Patent ID: 11952886
Assignee: EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING COMPANY
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC E  G  H | IPC E  G  H

Claim 0:
1. A method of detecting sand in a wellbore, comprising:
obtaining well data for a subsurface region, wherein the well data comprises one or more of seismic data, electromagnetic data, resistivity data, gravity data, well log data, core sample data, and any combination thereof, and wherein the well data further comprises equipment data associated with tubular members installed within the wellbore;
determining one or more potential locations for sand within the wellbore based on the obtained well data;
determining a communication network based on the one or more potential locations for sand and the obtained well data, wherein the communication network includes a plurality of communication nodes comprising sensors, and wherein sensors within communication nodes of the plurality of communication nodes installed within a vicinity of the one or more potential locations for sand are arranged in a denser configuration as opposed to sensors within communication nodes of the plurality of communication nodes installed in other locations within the wellbore;
installing the plurality of communication nodes into the wellbore, wherein one or more communication nodes of the plurality of communication nodes are configured to obtain measurement data associated with fluids within the wellbore and to transmit the measurement data to other communication nodes in the communication network;
performing sand detection operations in the wellbore, wherein the performing of the sand detection operations includes:
transmitting a signal from a first of the plurality of communication nodes;
receiving the signal by a second of the plurality of communication nodes,
transmitting data packets associated with the received signal to a control unit via the communication network;
after transmitting the data packets, analyzing a waveform of the received signal to determine whether sand is present in the wellbore from a first property related to sand detection; and
performing hydrocarbon operations in the wellbore.