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Numerical simulation of mechanical compaction of deepwater shallow sediments

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Abstract

To study the compaction law and overpressure evolution in deepwater shallow sediments, a large-strain compaction model that considers material nonlinearity and moving boundary is formulated. The model considers the dependence of permeability and material properties on void ratio. The modified Cam-Clay model is selected as the constitutive relations of the sediments, and the deactivation/reactivation method is used to capture the moving top surface during the deposition process. A one-dimensional model is used to study the compaction law of the shallow sediments. Results show that the settlement of the shallow sediments is large under their own weight during compaction. The void ratio decreases strictly with burial depth and decreases more quickly near the seafloor than in the deeper layers. The generation of abnormal pressure in the shallow flow sands is closely related to the compaction law of shallow sediments. The two main factors that affect the generation of overpressure in the sands are deposition rate and permeability of overlying clay sediments. Overpressure increases with an increase in deposition rate and a decrease in the permeability of the overlying clay sediment. Moreover, an upper limit for the overpressure exists. A two-dimensional model is used to study the differential compaction of the shallow sediments. The pore pressure will still increase due to the inflow of the pore fluid from the neighboring clay sediment even though the deposition process is interrupted.

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Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2015 CB25 1201), NSFC-Shandong Joint Fund for Marine Science Research Centers (No. U1606401), and Key Science & Technology Foundation of Sanya (Nos. 2017PT13 and 2017PT14).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Marine Geophysics & Geo-Resources, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China

    Jin Sun, Shiguo Wu, Hanyu Zhang, Jiliang Wang & Jinwei Gao

  2. Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Shiguo Wu

  3. College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Shiguo Wu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China

    Jingen Deng

  5. CNOOC China Limited Tianjin Branch, Tianjin, 300451, China

    Hai Lin

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  1. Jin Sun
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  2. Shiguo Wu
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  3. Jingen Deng
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  4. Hai Lin
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  5. Hanyu Zhang
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  6. Jiliang Wang
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  7. Jinwei Gao
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Correspondence to Jin Sun.

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Sun, J., Wu, S., Deng, J. et al. Numerical simulation of mechanical compaction of deepwater shallow sediments. J. Ocean Univ. China 17, 53–64 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-018-3461-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-018-3461-6

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