Core Flooding Test Setup
A typical rock core flooding schematic is shown below.
If the fluid is considered corrosive or potentially damaging to the pump, an accumulator or transfer cyl- inder is sometimes used. An accumulator has a bladder; a transfer cylinder uses a sliding piston. Both devices function by pumping a clean fluid into one end, thereby forcing the corrosive fluid out the other end without the fluids coming into contact with each other.
It takes a least several hours at high pressures and low flow rates for the newly introduced fluid to displace the oil from the rock sample. From the data obtained from rock core flooding, companies doing enhanced oil reservoir recovery can derive the best way to recover the maximum amount of oil.
Figure 1: Schematic Basic System Components
