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Mechanical Behavior of Methane–Hydrate–Bearing Sand with Nonlinear Constitutive Model

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Abstract

Interests appear in investigating methane-hydrate-bearing sands (MHBS) to address engineering problems, such as foundation instability of man-made permafrost facilities, wellbore instability and sanding during production. Mechanical behavior of MHBS is critical issue to analyze geomechanical hazards. In this paper, MHBS is synthesized in laboratory and triaxial compressive tests are carried out to capture mechanical response. A discrete element method (DEM) model is developed to examine mechanical responses of MHBS by considering real MHBS-based microstructure and particles contact. To describe nonlinear mechanical behavior, Duncan–Chang model is embedded into DEM model and verified with experimental results. Triaxial drained and undrained numerical tests are carried out to investigate effects of hydrate saturation, confining stress, heterogeneity and grading properties on mechanical behavior of pore-filling hydrate sediment. Experimental and numerical results indicate that (1) triaxial compression strength increases with confining stress and hydrate saturation; (2) stress–strain curve becomes smooth at a higher hydrate saturation thanks to the stability enhancement of MHBS structure; (3) heterogeneous distribution of hydrates leads to local instability with non-bonded hydrate particles; (4) grading properties (uniformity coefficient and mean particle diameter) non-apparent influence on compressive strength and dilatancy due to particles re-distribution; and (5) MHBS presents mechanical behavior of brittleness or plasticity in undrained tests rather than strain softening in drained tests. Except for Duncan–Chang model parameters fitting in this work, more experimental and numerical researches are expected to improve the performance in predicting post-failure behavior.

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Abbreviations

λ :

Reaction coefficient

m w :

Mass of water required to prepare MHBS of saturation, kg

S h :

Hydrate saturation

ρ :

Density of methane hydrate

σ 3 :

Confining stress, MPa

σ 1 :

Axial stress, MPa

σ 1 − σ 3 :

Deviatoric stress, MPa

ε :

Axial strain

a, b :

Fitted parameters

E i :

Initial secant elastic modulus, GPa

σ p :

Peak strength, MPa

R f :

Damage ratio

C :

Cohesion, MPa

φ :

Internal friction angle, °

Un :

Displacement between two particles, MPa

Fn :

Normal force between two particles, MPa

Fs :

Shear force between two particles, MPa

Fs max :

Maximum shear force between two particles, MPa

Ks (k s):

Contact shear stiffness, MPa

E c :

Apparent modulus, MPa

k n :

Contact normal stiffness, MPa

R :

Particle radius, mm

d :

Density of particle, kg/m3

f :

Friction

e :

Void ratio

V V :

Void volume, mm3

V s :

Sand volume, mm3

V h :

Volume of gas hydrate, mm3

V tot :

Volume of total model, mm3

V s :

Volume of sand, mm3

E 50 :

Secant elastic modulus, MPa

ε a 50 :

Axial strain at which deviatoric stress reaches half value of peak strength

v 50 :

Secant Poisson’s ratio

ε r 50 :

Radial strain at which deviatoric stress reaches half value of peak strength

D 60 :

Diameter at which 60% of sample's mass is comprised of particles with a diameter less than this value, mm

D 30 :

Diameter at which 30% of the sample's mass is comprised of particles with a diameter less than this value, also known as effective particle size, mm

D 10 :

Diameter at which 10% of the sample's mass is comprised of particles with a diameter less than this value, also known as effective particle size, mm

C u :

Uniformity of soil sample

C c :

Overall smoothness of grading curve

q′, p′ :

Effective stress paths under different hydrate saturations

σ 1 ′ :

Effective axial stress, MPa

σ 3 ′ :

Effective confining stress, MPa

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52192622, 51874253, U19A2097, U20A202) and the open fund (PLC2021040) of State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (Chengdu University of Technology).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610051, China

    Haiyan Zhu & Xuanhe Tang

  2. College of Energy, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610051, China

    Haiyan Zhu & Xuanhe Tang

  3. Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Fengshou Zhang

  4. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Fengshou Zhang

  5. Energy Geoscience Institute, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA

    John David McLennan

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  1. Haiyan Zhu
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  2. Xuanhe Tang
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Correspondence to Xuanhe Tang.

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Zhu, H., Tang, X., Zhang, F. et al. Mechanical Behavior of Methane–Hydrate–Bearing Sand with Nonlinear Constitutive Model. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 12141–12167 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-022-06914-2

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