Numerical study on the deformation of soil stratum and vertical wells with gas hydrate dissociation

Gas hydrate (GH) dissociates owing to thermal injection or pressure reduction from the well in gas/oil or GH exploitation. GH dissociation leads to, for example, decreases in soil strength, engineering failures such as wellbore instabilities, and marine landslides. The FLAC3D software was used to analyze the deformation of the soil stratum and vertical wells with GH dissociation. The effects of Young’s modulus, internal friction angle, cohesion of the GH layer after dissociation, and the thickness of the GH layer on the deformation of soils were studied. It is shown that the maximum displacement in the whole soil stratum occurs at the interface between the GH layer and the overlayer. The deformation of the soil stratum and wells increases with decreases in the modulus, internal friction angle, and cohesion after GH dissociation. The increase in thickness of the GH layer enlarges the deformation of the soil stratum and wells with GH dissociation. The hydrostatic pressure increases the settlement of the soil stratum, while constraining horizontal displacement. The interaction between two wells becomes significant when the affected zone around each well exceeds half the length of the GH dissociation zone.