A Systematic Approach to the Design and Development of a New ICD to Minimize Erosion and Erosion-Corrosion

To prevent or minimize problems associated with water coning in horizontal oil producers, inflow control devices (ICDs) are installed along the wellbore to better equalize the toe-to-heel flux. Nozzle-based ICDs are popular because they are easy to model accurately, virtually viscosity independent, and easy to install at the wellsite with many settings. Nozzles can be installed either in the wall of the base-pipe (radial orientation) or in the annulus between the base-pipe and housing (axial orientation). The advantages of the former are smaller maximum-running outer diameter (OD) and no need for a leak-tight, pressure-rated housing. One disadvantage is the high exit velocity that raises concern of erosion or erosion-corrosion of the base-pipe. To overcome this disadvantage, a new nozzle has been developed with a novel geometry that reduces the exit velocity approximately tenfold compared with a conventional nozzle for the same pressure drop and flow rate. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to first fine tune the design to meet strict erosion-corrosion prevention requirements on the wall shear-stress downstream of the nozzle for both production and (acid) injection directions, and then to develop flow-performance curves for four different nozzle “sizes” that vary in their choking ability, thereby allowing many different settings per joint at the wellsite. Full-scale prototype manufacturing and flow-loop testing were then performed to validate the CFD flow-performance predictions and to demonstrate mechanical integrity and erosion resistance for high-rate production and injection. The results, as presented herein, demonstrate a robust and commercially viable ICD design that has predictable flow performance using CFD, minimizes erosion and erosion-corrosion in either direction, minimizes running OD, simplifies the housing design, and allows easy installation at the wellsite with 34 settings per joint. Also discussed are two new advantages over other ICDs that were not anticipated in the original development.