title: NMR relaxation and pulsed field gradient study of alginate bead porous media.
abstract: Experiments are presented, which correlate molecular displacement with the multi-exponential T2 relaxation times of water flowing and diffusing through an alginate bead pack. Three systems were studied comprising beads of 3, 1 or < mm in diameter. T2-resolved propagators were obtained through a combined pulsed gradient stimulated echo (PGSTE) and Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) experiment. Fourier transformation with respect to q produces a propagator for each echo in the CPMG train. Inverse Laplace transformation of the CPMG decays for each point (Z) in the propagator produced a two-dimensional propagator. Analysis of these two-dimensional propagators provided insight into the transport and exchange behaviour of water flowing through this system. This experiment has been simulated in a model bead structure and the resulting T2 relaxation time behaviour and T2-resolved propagators were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. We also present a theoretical analysis of the response to the combined PGSTE/CPMG sequence in the simple model case of Pouseille flow in a cylindrical capillary, where diffusion to a surface sink is assumed to be the dominant relaxation mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, New Museums Site, Pembroke St., Cambridge CB3 2RA, UK. mm29@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Melanie M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.forename: Robin G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Ken J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Packer