Hydrocarbon wells including crosslinked polymer granules in sand control structures and methods of completing the hydrocarbon wells

A hydrocarbon well, comprising:

• a wellbore that that extends within a subsurface region;
• a downhole tubular that defines a tubular conduit and extends within the wellbore, wherein the downhole tubular includes a fluid-permeable segment;
• and
• a sand control structure positioned within an annular space that extends between the wellbore and the fluid-permeable segment, wherein the sand control structure is configured to restrict migration of formation sands from the subsurface region into the tubular conduit via the fluid-permeable segment, wherein the sand control structure includes a plurality of crosslinked polymer granules, wherein a characteristic dimension of each crosslinked polymer granule of the plurality of crosslinked polymer granules is at least 250 micrometers and at most 2 millimeters, and further wherein each crosslinked polymer granule contains a highly crosslinked polymeric material that includes:
• (i) a plurality of polyethylene polymer chains;
• and
• (ii) a plurality of chemical crosslinks, wherein the plurality of chemical crosslinks includes chemical crosslinks that covalently bond a given polyethylene polymer chain of the plurality of polyethylene polymer chains to another polyethylene polymer chain of the plurality of polyethylene polymer chains.