Deformation Characteristics of Hydrate-Bearing Sediments

The safe and efficient development of natural gas hydrate requires a deep understanding of the deformation behaviors of reservoirs.In this study,a series of triaxial shearing tests are carried out to investigate the deformation properties of hydrate-bearing sediments.Variations of volumetric and lateral strains versus hydrate saturation are analyzed comprehensively.Results indicate that the sediments with high hydrate saturation show dilative behaviors,which lead to strain-softening characteristics during shearing.The volumetric strain curves have a tendency to transform gradually from dilatation to compression with the increase in effective confining pressure.An easy prediction model is proposed to describe the relationship between volumetric and axial strains.The model coefficientβis the key dominating factor for the shape of volumetric strain curves and can be determined by the hydrate saturation and stress state.Moreover,a modified model is established for the calculation of lateral strain.The corresponding determination method is provided for the easy estimation of model coefficients for medium sand sediments containing hydrate.This study provides a theoretical and experimental reference for deformation estimation in natural gas hydrate development.

Laboratory Test on Volumetric Characteristics of Saturated Sea Sand Under Cyclic Loading

The deformation of sea coast or sandy deposits caused by earthquakes can lead to catastrophic damages to various port structures. The volumetric deformation is mainly induced by densification of sand during the dissipation of excess pore water pressure created by cyclic loading. Based on laboratory test, the reconsolidation volumetric characteristics of saturated sea sand are investigated. The experiments are conducted with a newly developed multi functional triaxial test equipment. Two types of dynamic loads are applied to the samples to clarify different kinds of affecting factors. It is found that the reconsolidation volumetric strain is correlated not only to the excess pore water pressure and the maximum shear strain during the dynamic loading, but also to the effective confining pressure. A new formula is put forward to calculate the volumetric strain during reconssolidation.

Influence of volume compression on the unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone under damage-controlled cyclic triaxial loading

A reasonable evaluation of unloading deformation characteristics is of great significance for the effective analysis of deformation and stability of surrounding rocks after underground excavation.In this study,the damage-controlled cyclic triaxial loading tests were conducted to investigate the pore compaction mechanism and its influences on the unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone,including Young’s modulus,Poisson’s ratio,volumetric strain,and irreversible strain.The experimental results show that the increases of volumetric and irreversible strains of rocks can be attributed to the compaction mechanism,which almost dominates the entire pre-peak deformation process.The unloading deformation consists of the reversible linear and nonlinear strains,and the irreversible strain under the influence of the porous grain structure.The pre-peak Young’s modulus tends to increase and then decrease due to the influence of the unloading irreversible strain.However,it hardly changes with the increasing volumetric strain compaction under the influence of reversible nonlinear strain.Instead,the initial unloading tangent modulus is highly related to the volumetric strain,and clearly reflects the compaction state of red sandstone.Furthermore,both the reversible nonlinear and irreversible unloading deformations are independent of confining pressure.This study is beneficial for the theoretical modeling and prediction of cyclic unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone.

Creep behavior and permeability evolution of coal pillar dam for underground water reservoir

Using goof as water storage space plays a vital role in the ecological environment and economic development of arid mining areas,while the rock strength and the stability of coal pillars in underground water reservoirs are closely related to creep process.In this work,triaxial creep-seepage tests were conducted for coal samples to develop new insights into the creep behavior and permeability evolution.The results showed that the creep deformation and permeability evolution of coal samples exhibit three stages,namely,the compaction hardening stage before the stress threshold,volumetric compaction stage,and volumetric dilatancy stage.The coal permeability decreases first and then increases with the creep strain and it is well correlated with the variation of volumetric strain.

