Optimization of an enhanced oil recovery process with boundary controls. A large-scale nonlinear maximization (Q1091602)

The problem of optimally determining the injected concentration histories for a micellar/polymer flooding enhanced oil recovery system so as to maximize the net profitability is considered. Necessary conditions of optimality are derived from standard results, and a gradient or conjugate gradient technique is used to determine the optimal control. The partial differential equations for the state variables and the adjoint variables are solved numerically by simple finite differences.