{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T15:17:46Z","timestamp":1772119066015,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772064000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52274050"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52274050"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010244","name":"Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2462024YJRC003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2462024YJRC003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010244","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52204056"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52204056"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Knowledge of the migration characteristics of polymer systems in pore throats is essential for the effective application of polymers as a profile-control oil-displacement agent for enhanced oil recovery. In this study, the effect of concentration on the viscosity and hydrodynamic radius of polymer systems was investigated using a rheometer and a dynamic light scattering instrument. Furthermore, pore-throat models, homogeneous cores, and multi-measuring-point sand-packed models were constructed to investigate pore-scale migration patterns and the effect of the throat\u2013polymer ratio (defined as the ratio of throat size to polymer hydrodynamic radius) on the migration properties of polymers in porous media. The results showed that the transport of polymer systems in porous media is primarily related to the throat\u2013polymer ratio. When this ratio is sufficiently small (i.e., no more than 18.94), the migration pattern of the polymer systems in the pore-throat model does not exhibit the characteristics of polymer solution flow, but rather, of discontinuous-dispersion retention, plugging-breakthrough migration, and stable-plugging retention. Upon increasing the injection rate, the polymer systems also exhibit the migration characteristics of discontinuous dispersion at a larger throat\u2013polymer ratio. Moreover, polymer system migration resistance and improved sweep efficiency in porous media are influenced by not only the viscosity of polymer systems, but also the throat\u2013polymer ratio. The smaller the throat\u2013polymer ratio, the stronger the retention and plugging ability of the polymer systems. The outcomes of this study are significant for the design of polymer flooding operations in oilfields.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18050568","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T13:58:03Z","timestamp":1772114283000},"page":"568","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["New Insights into the Migration Characteristics of Polymer Systems in Porous Media"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6074-9000","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lijuan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shutong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Exploration and Development Research Institute of Changqing Oilfield Company, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiqun","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Exploration and Development Research Institute of Changqing Oilfield Company, Xi\u2019an 710021, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jirui","family":"Zou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Energy Innovation, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China"},{"name":"National Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7314-8784","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Renbao","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-6412-7782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuan","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiang\u2019an","family":"Yue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116","DOI":"10.2118\/174541-PA","article-title":"Status of Polymer-Flooding Technology","volume":"54","author":"Sheng","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Can. Pet. Technol."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"196","article-title":"Chemical flooding development status and prospect","volume":"38","author":"Liao","year":"2017","journal-title":"Acta Pet. Sin."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"636","DOI":"10.1016\/S1876-3804(18)30071-5","article-title":"Technologies of enhancing oil recovery by chemical flooding in Daqing Oilfield","volume":"45","author":"Sun","year":"2018","journal-title":"Pet. Explor. Dev."},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"65","article-title":"Researching the oil-displacement technique of micro-branched and hydrophobic associating polymer","volume":"25","author":"Zhang","year":"2013","journal-title":"China Offshore Oil Gas"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tahir, M., Hincapie, R.E., and Ganzer, L. (2020). Influence of Sulfate Ions on the Combined Application of Modified Water and Polymer Flooding\u2014Rheology and Oil Recovery. Energies, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/en13092356"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gbadamosi, A., Patil, S., Kamal, M.S., Adewunmi, A.A., Yusuff, A.S., Agi, A., and Oseh, J. (2022). Application of Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Review. Polymers, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/polym14071433"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shakeel, M., Samanova, A., Pourafshary, P., and Hashmet, M.R. (2021). Capillary Desaturation Tendency of Hybrid Engineered Water-Based Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods. Energies, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/en14144368"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Palyanitsina, A., Safiullina, E., Byazrov, R., Podoprigora, D., and