Analyzing and mastering the pore structure and fluid movability characteristics of coal-measure sedimentary rocks is significant for the safe and effective development of unconventional resources. In this work, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments were carried out on three common fine sedimentary rocks (i.e., shale, mudstone, and sandstone) from a coal-measure stratum in northern China. NMR transverse (T 2) of the water-saturated and centrifuged rock samples are compared and analyzed. Moreover, the pore size distribution (PSD) and the free-fluid volume index (FFI) of the investigated samples are discussed. Results have shown that the shale and mudstone samples are mainly dominated by adsorption pores with a diameter of 0.01–1 μm, while the sandstone samples are dominated by seepage pores with a diameter of 1–100 μm. The FFI results calculated by the cutoff and the area methods are 11.15–77.62 and 7.56–75.96%, respectively. There are good correlations between FFI and porosity, permeability, and reservoir quality index (RQI). Also, the effects on FFI are different on various kinds of clay minerals. The contents of illite and chlorite are negatively correlated with FFI, while kaolinite is positively correlated with FFI.

Analyzing and mastering the fractal features of coal-measure sedimentary rocks is crucial for accurately describing the pore structure of coalbed methane resources. In this work, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are performed on coal-measure sedimentary rocks (i.e., shale, mudstone, and sandstone) to analyze their pore structure. Pore size distributions (PSDs) and the multifractal dimensions of the investigated samples are discussed. Moreover, multivariable linear regression models of multifractal dimensions are established through a comprehensive analysis of multifractal characteristics. The results show that sandstone (SS-1) and clay rocks are dominated by nanopores of 0.01 to 1μm, while sandstone (SS-2) is mostly mesopores and macropores in the range of 1 to 10μm. The fractal characteristics of the investigated rock samples show a prominent multifractal characteristic, in which DA reflects the surface structure of micropores, while DS represents the pore structure of macropores. Multifractal dimension is affected by many factors, in which the DA is greatly influenced by the pore surface features and mineral components and the DS by average pore diameters. Moreover, multivariate linear regression models of adsorption pore and seepage pore are established, which have a better correlation effect on the multifractal dimension.

A precise evaluation of the fluid movability of coal sedimentary rock is crucial to the effective and secure utilization of coal measures gas reserves. Furthermore, its complex pore structure and diverse mineral components impact the flow properties of fluids in pore structures, causing accurate evaluation of fluid mobility to be extremely challenging. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology is currently a prevalent technique to assess unconventional reservoirs due to its capacity to acquire abundant reservoir physical property data and determine fluid details. The free-fluid volume index (FFI) is a crucial factor in assessing fluid movability in the application of NMR technology, which can only be derived through intricate NMR saturation and centrifugation experiments This research utilized nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tests on 13 classic coal-measure sedimentary rock samples of three lithologies to reveal the FFI value. Moreover, the association between mineral components, pore structure parameters, and FFI was then extensively analyzed, and a prediction model for FFI was constructed. The results indicate that the T2 spectra of sandstone and shale own a bimodal distribution, with the principal point between 0.1 and 10 ms and the secondary peak between 10 and 100 ms. The majority of the T2 spectra of mudstone samples provide a unimodal distribution, with the main peak distribution range spanning between 0.1 and 10 ms, demonstrating that the most of the experimental samples are micropores and transition pores. The calculated results of the FFI range from 7.65% to 18.36%, and depict evident multifractal properties. Porosity, the content of kaolinite, multifractal dimension (Dq), and the FFI are linearly positively correlated. In contrast, the content of chlorite, illite, multifractal dimension subtraction (Dmin − Dmax), multifractal dimension proportion (Dmin/Dmax), and singularity strength (Δα) possess a negative linear correlation with the FFI, which can be further used for modeling. On the basis of the aforementioned influencing factors and the FFI experimental values of eight core samples, an FFI prediction model was constructed through multiple linear regression analysis. The accuracy of the prediction model was validated by utilizing this approach to five samples not included in the model development. It was revealed that the prediction model produced accurate predictions, and the research findings may serve as a guide for the classification and estimation of fluid types in coal reservoirs.

The influence of different pH and concentration of water chemical solutions on the mechanical properties of mudstone is studied. The triaxial compression test and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) test of mudstone are carried out, and the root cause of the deterioration of mechanical properties of mudstone during the hydration damage process is explored, combining macroscopic and microscopic. The results show that hydrolysis and chemical ion exchange are responsible for the deterioration of mudstone shear strength parameters. The essence of mudstone hydration damage is that water chemistry changes the original pore space structure and pore size distribution inside. Part of the minerals dissolve and fall off under the influence of the water chemical solution, which expands the pore size and increases the porosity. The connection force between mineral particles decreases, macroscopically, the mudstone undergoes a softening evolution from brittleness to ductility, and the shear strength parameters deteriorate. The results show that mudstone is more sensitive to acidic solution than neutral and alkaline solution. The higher the pH of the alkaline solution or the higher the concentration of the neutral solution, the more significant the deterioration of mudstone. Under the influence of hydrochemical solution, the fractal dimension of mudstone gradually tends to 2 from 3, which indicates that the process of hydration damage reduces the complexity of mudstone pore structure. On this basis, the damage variable D_n defined based on the change of porosity before and after hydration damage of mudstone, to a certain extent, quantitatively reflects the law of mudstone shear strength parameters accompanied by microscopic pore structure evolution. The shear strength parameters of mudstone decrease significantly with the increase of damage variable D_n. The test analyzes the root cause of the deterioration of the macroscopic mechanical properties of mudstone during the hydration damage process from a microscopic point of view, and the conclusions obtained provide a good reference for the quantitative study of the effect of water chemistry on the mechanical properties of mudstone.