This paper discusses a study into the effects of annular flow in standalone screen completions. Conventional stand alone screen designs do not constrain flow to within the basepipe. Flow is able to enter the toe of any joint and travel along the annulus before entering again at the heel section of the joint. The paper discusses the use of computation fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling carried out to illustrate the significance of the annular component on the flow and how this will affect annular solids transport and subsequently the erosion and lifetime performance of conventional screens.

This work is particularly significant in high rate gas completions. The conventional approach in the industry when using stand alone screens in gas wells is to maximize the flow area from annulus to basepipe by utilising the highest possible basepipe perforation density. This paper illustrates the fallacy in using this conventional approach and how this will significantly increase the potential for erosion.

The paper will show that the use of conventional standalone screens, and also conventional inflow control device (ICD) screens will result in a significantly high potential for erosion in the screens. This paper will propose an alternative screen philosophy for standalone screen completions in high rate gas wells, and illustrate how this philosophy will be an improvement on the current approach.