Experimental Study on the In Situ Mechanical Properties of Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sediments

摘要

TDR was introduced to solve the problem of how to measure hydrate saturation accurately. Then a series of un-drained triaxial tests were carried out on methane hydrate-bearing sediments under various conditions with effective confining pressures at 1, 2 and 4 MPa, average hydrate saturations at 15.71, 35.7 and 56.49% and strain rate at 0.8%/min. The results indicate that the shear strength increases with the increases of effective confining pressure and hydrate saturation, but the maximum failure time decreases with the increasing effective confining pressures. According to Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, the shear strength of methane hydrate-bearing sediments was analyzed. It can be found that the internal friction angles are not sensitive to hydrate saturation, but the cohesion shows a high hydrate saturation dependency.