Two-dimensional NMR of velocity exchange: VEXSY and SERPENT.

Two different multidimensional pulsed field gradient sequences are compared which have the purpose of correlating spin displacements in different time intervals with each other. The simplest possible sequence, three-pulse SERPENT, measures displacements in two interleaved time intervals, while in VEXSY, consisting of two independent pairs of gradient pulses separated by a mixing time, displacements during the two encoding intervals are compared to each other. The formalism for both sequences is discussed in q space and in displacement space and common features as well as differences between the two types of experiments are highlighted, employing the particular case of the concurrent VEXSY scheme which allows treatment according to both formalisms.

Relationships between flow and NMR relaxation of fluids in porous solids.

Measurements are presented which correlate the displacements, X(Delta), determined by PGSE NMR, with the multi-mode transverse 1H NMR relaxation of water flowing through a glass bead pack, for which the dominant relaxation mechanism is diffusion through inhomogeneous internal magnetic fields. Analytical solution for the joint amplitude A[X(Delta), T(2k)] for the case of laminar flow in a circular pipe, with a diffusion-to-surface mechanism, shows that, for other than the lowest mode (k = 0), the contributions to the observed relaxation for a given X(Delta) may involve negative as well as positive amplitudes. The experimental measurements are shown to agree with this general conclusion, showing clear evidence of the presence of relaxation modes with negative amplitude at larger values of X(Delta). It is shown that in these, or similar measurements, which provide a spatially-resolved view of surface-mediated relaxation, allowance must be made for fitting with both positive and negative amplitudes.

Diffusion in thin films on the surface of a porous solid.

A water-wet mono-dispersed glass bead system is saturated with two phases, a wetting phase of water and a non-wetting phase of tetrachloroethylene (no 1H signal). Pulsed field gradient NMR measurements of the one-dimensional probability density distribution P(Delta) (X) for the diffusive displacements of water molecules in times, Delta, are presented for the whole accessible water saturation range. At lower water contents the distributions show a distinctive shape, which is attributed to the distribution of the aqueous phase in thin surface wetting films connecting pendular rings where the beads are in contact. The data are reproduced well by a computer simulation of a random walk model based on diffusion of molecules within such a structure, allowing determination of the surface film thickness.

The characterisation of fluid transport in porous solids by means of pulsed magnetic field gradient NMR.

The determination, by pulsed field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), of the probability distributions (propagators) of displacements for fluids undergoing transport by both flow and self-diffusion within porous solids is outlined. The nature of the observed propagator, P delta (Z), for the transport of a single aqueous phase through an outcrop sandstone (Fontainebleau) is described. Recent measurements of the propagators for both aqueous and oil phase flow in the limiting saturation states of irreducible water (Swi) and residual oil (Sor) in the same sample are illustrated through the use of difference propagators. These are shown to emphasise the regions of the propagators most affected by the presence of the second, stationary, phases in these limiting saturation conditions. Measurement of the propagators for both oil and aqueous phases undergoing simultaneous flow are also described for the same sandstone sample and the effect of increasing Swi on the nature of the oil flow is briefly discussed. Finally, a new two-dimensional (2-D) experiment is introduced which measures the propagator P delta (X, Z). This is the joint probability for displacements X and Z in time delta. Some preliminary observations of these two-dimensional propagators are shown for single-phase flow in the Fontainebleau sandstone sample, where Z and X are, respectively, displacements in the axial and radial direction for the cylindrical sample for which the pressure gradient is along Z and where bulk radial flow is constrained to be zero.

A NMR characterisation of a banded sandstone.

1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements have been carried out on a banded sandstone to investigate the effects of structural inhomogeneities on the fluid dynamics of the sample as a whole. The results obtained from average propagator measurements (the probability of a displacement z in a time delta or P delta (z)) using pulsed-field-gradient techniques have been compared to those obtained from a study of a homogeneous sandstone. Relaxation has been used to derive the pore sizes for the differing bands and have been found to correlate with flow velocities within the bands.

Fluid velocity imaging of reservoir core samples.

Experimental definition of fluid flow in heterogeneous reservoir rock requires three dimensional imaging techniques. Fluid velocity mapping at a steady-state flow condition plus oil/water saturation mapping using MRI provides a high resolution view of the process.

Quantification of oil and water in preserved reservoir rock by NMR spectroscopy and imaging.

Reservoir rock analysis by proton NMR requires separation of the response into brine and crude oil components. Tests on preserved core from a North Sea chalk reservoir show that spin-lattice relaxation time distributions can be used to distinguish the two fluids. NMR estimates of oil and water saturations for 1.5" diameter core examined in a 10 MHz Bruker Minispec spectrometer closely match fluid contents determined by distillation. The spin-lattice relaxation contrast mechanism developed for core samples can be applied in the quantitative analysis of NMR images. The relaxation data are compared with data from chemical shift imaging on the same core sample. The results indicate that it will be possible to monitor changes in fluid distributions, in this and similar systems, under dynamic conditions such as in a waterflood.