Effects of Methane Hydrate Formation On Shear Strength of Synthetic Methane Hydrate Sediments

Abstract

Methane hydrate has been formed synthetically in two types of hostspecimens, ice-sand and/or watersand mixture, which were confined in a tri-axial pressure vessel under the deep-sea condition equivalent to approximately 800m deep. The shear strength of synthetic sediments increased due to methane hydrate formation. However, synthetic sediment from ice-sand mixture showed no significant increase in the strength at less than 25% of the saturation degree of methane hydrate, whereas the sediment strength by water-sand mixture rose successively with the methane hydrate saturation. Moreover, the effects of saturation degree of methane hydrate on cohesion and elastic properties were confirmed.