Polymer flooding of oil formations with bottom water

A quasi-one-dimensional model describing the process of polymer flooding of oil formations underlain by bottom water is proposed. The model is based on the assumption of instantaneous gravitational phase separation along the vertical and is a generalization of the hydrodynamic model previously considered in [1]. The self-similar solutions constructed show that in the case of polymer flooding of an oil formation the presence of bottom water leads to qualitative changes in the saturation and concentration distribution and has an important influence on both the running and the final oil output. The results obtained are consistent with the data of two-dimensional numerical modeling of the process [2] and indicate the possibility of more efficient exploitation of water-oil zones as a result of pumping thickened water into the formation.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 84–90, May–June, 1986.