to a system and methodology for filtering sand from flowing fluid such as from inflowing gas in a gas production well as explained in greater detail below the system and methodology also enable a desired distribution of the flowing fluid across the sand screen while keeping the flow rate of the flowing fluid below an erosion flow rate to protect the sand screen from degradation according to one embodiment a well system is provided with one or more sand screen assemblies coupled into a completion and deployed downhole into a gas well each sand screen assembly comprises a base pipe surrounded by a sand screen which filters particulates from an inflowing stream of gas during gas production the base pipe beneath the sand screen is equipped with a plurality of flow restriction elements through which the inflowing gas moves to an interior of the base pipe after passing through the sand screen the flow restriction elements are sized and distributed to provide a controlled pressure drop and to eliminate regions of high flow velocity along the sand screen the flow velocity is restricted to a rate below an erosion rate of the sand screen to prevent degradation and failure of the sand screen during gas production the flow restriction elements may be arranged in a variety of patterns to provide the controlled pressure drop and thus the controlled flow rate through the sand screen for example multiple flow restriction elements may be evenly distributed along the base pipe to provide an evenly distributed inflow of gas and a consistent pressure drop along the sand screen however other patterns of the flow restriction elements also may be selected to create a desired flow.