Experimental and numerical investigations into the influence of temperature on the permeability of hydrate-bearing sediments

Induced by heat injection and climate change, temperature change in hydrate reservoir significantly affects the permeability. A combination of experimental tests and fluid-mechanical-thermal coupling simulations is applied to investigate the temperature influence. The numerical and experimental data is listed here. Results show that the permeability decreases with increasing temperature with a quadratic function relation. Moreover, higher hydrate saturation will promote this reduction. In principle, the increase of temperature leads to linear narrowing of pore throats, further causes the quadratic function relation between permeability and temperature. Higher hydrate saturation will increase the thermal expansion and reduce the initial size of pore throats, which results in a more significant temperature sensitivity. The reduction of permeability may affect the advancement of decomposition front and the release of methane into atmosphere. Accordingly, a theoretical model is developed to describe the permeability-temperature relation, which offers a support for production estimation and environmental assessment.