Influence of Fines Content on the Mechanical Behavior of Methane Hydrate‐Bearing Sediments

Abstract

Methane hydrate‐bearing sediments with different amounts of fines content and at three densities were artificially prepared under controlled temperature and pressure conditions. The void ratios of specimens after isotropic consolidation tend to decrease with a rise in fines content. The fines particles enter into the pore space between sand grains and densify the specimens. A series of triaxial compression tests were performed to systematically investigate the influences of fines content and density on the shear properties of hydrate‐free sediments and methane hydrate‐bearing sediments. The test results demonstrate that a rise in fines content within methane hydrate‐bearing sediments significantly enhances peak shear strength and promotes dilation behavior. These influences are particularly prominent for specimens at loose packing state. A decrease in void ratio increases the shear strength and stiffness of hydrate‐free sediments and methane hydrate‐bearing sediments containing fines content of 0% and 8.9%. It is noted that the formation of methane hydrate in samples with varying amounts of fines content increases the stress ratios at the critical state. The addition of fines particles into coarse‐grained sand grains alters the internal microstructure of sand matrix and the hydrate formation pattern in the pore space between sand grains and fines particles.

Strain Rate‐Dependent Hardening‐Softening Characteristics of Gas Hydrate‐Bearing Sediments

“…Experimental studies have evaluated effects of varying S h (e.g., Masui et al, ; Santamarina & Ruppel, ), temperatures (Jia et al, ; Song et al, ), pore pressures ( u , Jiang, Zhu, et al, ), and effective stresses ( σ 3 ′, Lee, Francisca, et al, ; Miyazaki, Tenma, et al, ) to identify relevant parameters and initial conditions in the geotechnical analysis of GHBS. In particular with the perspective on sand production issues during natural gas production and potential slope failure of fine‐grained sediments, the effects of fines content (Hyodo et al, ; Jung et al, ; Kajiyama, Hyodo, et al, ; Lee, Santamarina, et al, ; Yun et al, ), lithology and consolidation history (Fujii et al, ; Ito et al, ; Santamarina et al, ; Suzuki et al, ; Yoneda et al, ), and thermo‐hydro‐chemo‐mechanical process coupling (Gupta et al, ; Klar et al, ; Sánchez et al, ; Uchida et al, ) have received attention.…”

Xenon Hydrate as an Analog of Methane Hydrate in Geologic Systems Out of Thermodynamic Equilibrium

“…The compositional distinction between hydrate formed from free gas versus dissolved phase is maximized at the moment of hydrate formation. In quiescent environments where hydrate has sufficient time to equilibrate with water (Ebinuma et al, 2005;Hyodo et al, 2017;Kneafsey et al, 2011), such compositional details have been shown to diminish over time through diffusion in order to establish hydrate-water equilibrium (Circone et al, 2005). However, in environments where hydrate formation is being fed by active gaseous methane flow, such as that of hydrated-crusted gas bubble plumes (Wang et al, 2016), seeps, and seafloor outcrops (Bünz et al, 2012;Haeckel et al, 2004;Linke et al, 1994;Macelloni et al, 2012;Plaza-Faverola et al, 2015, Riedel et al, 2018Suess et al, 1999;Smith et al, 2014), and gas chimneys (Andreassen et al, 2017;Haeckel et al, 2004;Liu & Flemings, 2006), the compositional gradient in the hydrate is likely sustained by the nonequilibrium nature of interfacial hydrate formation.…”

Introduction to Special Issue on Gas Hydrate in Porous Media: Linking Laboratory and Field‐Scale Phenomena

“…Fine-grained particles that are mixed with coarser sediments can be mobilized under certain conditions and are also considered a component of pore fill in some cases. (2018) On the importance of advective versus diffusive transport in controlling the distribution of methane hydrate in heterogeneous marine sediments Lei and Santamarina (2018) Laboratory strategies for hydrate formation in fine-grained sediments (also fines) You and Flemings (2018) Methane hydrate formation in thick sandstones by free gas flow Effect of gas flow rate on hydrate formation within the hydrate stability zone Meyer, Flemings, DiCarlo, You, et al (2018) Experimental investigation of gas flow and hydrate formation within the hydrate stability zone Sahoo et al (2018) Presence and consequences of coexisting methane gas with hydrate under two phase water-hydrate stability conditions Almenningen et al (2018) Upscaled anisotropic methane hydrate critical state model for turbidite hydrate-bearing sediments at East Nankai Trough Ge et al (2018) Laboratory investigation into the formation and dissociation process of gas hydrate by low-field nuclear magnetic resonance technique Role of fines Han et al (2018) Depressurization-induced fines migration in sediments containing methane hydrate: X-Ray computed tomography imaging experiments Hyodo et al (2017) Influence of fines content on the mechanical behavior of methane hydrate-bearing sediments Jang et al (2018) Impact of pore fluid chemistry on fine-grained sediment fabric and compressibility Taleb et al (2018) Hydromechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing fine sediments from in situ testing Geomechanical and hydraulic properties Spangenberg et al (2018) A quick look method to assess the dependencies of rock physical sediment properties on the saturation with pore-filling hydrate Madhusudhan et al (2019) The effects of hydrate on the strength and stiffness of some sands Kossel et al (2018) The dependence of water permeability in quartz sand on gas hydrate saturation in the pore space Gil et al (2019) Numerical analysis of dissociation behavior at critical gas hydrate saturation using depressurization method Cook and Waite (2018) Archie's saturation exponent for natural gas hydrate in coarse-grained reservoirs Zhou et al (2018) Upscaled anisotropic methane hydrate critical state model for turbidite hydrate-bearing sediments at East Nankai Trough Coupled numerical modeling Sánchez et al (2018) Coupled numerical modeling of gas hydrate-bearing sediments: From laboratory to field-scale analyses Kim et al (2018) Methane production from marine gas hydrate deposits in Korea: Thermal-hydraulic-mechanical simulation on production wellbore stabilit...…”