深海天然气水合物大量赋存在深海沉积物中(即深海能源土)。天然气水合物的大规模开采将导致能源土力学性质劣化,从而引发海底滑坡和海床失稳等一系列海床稳定性问题。针对能源土开采所致海床稳定性问题,探讨现行相关研究方法的局限性;建议在宏微观土力学研究思路框架内,基于对能源土微观结构的深刻认识,以离散元为桥梁、以物理实验为依据,探究深海能源土的宏观力学变形特性,然后结合有限元数值模拟分析方法,研究海床稳定性问题。
Exploitation of methane hydrate,which is originally stored in deep-sea marine deposits,will deteriorate the mechanical properties of the deposits and therefore lead to seabed instability,such as submarine landslide.A few essential issues associated with methane-hydrate-related seabed instability as well as the limitation of existing analysis methods are highlighted.A new methodology is proposed based on the theory of micro-to-macro geomechanics,which uses the discrete element method to bridge the microscopic characteristics of geo-materials with methane hydrate and their constitutive behaviors in macro sense.