A Constitutive Model For Gas Hydrate Bearing Sediments Incorporating The Effect Of Hydrate Saturation And Temperature

Methane hydrate bearing sediments (MHBS) are natural soil deposits that can be found under high pressure and low temperature conditions in the seabed or permafrost settings, where the methane is located in the pore space trapped within a crystalline structure formed with water. The behavior of MHBS is influenced by many factors, including temperature, fluid pressure, hydrate saturation and stress level. This paper focuses on the mechanical response of MHBS. A geomechanical model that incorporates the effect of the hydrate saturation, temperature, sediment history and stress level is presented in this work. The constitutive law is developed in the framework of elastoplasticity for strain hardening materials incorporating the effect of both shear and volumetric plastic strains. The proposed model shows a very satisfactory performance when applied to simulate published laboratory tests.