NMR Studies of Fluid Diffusion in Confining Geometries

Diffusion dynamics for fluids in sandstone rocks were studied by CPMG and pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR measurements. Stretched exponential decays of the transverse magnetization were observed while varying the interpulse spacing, τ, in the CPMG experiment which sets the time for diffusion. A crossover from free to restricted diffusion is evident in the dependence of both T2 and the stretch exponent, β2, on the diffusion time τ. The T2(τ) data is fit to a model which interpolates between free and restricted diffusion and has only one free adjustable length scale despite the fact that the sandstone rocks are characterized by a pore size distribution. This NMR derived length scale correlates with a characteristic length derived from Hg injection experiments at the percolation threshold. We compare these results from the CPMG experiment with stimulated echo PFG-NMR diffusion measurements. This provides a complementary method of probing the diffusion dynamics since the longitudinal magnetization is insensitive to the dephasing effects of diffusion in internal field gradients.