Study of Sand Production in Vertical and Horizontal Boreholes on a True Triaxial Loading Unit

This article presents the results of a series of experiments on physical modeling of the process of bottom-hole pressure draw down to the destruction of reservoir rocks in order to study sand production in vertical and horizontal boreholes at one of the West Siberian gas fields. Tests of specimens according to the hollow cylinder program were carried out on the facility Triaxial Independent Load Test System of the Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The paper presents the stress–strain curves of the specimens under study, as well as the dependence of the mass of sand production on compressive stresses. The values of stresses at which the sand began to be removed were determined and the patterns of fractured holes were analyzed. The results obtained indicate the presence of strength anisotropy of reservoir rocks from one of the West Siberian gas fields. It is shown that for the case of a horizontal borehole, sand production from the holes began at much lower values of compressive stresses, and the mass of the outflow sand was much greater.