A new mixed-mode phase-field model for crack propagation of brittle rock

Study on crack propagation process of brittle rock is of most significance for cracking-arrest design and cracking-network optimization in rock engineering.Phase-field model(PFM)has advantages of simplicity and high convergence over the common numerical methods(e.g.finite element method,discrete element method,and particle manifold method)in dealing with three-dimensional and multicrack problems.However,current PFMs are mainly used to simulate mode-I(tensile)crack propagation but difficult to effectively simulate mode-II(shear)crack propagation.In this paper,a new mixed-mode PFM is established to simulate both mode-I and mode-II crack propagation of brittle rock by distinguishing the volumetric elastic strain energy and deviatoric elastic strain energy in the total elastic strain energy and considering the effect of compressive stress on mode-II crack propagation.Numerical solution method of the new mixed-mode PFM is proposed based on the staggered solution method with self-programmed subroutines UMAT and HETVAL of ABAQUS software.Three examples calculated using different PFMs as well as test results are presented for comparison.The results show that compared with the conventional PFM(which only simulates the tensile wing crack but not mode-II crack propagation)and the modified mixed-mode PFM(which has difficulty in simulating the shear anti-wing crack),the new mixed-mode PFM can successfully simulate the whole trajectories of mixed-mode crack propagation(including the tensile wing crack,shear secondary crack,and shear anti-wing crack)and mode-II crack propagation,which are close to the test results.It can be further extended to simulate multicrack propagation of anisotropic rock under multi-field coupling loads.

Reaearch on Skempton’s coefficient B based on the observation of groundwater of Changping station

Based on isotropie linear poroelastic theory and under the undrained condition, we summarize three equations connecting the Skempton＇s coefficient B with the groundwater level. After analysis, we propose a method to calculate the Skempton＇s coefficient B according to the relationship between water level and tidal strain. With this method we can get the value of B without the earthquake occurrence, which can provide the high frequency waves for research. Besides, we can also get the in-suit Skempton＇s coefficient B without the experiment of rock physics. In addition, we analyze the observed data of Changping station recorded in groundwater monitoring network （abv., GMN） before and after the Wenchuan Ms8.0 with this method, and find out there＇s a slight change of the value of B after the seismic waves passed by, which implies that the propagation of seismic waves may have brought some variations to the poroelastic medium of the well.

Numerical Analysis of the Soil Compaction Degree Under Multi-Location Tamping

Dynamic compaction(DC) is an efficient soil improvement technique. The previous numerical studies mainly focus on the soil response of single location tamping, but ignore the soil compaction degree under multilocation tamping. In this study, a numerical investigation of multi-location tamping in granular soils is carried out using three-dimensional(3D) finite element model(FEM). The behaviors of the granular soils are described by means of the viscoplastic cap model. The constitutive relationship of the soils is implemented into LS-DYNA and is integrated with 3D FEM for numerical investigation. Then utilizing the field data from the previous studies,we investigate the soil compaction degree at different stages by a case of two basic patterns, and discuss the cause of soil response. Lastly, we evaluate the effect of construction parameters on soil compaction. The simulation results show that the previous tamping affects the soil compaction degree beneath the adjacent tamping location,and the effect is greater near the side of previous location. Meanwhile, the soil compaction degree around the existing tamping crater weakens due to the adjacent tamping. Moreover, the rational selection of DC construction parameters can improve the soil compaction degree, and some hints on the effect of soil compaction are given.

Modelling of fault reactivation mechanisms and associated induced seismicity in rocks with different elastic materials

The mechanical failure of fault plane during fluid injection can be conveniently approached by numerical methods,and the results can be applied in fault slip analysis to determine the corresponding magnitude of induced seismicity.During hydrofracturing,when faults are present and the fluid is injected into the fault,micro-seismic events are possible,although the magnitude is often somewhat larger than those associated with micro-seismic events produced from regular hydraulic fracturing because of the larger surface area available for fault rupture.This study considers the rate at which the changing elastic properties of materials influences the magnitude of seismic event during fault injection.The simulation is carried out under varying injection flow rates from 0.18 kg/s to 0.3 kg/s,and the thermo-hydromechanical(THM)model in FLAC3D is adopted.As the material elastic moduli increase significantly under isothermal injection,the resulted non-uniformity in the fault slip timing affects the magnitude of injection-induced seismicity.Rocks with lower moduli produced higher slip distance and seismicity during shear failure.However,in the coupled thermal case,the magnitudes of seismicity during injection are largely enhanced at lower elastic properties,which suggests that the energy of accumulated fluid pressure produces a larger rupture and longer slip displacement in cold injection than in the isothermal case.The resulting volumetric strain,both in the fault zone and in the matrix,is higher in lower moduli,meanwhile,it is much developed in non-isothermal injection as a result of the rock's response to the sum effect of thermal strain and the stress-induced strain.