Abstract
A triaxial system is designed with a temperature range from −20 °C to 25 °C and a pressure range from 0 MPa to 30 MPa in order to improve the understanding of the mechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments. The mechanical properties of synthetic gas hydrate-bearing sediments (gas hydrate-kaolin clay mixture) were measured by using current experimental apparatus. The results indicate that: (1) the failure strength of gas hydrate-bearing sediments strongly depends on the temperature. The sediment’s strength increases with the decreases of temperature. (2) The maximum deviator stress increases linearly with the confining pressure at a low-pressure stage. However, it fluctuates at a high-pressure stage. (3) Maximum deviator stress increases with increasing strain rate, whereas the strain-stress curve has no tremendous change until the axial strain reaches approximately 0.5%. (4) The internal friction angles of gas hydrate-bearing sediments are not sensitive to kaolin volume ratio. The cohesion shows a high kaolin volume ratio dependency.
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This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, Grant No. 2006AA09A209), the Major National S&T Program (Grant No. 2008ZX05026-004), the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2009CB219507) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 91010015).
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Li, Yh., Song, Yc., Yu, F. et al. Experimental study on mechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments using kaolin clay. China Ocean Eng 25, 113–122 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13344-011-0009-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13344-011-0009-6