Alekseenko, A. (2022). Environmentally Safe Technology to Increase Efficiency of High-Viscosity Oil Production for the Objects with Advanced Water Cut. Energies, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/en15030753"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Khlaifat, A.L., Fakher, S., and Harrison, G.H. (2024). Evaluating Factors Impacting Polymer Flooding in Hydrocarbon Reservoirs: Laboratory and Field-Scale Applications. Polymers, 16.","DOI":"10.3390\/polym16010075"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211753","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geoen.2023.211753","article-title":"Nanoparticles assisted polymer flooding: Comprehensive assessment and empirical correlation","volume":"226","author":"Salem","year":"2023","journal-title":"Geoenergy Sci. Eng."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"910","DOI":"10.1016\/j.petsci.2023.02.002","article-title":"Polymer flooding: Current status and future directions","volume":"20","author":"Seright","year":"2023","journal-title":"Pet. Sci."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jiao, G., Zhu, S., Ye, Z., Shu, Z., Wang, X., and Wang, D. (2023). The effect of shear on the properties of an associated polymer solution for oil displacement. Polymers, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/polym15030616"},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"45","article-title":"Viscous-elastic polymer can increase micro-scale displacement efficiency in cores","volume":"21","author":"Wang","year":"2000","journal-title":"Acta Pet. Sin."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104444","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jnnfm.2020.104444","article-title":"Influence of physical and rheological properties of sweeping fluids on the residual oil saturation at the micro-and macroscale","volume":"286","author":"Druetta","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Non-Newton. Fluid Mech."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2021WR029688","DOI":"10.1029\/2021WR029688","article-title":"A Coreflood-on-a-Chip Study of Viscoelasticity\u2019s Effect on Reducing Residual Saturation in Porous Media","volume":"57","author":"Du","year":"2021","journal-title":"Water Resour. Res."},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"105","article-title":"Flow performance of viscoelastic polymer solution in dead end of reservoir pores","volume":"31","author":"Zhang","year":"2004","journal-title":"Pet. Explor. Dev."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"148","DOI":"10.1016\/S1876-3804(21)60013-7","article-title":"EOR mechanisms of polymer flooding in a heterogeneous oil reservoir","volume":"48","author":"Lu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Pet. Explor. Dev."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1151","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fuel.2018.10.089","article-title":"Effect of profile-control oil-displacement agent on increasing oil recovery and its mechanism","volume":"237","author":"Cao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Fuel"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2118\/174553-PA","article-title":"Analysis of Reservoir Applicability of Hydrophobically Associating Polymer","volume":"21","author":"Xie","year":"2016","journal-title":"SPE J."},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"102","article-title":"Molecular weight optimization for polymer flooding","volume":"21","author":"Cheng","year":"2000","journal-title":"Acta Pet. Sin."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"125","article-title":"Study on Hydrodynamic Size and Optimal Matching Injection of Polymer in the Chemical Flooding","volume":"33","author":"Luo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Oilfield Chem."},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"609","article-title":"Compatibility between polymer molecular size and pore throat in reservoirs","volume":"33","author":"Zhu","year":"2006","journal-title":"Pet. Explor. Dev."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"558","DOI":"10.1016\/j.petrol.2019.02.076","article-title":"Matching between the diameter of the aggregates of hydrophobically associating polymers and reservoir pore-throat size during polymer flooding in an offshore oilfield","volume":"177","author":"Xie","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Pet. Sci. Eng."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1122\/1.549660","article-title":"Rodlike Polymer Solution Flow through Fine Pores: Influence of Pore Size on Rheological Behavior","volume":"26","author":"Chauveteau","year":"1982","journal-title":"J. Rheol."},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"90","article-title":"Experimental study on flow characteristics of polymer solutions in microtubes","volume":"43","author":"Yue","year":"2011","journal-title":"Chin. J. Theor. Appl. Mech."},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"23","article-title":"Flow regular pattern experiment of polymer solution in porous medium","volume":"29","author":"Wei","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Petrochem. Univ."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.2118\/129200-PA","article-title":"New insights into polymer rheology in porous media","volume":"16","author":"Seright","year":"2011","journal-title":"SPE J."