Applicability of Duncan-Chang Model and its Modified Versions to Methane Hydrate-Bearing Sands

Abstract

Methane hydrate is ice-like clathrate compound that attracts global attention due to its huge potential as a future energy source. The constitutive law of methane hydrate-bearing sediments remains unknown and becomes a barrier in sustainable exploitation of methane hydrate from marine sediments. The Duncan-Change model is a nonlinear elastic model which was widely accepted by the geotechnical community in approximating the constitutive response of geo-materials. This model and its evolved versions were employed in this study to model the stress-strain response observed in triaxial tests on methane hydrate-bearing sands. Duncan-Chang type models capture well the strain hardening behaviors. However, they fall short of incorporating the dependency of temperature and saturation degree of methane hydrate, which have to be taken into account in future constitutive models of methane hydrate-bearing deposits.