Self-assembling porous gravel pack in a wellbore
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsMichael Linley Fripp, Cem Sonat, Stephen Michael Greci, Brandon Thomas Least
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for a wellbore can include a tubing string positioned downhole in a wellbore and a porous gravel pack. The porous gravel pack can be positioned in an annulus defined at least in part by a surface of the tubing string. The porous gravel pack can be made up of a plurality of grains. Each grain can include a core surrounded at least in part by a sheath. The core can comprise an expandable material that can expand in response to coming in contact with a fluid. The sheath can surround the core and can be deformable in response to the core expanding in response being exposed to a fluid.
Claims18
A system for use downhole in a wellbore comprising:
- a tubing string positionable downhole in a wellbore;
- and
- a porous gravel pack positionable in an annulus defined at least in part by a surface of the tubing string, the porous gravel pack comprising a plurality of grains, each grain of the plurality of grains having an unexpanded position and an expanded position, wherein each grain of the plurality of grains comprises:
- a core comprising an expandable material, the expandable material configured to expand from the unexpanded position to the expanded position in response to coming in contact with a fluid;
- and
- a sheath surrounding a portion of the core, wherein the sheath does not fully extend over at least one end of the core in the unexpanded position, wherein the sheath is deformable in response to the expansion of the core into the expanded position,
- wherein in the expanded position, each grain of the plurality of grains has a length to diameter ratio that is greater than 1, and
- wherein in the expanded position a fluid passageway is formed between a first grain of the plurality of grains and a second grain of the plurality of grains, the fluid passageway being defined by a deformed first sheath of the first grain and a deformed second sheath of the second grain, wherein the deformed first sheath and the deformed second sheath prevent a portion of the core of the first grain of the plurality of grains from contacting a portion of the core of the second grain of the plurality of grains for defining the fluid passageway.
A method of installing a porous gravel pack downhole in a wellbore, the method comprising:
- positioning a porous gravel pack around a tubing string, the porous gravel pack comprising a plurality of grains, each grain of the plurality of grains having an unexpanded position and an expanded position, wherein each grain of the plurality of grains comprises:
- a core comprising an expandable material that expands in response to coming in contact with a fluid from an unexpanded position to an expanded position;
- and
- a sheath surrounding a portion of the core, wherein the sheath does not fully extend over at least one end of the core in the unexpanded position, wherein the sheath is deformable in response to the core expanding to the expanded position wherein in the expanded position, each grain of the plurality of grains has a length to diameter ratio that is greater than 1, and wherein in the expanded position a fluid passageway is formed between a first grain of the plurality of grains and a second grain of the plurality of grains, the fluid passageway being defined by a deformed first sheath of the first grain and a deformed second sheath of the second grain, wherein the deformed first sheath and the deformed second sheath prevent a portion of the core of the first grain of the plurality of grains from contacting a portion of the core of the second grain of the plurality of grains for defining the fluid passageway;
- and
- injecting the fluid into the wellbore for placing the fluid in contact with the plurality of grains of the porous gravel pack, wherein in response to contact with the fluid, the core of each grain of the plurality of grains expands to the expanded position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.