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Delshad, M., Kim, D.H., Magbagbeola, O.A., Huh, C., Pope, G.A., and Tarahhom, F. (2008, January 20\u201323). Mechanistic interpretation and utilization of viscoelastic behavior of polymer solutions for improved polymer-flood efficiency. Proceedings of the SPE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, OK, USA.","DOI":"10.2118\/113620-MS"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chauveteau, G. (1981, January 4\u20137). Molecular interpretation of several different properties of flow of coiled polymer solutions through porous media in oil recovery conditions. Proceedings of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, TX, USA.","DOI":"10.2118\/10060-MS"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1007\/s11242-017-0896-y","article-title":"Polymer flow through porous media: Numerical prediction of the contribution of slip to the apparent viscosity","volume":"119","author":"Quintard","year":"2017","journal-title":"Transp. Porous Media"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100","DOI":"10.1016\/j.petrol.2013.03.021","article-title":"Rheology and mechanical degradation of high-molecular-weight partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide during flow through capillaries","volume":"105","author":"Mansoor","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Pet. Sci. Eng."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104120","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jconhyd.2022.104120","article-title":"Experimental study of DNAPL displacement by a new densified polymer solution and upscaling problems of aqueous polymer flow in porous media","volume":"252","author":"Omirbekov","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Contam. Hydrol."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116638","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ces.2021.116638","article-title":"Upscaling non-Newtonian rheological fluid properties from pore-scale to Darcy\u2019s scale","volume":"239","author":"Shende","year":"2021","journal-title":"Chem. Eng. Sci."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1065","DOI":"10.2118\/1688-PA","article-title":"Flow of polymer solutions through porous media","volume":"19","author":"Dauben","year":"1967","journal-title":"J. Pet. Technol."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Satken, B. (2021). Adsorption\/Retention of Polymer Solution in Porous Media. [Ph.D. Thesis, Universit\u00e9 de Bordeaux]."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1827","DOI":"10.2118\/201112-PA","article-title":"Extensional effects during viscoelastic polymer flooding: Understanding the unresolved challenges","volume":"25","author":"Azad","year":"2020","journal-title":"SPE J."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1017\/jfm.2022.565","article-title":"Birefringent strands drive the flow of viscoelastic fluids past obstacles","volume":"948","author":"Mokhtari","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Fluid Mech."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6445","DOI":"10.1039\/c2sm25654a","article-title":"Nanogel formation of polymer solutions flowing through porous media","volume":"8","author":"Pinho","year":"2012","journal-title":"Soft Matter"},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Qin, J., and Li, A. (2003). Reservoir Physics, Petroleum University Press."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fuel.2017.08.032","article-title":"Fluid loss control mechanism of using polymer gel pill based on multi-crosslinking during overbalanced well workover and completion","volume":"210","author":"Jia","year":"2017","journal-title":"Fuel"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5092","DOI":"10.1021\/ef300689c","article-title":"Selectivity of Pore-Scale Elastic Microspheres as a Novel Profile Control and Oil Displacement Agent","volume":"26","author":"Yao","year":"2012","journal-title":"Energy Fuels"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2374","DOI":"10.1016\/j.petsci.2022.05.010","article-title":"Experimental investigation on migration and retention mechanisms of elastic gel particles (EGPs) in pore-throats using multidimensional visualized models","volume":"19","author":"Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Pet. Sci."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fuel.2017.06.076","article-title":"Investigation on matching relationship between dispersed particle gel (DPG) and reservoir pore-throats for in-depth profile control","volume":"207","author":"Dai","year":"2017","journal-title":"Fuel"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.1016\/j.powtec.2017.03.023","article-title":"Research on matching mechanism between polymer microspheres with different storage modulus and pore throats in the reservoir","volume":"313","author":"Yang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Powder Technol."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124257","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fuel.2022.124257","article-title":"New insight to polymer transport in porous media to enhance heavy oil recovery: Lab experiment and numerical simulation","volume":"322","author":"Aliabadian","year":"2022","journal-title":"Fuel"}],"container-title":["Polymers"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-4360\/18\/5\/568\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T14:12:34Z","timestamp":1772115154000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-4360\/18\/5\/568"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]]},"references-count":45,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]}},"alternative-id":["polym18050568"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/polym18050568","relation":{},"ISSN":["2073-4360"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2073-4360","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]]}}}