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http://dx.doi.org/10.7843/kgs.2021.37.3.19

Effect of Bottom Hole Pressure and Depressurization Rate on Stability and Gas Productivity of Hydrate-bearing Sediments during Gas Production by Depressurization Method  

Kim, Jung-Tae (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engrg., KAIST)
Kang, Seok-Jun (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engrg., KAIST)
Lee, Minhyeong (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engrg., KAIST)
Cho, Gye-Chun (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engrg., KAIST)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society / v.37, no.3, 2021 , pp. 19-30 More about this Journal
Abstract
The presence of the hydrate-bearing sediments in Ulleung Basin of South Korea has been confirmed from previous studies. Researches on gas production methods from the hydrate-bearing sediments have been conducted worldwide. As production mechanism is a complex phenomenon in which thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical phenomena occur simultaneously, it is difficult to accurately conduct the productivity and stability analysis of hydrate bearing sediments through lab-scale experiments. Thus, the importance of numerical analysis in evaluating gas productivity and stability of hydrate-bearing sediments has been emphasized. In this study, the numerical parametric analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of the bottom hole pressure and the depressurization rate on the gas productivity and stability of hydrate-bearing sediments during the depressurization method. The numerical analysis results confirmed that as the bottom hole pressure decreases, the productivity increases and the stability of sediments deteriorates. Meanwhile, it was shown that the depressurization rate did not largely affect the productivity and stability of the hydrate-bearing sediments. In addition, sensitivity analysis for gas productivity and stability of the sediments were conducted according to the depressurization rate in order to establish a production strategy that prevents sand production during gas production. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that controlling the depressurization rate from a low value to a high value is effective in securing the stability. Moreover, during gas production, the subsidence of sediments occurred near the production well, and ground heave occurred at the bottom of the production well due to the pressure gradient. From these results, it was concluded that both the productivity and stability analyses should be conducted in order to determine the bottom hole pressure when producing gas using the depressurization method. Additionally, the stress analysis of the production well, which is induced by the vertical displacements of sediments, should be evaluated.
Keywords
Bottom hole pressure; Depressurization method; Gas hydrate; Gas productivity; Stability of sediments;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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