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Gabriela Leu

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriela Leu.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Low magnetic fields for flow propagators in permeable rocks.

Pulsed field gradient NMR flow propagators for water flow in Bentheimer sandstone are measured at low fields (1H resonance 2 MHz), using both unipolar and bipolar variants of the pulsed gradient method. We compare with propagators measured at high fields (1H resonance 85 MHz). We show that (i) measured flow propagators appear to be equivalent, in this rock, and (ii) the lower signal to noise ratio at low fields is not a serious limitation. By comparing different pulse sequences, we study the effects of the internal gradients on the propagator measurement at 2 MHz, which for certain rocks may persist even at low fields.

Equipment Design↗

Fixed and pulsed gradient diffusion methods in low-field core analysis.

We review diffusion-weighted relaxation protocols for two-dimensional diffusion/relaxation time (D, T(2)) distributions and their application to fluid-saturated sedimentary rocks at low fields typical of oil-well logging tools (< or = 2 MHz for 1H). Fixed field gradient (FFG) protocols may be implemented in logging tools and in the laboratory; there, pulsed field gradient (PFG) protocols are also available. In either category, direct or stimulated echoes may be used for the diffusion evolution periods. We compare the results of several variant FFG and PFG protocols obtained on liquids and two contrasting sedimentary rocks. For liquids and rocks of negligible internal gradients (g(int)), results are comparable, as expected, for all the studied protocols. For rocks of strong g(int), protocol-dependent artifacts are seen in the joint (D, T2) distributions, consistent with the effects of the internal fields. For laboratory petrophysics, the PFG methods offer several advantages: (a) significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio and acquisition times for repetitions over many samples; (b) freedom from heteronuclear contamination when fluorinated liquids are used in core holders; and (c) a palette of variants--one comparable with the FFG--for the study of rocks of significant g(int). Given suitable hardware, both PFG and FFG methods can be implemented in the same bench-top apparatus, providing a versatile test bed for application in a petrophysical laboratory.

Diffusion↗

A new probe of pore geometry: diffusive MASS NMR.

NMR methods are widely used to probe the structure and fluid dynamics of porous materials, as they are uniquely suited to these studies since NMR records the correlation of changing local magnetic fields over a time scale of ns to seconds. The local magnetic fields are established by local variations in the bulk magnetic susceptibility of the sample (and so are directly tied to the sample's local structure). The fluctuation in field that a spin sees is due to molecular transport (including molecular diffusion) through these local fields, and so reports on the length scales of structures and impediments to transport. We have developed a new set of methods DIFFUSIVE-MASS to provide a means of systematically varying the effective time scale of the measurement and thus the effective length scale. This new handle permits a detailed, microscopic picture of the structure and dynamics. Diffusive MASS NMR methods will permit a systematic set of methods and analysis for characterizing the chemistry, structure and fluid dynamics of the mobile phase in porous materials. The approach will be applicable to any diamagnetic material. In particular, the industry of oil discovery depends on understanding heterogeneous porous media.

Diffusion↗