3TM: Software for the 3-Tau Model

Abstract

The analysis of the Fast Field Cycling - Nuclear Magnetic Resonance dispersion curves (FFC-NMRD) of 1H nuclei provides fundamental information about the dynamics of fluid protons within a confined environment as well as information on the structure of the porous media. Extracting this information from FFC-NMRD curves requires the use of models which describe the dynamical behaviour of pair of spins through a set of physical parameters. Despite the large number of models available, a very few are accessible to those unfamiliar with programming languages. Those models that are accessible through simplified equations tend to yield limited information. This work presents a simple-to-use software, called 3TM, based on the 3-Tau Model, to stimulate the comparison between different models, and to encourage its application and extension to different types of porous media. The 3TM software provides best-fit solutions in terms of physical parameters using a least-squares minimization algorithm of an objective function. It yields a range of physical parameters which are presented and discussed.