Rheological behaviour of single-phase non-Newtonian polymer solution in complex pore geometry: a simulation approach.

Idahosa, Patrick E.G.; Oluyemi, Gbenga Folorunso; Prabhu, Radhakrishna; Oyeneyin, Babs

Abstract

One of the most important criteria for evaluating chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes that use polymers is its rheological behaviour which in turn account for other physical effects of adsorption and resistance factors during polymer-rock interactions. However, complete knowledge of behaviour of polymer solution in porous media has not yet been fully gained. A computational fluid dynamics simulations implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics is used to simulate 1-D single-phase, non-elastic xanthan gum flow in geometries approximating formation pore throats. Simulation results show the degree of solution viscosity degradation at different inlet pressures and shear rates at varying pore constriction diameters. Results also show that numerical techniques can predict the performances of polymer solution applications in actual field operational conditions.

Citation

IDAHOSA, P., OLUYEMI, G., PRABHU, R. and OYENEYIN, B. 2014. Rheological behaviour of single-phase non-Newtonian polymer solution in complex pore geometry: a simulation approach. In Proceedings of the 2014 COMSOL conference, 17-19 September 2014, Cambridge, UK. Burlington: COMSOL [online], article ID 18685. Available from: https://www.comsol.com/paper/rheological-behaviour-of-single-phase-non-newtonian-polymer-solution-in-complex--18685

• Conference Name: 2014 COMSOL conference
• Conference Location: Cambridge, UK
• Start Date: Sep 17, 2014
• End Date: Sep 19, 2014
• Acceptance Date: Sep 17, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Sep 17, 2014
• Publication Date: Sep 17, 2014
• Deposit Date: Sep 19, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 19, 2016
• Print ISSN: 2372-2215
• Publisher: COMSOL Group
• Article Number: 18685
• Series ISSN: 2372-2215
• Keywords: Rheological behaviour Porethroats; Xanthan gum; Pressure distribution; Injection rates
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1771
• Publisher URL: https://www.comsol.com/paper/rheological-behaviour-of-single-phase-non-newtonian-polymer-solution-in-complex--18685