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Reduction of “Fingering” in Oil Recovery from Underground Sources

Abstract

THEORETICAL and experimental work shows that a fluid can be made to flow under constant pressure gradient, as quickly through narrow pores as it does through wider pores. When oil is displaced from underground sources by forcing water into the well, the water will flow more quickly into the wider pores, thus leaving oil behind in the narrower pores, a phenomenon called “fingering”. Macromolecular solutions rather than water have been suggested to reduce the fingering; the principle which we have followed was that the anomalous flow effects required will occur when the retardation time in the macro-molecular solution is of the same magnitude as the time the fluid takes to flow from one constriction to the next in the porous medium.

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References

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JONES, W., DAVIES, O. Reduction of “Fingering” in Oil Recovery from Underground Sources. Nature Physical Science 240, 46–48 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/physci240046a0

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