Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Hydrate-bearing Sediments

하이드레이트 함유 퇴적물의 역학적 성질 및 지구물리 특성

Using an oedometer cell instrumented to measure the evolution of electromagnetic properties, small strain stiffness, and temperature, we conducted consolidation tests on four types of sediments. The tested specimens include sediments with different gas hydrate saturation at four stages of loading. The test results show that the electromagnetic and mechanical properties of hydrate-bearing marine sediments are governed by the vertical effective stress, stress history, porosity, hydrate saturation, fabric, ionic concentration of the pore fluid, and temperature. The results also show that permittivity and electrical conductivity data can be combined to estimate hydrate volume fraction in laboratory sediments, methodology that might eventually be extended for estimation of hydrate concentrations in field settings.