Numerical Modeling and Simulation of Viscoelastic
Polymer Flow in Porous Media
Mursal Zeynalli
Khalifa University of Science and Technology
Abu Dhabi, UAE
100053580@ku.ac.ae
Abstract— In this paper, we propose a novel viscoelastic
model to analyze the polymer rheological behavior in porous
media. The main advantage of our model is its ability to
capture the polymer mechanical degradation at ultimate shear
rates primarily observed near wellbores. Furthermore, the
fitting parameters used in the model have been correlated to
the rock and polymer properties, significantly reducing the
need for expensive and time-consuming coreflooding tests for
future polymer screening works. Finally, the proposed model is
implemented in the MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox
(MRST) to evaluate polymer flooding at a field scale and
quantify additional oil recovery.
I. INTRODUCTION
Fossil fuel remains the primary source to satisfy the
continuously accelerating energy demand despite the recent
development in the renewable energy sector [1]. Total oil
consumption was reached around 100 million barrels per day
in 2020 [2]. Moreover, population growth and global
economic expansion in 2015-2035 are forecasted to increase
the total energy needs by around 38%, where oil is expected
to contribute the highest fraction of 27.4% and retain its first
place in energy supply [3]. Therefore, the petroleum industry
needs to apply more advanced techniques to enhance
production from existing fields or make new field
discoveries in order to satisfy future energetic requirements.
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is an essential stage in oil
production that may increase ultimate oil recovery to more
than half of the reservoir's original oil in place (OOIP) [4].
Polymer flooding is a mature chemical EOR technique that
has been extensively used to reduce the mobility of the
injectant fluid. Conventionally, polymer flooding technology
is believed to improve macroscopic sweep efficiency by
producing bypassed oil. That fraction of movable oil
remained unflooded after water injection due to higher water
mobility and/or reservoir heterogeneities [5]. Nevertheless,
recently it has been found that polymers exhibiting
viscoelastic behavior in the porous medium can improve
microscopic displacement efficiency resulting in higher
additional oil recovery. Residual oil mobilization by
viscoelastic polymers was related to extensional flow
resistance in high shear rate regions; the stretchability of
elastic polymers during converging flow results in
considerable extensional viscosity and improves pore-scale
production [6]. Therefore, it is essential to properly predict
the rheology of viscoelastic polymers in porous media and
accurately simulate the process at a field scale.
II. METHODOLOGY
1. Comprehensive Correlation for Predicting Polymer
Apparent Viscosity
Most of the proposed models either require extensive
coreflooding data/extensional measurements to predict the
model parameters or cannot comprehensively characterize
polymer behavior in porous media. Here, we provide another
model, called Extended Unified Apparent Viscosity Model
(E-UVM), capturing all four regimes observed during
viscoelastic polymer flooding, including Newtonian, shear-
thinning, shear-thickening, and mechanical degradation
regimes. In E-UVM, the Newtonian and shear-thinning
regimes are captured using the Carreau model (Equation 1),
while the shear-thickening behavior of viscoelastic polymers
usually observed near the wellbores is modeled by relating
elastic viscosity to the Deborah number (Equation 2). For the
mechanical degradation part, we provide a degradation
multiplier (Equation 3) that reduces the apparent viscosity
beyond critical shear rates. It is found that the multiplier
strongly depends on permeability and polymer properties.
The Extended Unified Apparent Viscosity Model is shown
below (Equation 4):
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Furthermore, in this study, we attempt to reduce the need
for coreflooding data to predict polymer rheological behavior
in porous media. For this purpose, we relate the fitting
parameters to the reservoir and polymer properties using
Symbolic Regression technique embedded in EUREQA. The
correlations with reasonable accuracy and complexity are
selected among the developed expressions and used in our
study.
2. Simulation Studies at Core and Field Scales
In this study, viscoelastic polymer flooding was modeled
at both core and field scales using MATLAB Reservoir
Simulation Toolbox (MRST). Both simulation models were
constructed based on rock and fluid properties representing
the Middle East carbonate reservoirs. The core-scale studies
were conducted primarily to implement the proposed E-
UVM in the reservoir simulator and verify it against the
original rheology model used in MRST. It is worth
mentioning that the oil mobilization was modeled using the
trapping numbers calculated for each gridblock in our
simulation model. Furthermore, the field-scale simulations
were also conducted to evaluate polymer injection in a
quarter five-spot well pattern. Sensitivity analysis was
performed for a field-scale simulation by changing reservoir
permeability, reservoir heterogeneity, polymer concentration,
and injection rate to determine the effect of each variable on
oil recovery.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The proposed E-UVM accounting for all four regimes
was well matched with the experimental data with little
effort. Moreover, the developed correlations for fitting
parameters predicted model parameters with a minor error.
Therefore, we decided that the E-UVM might estimate
polymer apparent viscosities for future polymer screening,
even if coreflooding measurements are not performed.
Furthermore, core-scale predictions in MRST revealed
the positive effect of polymer concentration and injection
rate on oil displacement. It was found that viscoelastic
polymers could displace no residual oil at low injection rates
(0.045 ml/min) using a broad range of polymer
concentrations. However, with the increment in injection
rates, oil recoveries were significantly increased. Moreover,
the comparison between Carreau, UVM, and E-UVM
models in the simulator revealed that using the UVM model
might overestimate the oil recoveries due to excessive shear-
thickening without mechanical degradation evaluation.
Finally, we had similar observations regarding the
polymer concentration and injection rate effect in field-scale
simulations. Moreover, the reduction in permeability and
making the reservoir more heterogeneous impaired oil
recovery.
CONCLUSION
The Extended Unified Apparent Viscosity Model
proposed in this study resolved the limitations of previous
viscoelastic models by comprehensively characterizing
polymer rheology in porous media and having the fitting
parameters correlated to rock and polymer properties.
Moreover, implementing this model in the simulator
improved the predictions in oil recovery under various flow
conditions.
NOMENCLATURE
Shear viscosity, cP
Elastic viscosity, cP
Apparent viscosity, cP
Maximum elongational viscosity, cP
Zero-shear rate viscosity, cP
Infinite-shear rate viscosity, cP
Effective shear rate, s-1
Time constant
Shear-thinning index
Relaxation time, s
Shear-thickening index
Mechanical degradation constant
Mechanical degradation index
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