THE ADVANCES OF NUMERICAL SIMULATION FOR GRAVEL PACKING IN HORIZONTAL WELLS

This paper reviews the latestadvances of numerical simulation for gravel packing in horizontal wells.The discussions focus on the following topics: gravel packing processmechanism and technology; calculation model for equilibrium bankheight and critical velocity in packing. A description is made on slurry flow inscreen/wellbore annuli, carried fluid flow in wash-pipe/screen annuli andfluid transfer between two flow system and fluid leak-off into formation.The mathematical model for bank height in \alpha wavepacking, factors affecting horizontal well gravel-packefficiency and existing problems are also discussed.