We use pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance to probe molecular displacements in preasymptotic Stokes flow through a pack of beads with bead diameter d=100±20μm, through a Bentheimer sandstone, and a Portland carbonate rock core, for a common range of flow velocities v and interrogation times Δ. For flow through the bead pack the length scale of the pore is well defined, as are the Peclet number Pe∊[20–80] and the Reynolds number Re<0.1. Probability distributions of molecular displacements P(ζ) are determined. The mean displacement ⟨ζ⟩, the variance σ2≡⟨(ζ−⟨ζ⟩)2⟩ and the skewness γ3≡⟨(ζ−⟨ζ⟩)3⟩ of P(ζ) are determined by a self-consistent cumulant analysis designed to minimize the systematic errors to which any cumulant analysis of non-Gaussian distributions is susceptible. Systematic errors in σ and γ arising from surface relaxation effects and flow displacements through the internal fields of rocks are quantified.
We report small angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments on two crude oils. Analysis of the high-Q SANS region has probed the asphaltene aggregates in the nanometer length scale. We find that the radius of gyration decreases with increasing temperature. We show that SANS measurements on crude oils give similar aggregate sizes to those found from SANS measurements of asphaltenes redispersed in deuterated toluene. The combined use of SANS and V-SANS on crude oil samples has allowed the determination of the radius of gyration of large scale asphaltene aggregates of approximately 0.45 microm. This has been achieved by the fitting of Beaucage functions over two size regimes. Analysis of the fitted Beaucage functions at very low-Q has shown that the large scale aggregates are not simply made by aggregation of all the smaller nanoaggregates. Instead, they are two different aggregates coexisting.
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