Joint numerical microscale simulations of multi-phase flow and NMR relaxation behaviour in porous media

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a useful tool for analyzing gas (methane) and fluids (water, oil) in rock formations in order to derive transport and storage properties such as pore-size distributions or relative permeability. Even though there is considerable NMR data available about hydraulic properties of rock formations, this information is only empirical. Thus, the aim of this paper is to present joint NMR and multi-phase flow simulations in micro-scale pore systems derived from micro-CT images to quantify relationships between NMR parameters and transport and storage properties of partially saturated rocks. Hereby, the NMR differential equations were implemented using an advection/diffusion lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) where the flow field is computed by a coupled LBM CFD solver. The results of numerical imbibition and drainage experiments quantitatively agree with laboratory experiments with regard to frequently found peak shifts and bimodal NMR decay time distributions related to residual water in films and corners as well as to fluids/gases trapped in large pores. This numerical framework enables one to quantitatively describe NMR surface and bulk relaxation processes, diffusive coupling along with the multi-phase flow properties of partially saturated porous systems. Furthermore, it is a viable alternative to the more time-consuming and less controllable laboratory experiments. Such virtual experimental setups can considerably help to benchmark and validate statistical network models to better understand hydraulic properties of partially saturated rocks by using experimentally obtained NMR data.