Foamed gel barriers efficiently render porous media impermeable to gas or liquid flow and recently have been considered for fluid diversion. However, exceeding a critical pressure drop across the barrier will rupture conductive channels through the barrier. A foamed gel breakdown model has been developed to estimate the maximum pressure a given barrier can withstand and estimate the permeability after rupture. The simulation results are consistent with laboratory experiments. Only the elastic modulus and the critical failure stress are required to qualitatively compare two different foamed gels.

Keywords:
foamed gel breakdown, pore throat, flow in porous media, experiment, gelled lens, foamed gel, fluid dynamics, dimension, diameter, permeability zone
Subjects:
Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Flow in porous media
Copyright 1994, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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