Experimental Study on the Evolution of Compressibility and Gas Permeability of Sediments after Hydrate Decomposition under Effective Stress

The effective stress and types of particles significantly affect the permeability of hydrate sediments. In this study, effects of hydrate saturation, hydrate decomposition, effective stress, and particle type on gas permeability and sample deformation of montmorillonite samples and quartz-montmorillonite mixtures were investigated. The results showed that the gas phase permeability increased with hydrate formation. In addition, the decline of sample porosity is the fundamental factor determining the permeability failure rate under effective stress. During methane hydrate decomposition by depressurization, the compression coefficient of samples increases with decreasing pore pressure, which means that decomposing natural gas hydrate makes experimental samples more sensitive to stress. Furthermore, the addition of sand particles significantly affects the compressibility of sediments. In addition, because of the decline of sample porosity and the swelling of montmorillonite, the results of gas permeability show a downward trend when the pore pressure decreases during the decomposition of methane hydrate. Gas permeability of the sample ranges from a few millidarcies to several hundred millidarcies. Furthermore, the content of clay and the particle size in the sample are the key factors in determining the permeability damage rate when the stress increases during decomposition of methane hydrate. Therefore, the addition of quartz sand can reduce damage of gas permeability of sediments caused by effective stress and hydrate decomposition.

Automated summary

The study investigated the effects of hydrate saturation, hydrate decomposition, effective stress, and particle type on gas permeability and sample deformation of montmorillonite samples and quartz-montmorillonite mixtures. The results showed that gas phase permeability increased with hydrate formation. The decline of sample porosity was found to be the main factor influencing the permeability failure rate under effective stress. Furthermore, the addition of sand particles significantly affected the compressibility of sediments. Overall, the content of clay and the particle size were key factors in determining the permeability damage rate during decomposition of methane hydrate, and the addition of quartz sand reduced this damage.