Numerical simulation of accumulation of gas hydrates during sedimentation and compaction of sediments under subaqueous conditions

The mutual influence of compaction of depositing sediments and formation of gas hydrates in a porous medium is examined. Within the framework of the general mathematical model developed in this study, these interrelated processes are described by a nonlinear system of eight partial differential equations and are analyzed using numerical simulation in terms of the model including compaction of depositing sediments, movement of pore fluids, and formation of gas hydrates from dissolved methane accumulated during sedimentation. On the basis of model examples calculated with the use of representative parameters of the system, it is shown that the hydrate formation rate depends on the sedimentation rate and thermal conditions. Gas hydrate formation is shown to influence the pore fluid velocity in the near-surface zone of sediments.     

Influence of the fluid-dynamic and rheological properties of sediments on the process of viscoelastic compaction at different rates of sedimentation

The problem of compaction of depositing sediments is studied for different geophysical characteristics of the process of sedimentation. A model is proposed for describing the compaction of sediments with growing thickness. The model is based on the modern concepts of the viscoelastic rheology of accumulating sediments; and, in terms of mathematics, it is a system of nonlinear differential equations in partial derivatives, which describe the processes of compaction and filtration with an increasing thickness of sediments. I have studied numerically the dependence of the regimes of compaction on the formulated characteristic criteria of similarity in the system of equations. Fluid-dynamic criterion, which characterizes the ratio of the rate of sedimentation to the rate of the filtration of a fluid (the rate of fluidization), and the rheological criterion of compaction, which characterizes the proportion between the viscous and elastic strains on the time scale of the process of compaction, i.e., the ratio of the two time scales—the time scale of the elastic strains’ relaxation and the time scale of the viscous compaction. The complex modeling of the mechanics and hydrodynamics of the interrelated processes of compaction and movement to the surface of the saturating fluids with an increase in the thickness of sediments reproduces the mechanism of the formation of different regimes of compaction, including those, which lead to an anomalously high pore pressure and to significant, in some circumstances step-like rise in the pressure of the saturating fluid, frequently observed at depths of 2–3 km.     

Accumulation of gas hydrates at the bottom of the sea during sequential deposits of sediments with different transport properties

Doklady Earth Sciences -     

Influence of Layered Structures of the Seabed on the Formation of Gas Hydrates in the Area Surrounding Deep-Sea Mud Volcanoes: A Mathematical Model

Doklady Earth Sciences - The evolutionary processes of gas hydrate accumulations associated with deep-sea mud volcanoes are discussed. A mathematical model and the results of numerical modeling of...     

Mathematical model of accumulation of gas hydrates associated with deep-sea mud volcanoes

Doklady Earth Sciences - A new model that can account for accumulations of gas hydrates associated with submarine mud volcanoes and based on the available data on these gas hydrates is proposed....     

Influence of the sedimentation regime and compaction of sediments under subaqueous conditions on the accumulation of gas hydrates in the zone of their stability

Formation of gas hydrate that form in a porous medium of sediments from gas dissolved in a gassaturated fluid is analyzed for different regimes of fluid movement determined by the permeability of sediments, their physical properties, and their accumulation rate. In the framework of the presented general mathematical model of viscoelastic compaction of accumulated sediments, characteristic porosity decrease patterns, fluid movement, and gas hydrate accumulation are described by a nonlinear system of eight partial differential equations. The regime of compaction and fluid movement is determined by the values of dimensionaless similarity numbers defined as nonlinear combinations of physical and dynamic parameters of the process studied. The results of model calculations with the use of representative physical and hydrodynamic parameters of the system provided constraints on the dependence of the hydrate formation rate on the similarity numbers of the problem. It is shown that the rate and volume of hydrate accumulation are determined by the similarity numbers and dimensionless time.