Polymer flooding for enhanced oil recovery is increasingly in demand in countries such as Colombia, where ECOPETROL has taken major steps in applying this technique to revitalize mature oil fields. The purpose of injecting polymer into reservoirs is to increase the viscosity of the aqueous phase to enhance the mobility ratio. Several aspects can affect and weaken the performance of a polymer flooding operation, however, most of them can be controlled. One of the most important factors is the degradation of the polymer by shear, which causes a reduction in the aqueous phase viscosity. This study was based on work related to the degradation of HPAM solutions induced by the use of regulator valves to control flow and pressure in multiple zones in the same well or multiple wells connected to the same pump. Several tests were completed in a facility designed and prepared to perform regulator valves testing. The results obtained during the initial phase of the testing were compared to computational fluid dynamics simulations, obtaining a shear degradation model which can be used to optimize the design of regulator valves or any other flow control device.

中文翻译：

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用于聚合物驱EOR调节阀设计的HPAM解决方案的剪切降解模型

在哥伦比亚等国家，对提高聚合物采收率的聚合物驱油的需求日益增加，在这些国家，ECOPETROL采取了重大步骤来应用该技术来振兴成熟的油田。将聚合物注入储层中的目的是增加水相的粘度以提高迁移率。几个方面会影响和削弱聚合物驱的性能，但是，大多数方面都可以控制。最重要的因素之一是聚合物由于剪切作用而降解，这导致水相粘度降低。这项研究基于与使用调节阀控制同一井或连接到同一泵的多个井中多个区域的流量和压力引起的HPAM解决方案退化相关的工作。在设计并准备进行调节阀测试的设施中完成了几项测试。在测试的初始阶段获得的结果与计算流体动力学模拟进行了比较，获得了剪切降解模型，该模型可用于优化调节阀或任何其他流量控制设备的设计。