Design of a new LWD NMR tool with high mechanical reliability

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides useful information for formation evaluation on pore size and pore volume. Depending on field operations, there are two types of borehole NMR: wireline logging and logging-while-drilling (LWD). The latter type is more convenient. But due to the high mechanical failure risk caused by insufficient mechanical strength of the tool and vibrations during measurement, the quality of LWD NMR measurements are severely affected. In this paper, to enable high reliability and vibration tolerance, we propose a new design and implement a new LWD NMR tool, whose features includes a double hollow cylindric magnet (DHCM) structure and a solenoid-optimized antenna. The DHCM structure greatly reduces the proportion of the magnet in the cross-section of the tool without reducing B₀ field strength. Thus, the mechanical strength and the reliability of the tool is greatly improved. The antenna is improved by optimizing the parameters of each coil of the solenoid for finding the generated B₁ distribution best matching B₀. The new design has a saddle sensing area in the axial and radial plane with a width greater than 50 mm, which is wide enough to ensure the validity of the T₂ measurement under strong vibrations. We had demonstrated that this new tool performs well when T_E = 0.6 ms, ensuring the measurement richness is suitable for LWD prospecting for unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. Besides, this design is suitable for that in slim holes.