Structural Stability of AM/AMPS/AMB Terpolymers Under Simulated Extreme Oilfield Conditions

Water management in high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs remains a critical challenge for oilfield operations, with conventional polymer gel systems exhibiting insufficient thermal stability and salt tolerance under extreme conditions. Here, we establish an integrated computational–experimental platform combining density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to rationally design a novel AM/AMPS/AMB (Acrylamide/2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid/sodium 3-acrylamido-3-methylbutanoate) terpolymer gel plugging agent tailored for the Tahe Oilfield (140 °C, Ca2+/Mg2+ 10,000 mg L−1). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of fourteen functional monomers identified AMB as the optimal candidate, achieving further hydrogen bond interactions that stabilize the crosslinked architecture under extreme conditions. This computational pre-screening reduced experimental iterations by over 60% and significantly shortened development cycles compared to conventional trial-and-error approaches. Experimentally, the optimized terpolymer exhibited a 40% increase in storage modulus (150 Pa) relative to AM/AMPS binary systems, 25% improvement in thermal stability (residual carbon at 300 °C), and plugging efficiency exceeding 92% in core flooding tests.