Distinguishing Rock Fracture and Pore's <i>T</i><sub>2</sub> Signals From NMR Experiments With Assisted X‐Ray CT Imaging

ABSTRACT Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is widely used to characterize fluids in rock pore spaces, but traditional methods have difficulty distinguishing fractures from matrix pores in complex carbonate formations. To address this, we developed a calibration method that integrates X‐ray computed tomography (CT) imaging with NMR to identify fracture‐related T 2 signals. The method quantitatively calibrates NMR T 2 spectra to fracture aperture sizes, improving the accuracy of fracture characterization. Fully saturated fractured samples were used, and fracture fluids were progressively removed using gas displacement techniques. NMR spectra were recorded before and after fluid removal to isolate fracture‐specific signals. Fracture size distributions were estimated from CT images by pixel counting, and porosity was determined by fluid saturation measurements, with corrections for matrix porosity not captured by CT resolution. This workflow extracts fracture distributions from T 2 spectra and establishes a correlation between pore radius ( r ) and T 2 , enabling subsequent applications in core analysis and NMR logging. The method improves differentiation between fractures and matrix pores, enhances the interpretation of NMR data, and can be adapted to heterogeneous reservoir systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Energy Science & Engineering
Published
2025-06-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ese3.70163
Primary Topic
NMR spectroscopy and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Distinguishing Rock Fracture and Pore's T2 Signals From NMR Experiments With Assisted X‐Ray CT Imaging

Xu Dong, Luyi Shen, Tianlin Wen, Jiangen Xu et al.
4 links
Energy Science & Engineering
NMR spectroscopy and applications
article

Distinguishing Rock Fracture and Pore's T2 Signals From NMR Experiments With Assisted X‐Ray CT Imaging

Xu Dong, Luyi Shen, Tianlin Wen, Jiangen Xu, Elton J. Chen, Limin Li, Ying Yang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is widely used to characterize fluids in rock pore spaces, but traditional methods have difficulty distinguishing fractures from matrix pores in complex carbonate formations. To address this, we developed a calibration method that integrates X‐ray computed tomography (CT) imaging with NMR to identify fracture‐related T 2 signals. The method quantitatively calibrates NMR T 2 spectra to fracture aperture sizes, improving the accuracy of fracture characterization. Fully saturated fractured samples were used, and fracture fluids were progressively removed using gas displacement techniques. NMR spectra were recorded before and after fluid removal to isolate fracture‐specific signals. Fracture size distributions were estimated from CT images by pixel counting, and porosity was determined by fluid saturation measurements, with corrections for matrix porosity not captured by CT resolution. This workflow extracts fracture distributions from T 2 spectra and establishes a correlation between pore radius ( r ) and T 2 , enabling subsequent applications in core analysis and NMR logging. The method improves differentiation between fractures and matrix pores, enhances the interpretation of NMR data, and can be adapted to heterogeneous reservoir systems.

Energy Science & EngineeringVol. 13(8)
Chongqing University of Science and Technology (CN), China University of Geosciences (CN), Runze (China) (CN), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN), Northeast Petroleum University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China University of Geosciences, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Openalex Percentile: Top 94%
NMR spectroscopy and applications
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