Experimental evaluation of metal foam for sand control

Abstract Metal foam, a metal material with a porous structure, is applied as sand control screens. The porosity and pore size of metal foam can be varied to meet sand control requirements. Five types of metal foam screens are designed and tested to evaluate the sand control capability of metal foam. Based on the weakly consolidated reservoir conditions in Bohai Bay, the effects of metal foam screen structure and formation properties on sand control are investigated. The results show that sand control capability of metal foam screens is a function of their thickness and pore size. The anti-plugging ability of the screens is very sensitive to clay content. Using standard sands for sand control experiments, the nominal precision of different metal foam screens can be obtained. The experimental results in this paper provide preliminary but useful implications for design and field application of metal foam as sand control screens. The study also shows that metal foam screen has unique advantages in sand control capacity and ease of field implementation compared with conventional high-quality independent screen and gravel pack, implying it is a promising new solution for sand control.