Deformable gel particles (DPGs) has been used for performance control in petroleum industry. The filtration behaviors of DPGs including shearing, plugging, deformation, and breakage, which is much different from Deep bed filtration. Although some empirical knowledge or models have been reported in literature, there have been few quantitative investigations or mechanistic interpretations to such behaviors. Therefore, quantification of DPG filtration in porous media is extremely essential. In this paper, we first conducted experiments to directly observe and measure the characteristics of a DPG transport in a variable-diameter capillary. After that, experiments of DPG transport in pores were conducted to study and quantify the plugging, shearing, and breakage behaviors in different scenarios using sand packs. Finally, the above quantitative knowledge were used to optimize DPGs treatment for EOR, and oil displacement experiments of parallel sand packs with interlayer were carried out to apply and validate the novel method.

The breakage and deep plugging law of deformable gel particle (DGP) in porous media are not clear. In this study, the flow experiments of DGP were carried out, the changes of residual resistance coefficient (RRC), DGP size and concentration along the way were measured, and the breakage and plugging law of DGP was quantitatively characterized. The results show that the passage after breakage is the main migration behaviors of DGP, and DGP are reduced by half in front of the porous media. Breakage is an important reason for the continuous decrease of concentration, particle size and RRC. However, the DGP can plug in deep of the porous media after breaking. The higher the injection rate or the larger the DGP size, the faster the breakage along the injection direction, and the worse the deep plugging ability. The empirical model can be used to optimize the DGP parameters in oil field.