Application of Open-Ended Coaxial Probes for Detection of Sand Production from Petroleum Wells

Abstract

Microwave nondestructive testing (NDT) has shown success in many industries including aerospace and infrastructure. Recently the potential for applying microwave NDT methods in the petroleum industry, specifically for detection of sand in produced petroleum fluids, was investigated. Flowing sand grains cause erosion of many components in the production system including tubing, piping and associated connections, and fluids-processing equipment. Detection of produced sand is important to planning operations and the application of sand production mitigation techniques. To this end, a simple, cost-effective microwave sensor design has been considered. This paper presents simulation and measurement results for this simplified sensor design for various production scenarios. The results indicate the proposed sensing method is sensitive to the presence of sand and may have the potential to serve as a tool for detection of produced sand in the petroleum industry.

Meeting Name

IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference: Instrumentation and Measurement for Sustainable Development (2014: May 12-15, Montevideo, Uruguay)

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Second Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Microwave Nondestructive Testing; Microwave Sensing; Open-Ended Coaxial Probe; Petroleum Production Monitoring; Sand Production; Microwaves; Oil Wells; Planning; Probe; Nondestructive Examination

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-1-4673-6386-0

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1091-5281

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2014 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 May 2014

Link to Full Text

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