11248 Choosing Better API RP 14E C Factors for Practical Oilfield Implementation

Available for download

Product Number: 51300-11248-SG

ISBN: 2011 11248 CP

Author: Ronnie Russell, Hang Nguyen, and Kai Sun

Publication Date: 2011

Industries: Oil and Gas Production , Corrosion Monitoring and Control

Member Price: $0.00

Non Member Price: $20.00

Price: $20.00

Qty:

A review of erosion guidelines for allowable production rates is presented and improvements in choosing American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practice (API RP) 14E C-factors are proposed to mitigate erosion that permits higher oil production rates yet keeps erosion rates at acceptable levels. Inadequacy of erosion standard API RP 14E has long been recognized and has led to various alternative erosion modeling tools and commercial options, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and mechanistic models. Simpler alternate API C-factors also have been implemented for many years, based on field experience. Tables in this paper, based on erosion testing, give allowable flow velocities that are more accurate than API RP 14E and allow one to bypass the outdated standard.

Comprehensive erosion investigation quantifies API RP 14E shortcomings and leads to new recommendations. A new look into erosion test data and full-scale testing provides motivation for establishing new C-factor guidelines that are not overly conservative for downhole completion and production applications. These new standards should help operators transition to using better standards of erosion prediction.

This paper presents an evaluation of API RP 14E and new alternative standards that account for sand concentration, allowable erosion rate, and flow geometry. Methods for choosing C-factors and flow velocity limits for practical use will be presented. A simpler practical standard for the common engineer is proposed as an alternative improvement.

Keywords: sand erosion equations, CFD, API RP 14E, erosion guidelines, standards.