To improve the design and efficiency of gravel packing in water control completions, a novel two-dimensional, time-dependent numerical model is developed to simulate slurry flow behavior in horizontal sections. The model accounts for the coupled flow in the screen–wellbore and screen–base pipe annuli, incorporating governing equations for momentum, mass conservation, formation filtration, and gravel settling. The computational domain is discretized by using the finite difference method, and the nonlinear algebraic system is solved via the BFGS quasi-Newton algorithm. Boundary conditions include a slurry inlet velocity of 0.159 m³/min and an initial gravel concentration of 59.87 kg/m³, using 40/60 mesh gravel suspended in a Newtonian brine-based fluid. Experimental validation was performed under two scenarios: with and without auxiliary flow tools. Results show good agreement between simulation and measurements with maximum relative errors of 7.1% and 4.65%, respectively. The auxiliary flow tool significantly reduces the level of gravel accumulation and delays sand plugging. This work provides a validated predictive model and offers valuable guidance for optimizing gravel packing and water control strategies in complex horizontal well completions.