Sand control and formation damage laboratory: full-service testing and applied research

The Sand Control & Formation Damage Laboratory at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, offers full-service laboratory testing and applied research to help industry address sand production, screen plugging, fines migration, and loss of well productivity.

We work with operators, completion providers, and technology developers to design testing programs around their reservoir materials, operating conditions, and engineering decisions. Our team performs the testing, analyzes the results, and provides practical interpretation.

Testing and collaboration areas include:

• Sand-retention testing to evaluate sand-control screens and completion options, including measurements of sand production, pressure drop, and plugging behaviour. • Particle-size distribution analysis and preparation of representative sand mixtures for testing. • Comparative evaluation of screen types and aperture sizes for specific formations. • Formation-damage and fines-migration investigations to understand permeability impairment and flow restrictions. • Customized experiments to investigate field problems and evaluate new completion designs or mitigation approaches.

Projects can range from focused comparisons of candidate screens to broader sponsored research programs. Test scope, sample requirements, operating conditions, equipment suitability, deliverables, cost, and scheduling are agreed upon before work begins.

Partners can initiate a project by sharing a brief description of the problem, available samples or data, and the decision the testing should support. We then develop a proposed testing plan and quotation or research scope.

We welcome industry challenges that require both reliable experimental evidence and the development of practical, innovative solutions.