THE EFFECT OF FLOW SHEARING ON WEAK GEL FORMATION FROM AQUEOUS POLYMER/CROSSLINKER GELLING SOLUTIONS

The gelation of an HPAM/Cr acetate, an HPAM/phenolic resin,and a xanthane/Cr acetate aqueous gelling solutions and the dynamic modulus recovery after standing of the weak gels formed from these solutions are investigated in the course of continuous viscosimetric Couette flow at low shear rate(simulating comon bottle experiments) and of flow through porous media-sandpacks with definite sand particle size at definite flow rate(simulating flow of indepth permeability controlling fluids in reservoir formations). The effect of sand particle size, flow rate and temperature on the gelation time determined in porous media flow is studied in comparison with the data for Couetter flow. It is shown that the gelation of the HPAM gelling solutions flowing in sandpack is notably delayed as compared with that in Couette flow and the smaller the sand particle size and the higher the flow rate the more significantly the gelation is delayed. For xanthane/Cr acetate solution, no abrupt rise is observed in pore resistance flow time curves as to find out its gelation time. The experimental phenomina are explained.