Permeability Evaluation of Clay-quartz Mixtures Based on Low-Field NMR and Fractal Analysis

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology has been widely used for predicting permeability coefficients of porous medium, such as shales, sandstones, and coals. However, there have been limited studies on the prediction model of clay-quartz mixtures based on NMR technology. In this study, evaporation tests at 40 °C and NMR tests were simultaneously performed on eight clay-quartz mixtures with different mineral compositions. The results show that during the evaporation process, the decay rate of T2 total signal amplitudes was constant at first, and then decreased to 0 after a period of time. Based on the decay rate, the evaporation process was divided into two stages: the constant rate stage and the falling rate stage. Based on the two stages, the T2 cut-offs of eight mixtures were determined. The water in the mixture was divided into two parts by the T2 cut-off: the free water and the bound water. The prediction model of permeability coefficients of clay-quartz mixtures was established based on the Timur-Coates model. In order to simplify the process of predicting the permeability coefficient, fractal analysis was used to develop the relationship between the T2 cut-off and fractal dimension of the T2 spectrum of saturated mixture. A simplified method for predicting permeability coefficients of clay-quartz mixtures based on NMR technology without centrifugal and evaporation experiments was also proposed.