A theoretical model for predicting the spatial distribution of gas hydrate dissociation under the combination of depressurization and heating without the discontinuous interface assumption

Spatial distribution of gas hydrate dissociation is essential in analyzing gas recovery and related potential hazards. This work develops a 1D model for predicting the spatial distribution of gas hydrate dissociation under the combination of depressurization and heating in the clay-silty sediments. Without assuming a discontinuous interface and a sudden decrease of pressure, the sediment is divided into a dissociated zone, a dissociating zone, and an undissociated zone. The dissociating zone is further separated into a heating subzone and a non-heating subzone. This work finds that (i) the thicknesses of the dissociating zone and the heating subzone as well as the propagation distance of the hydrate dissociation front are all linear with the square root of time, and the square root of hydrate dissociation time at any location is also linear with the distance between the location and the production well; (ii) the expansion velocity of the dissociating zone is about ninety times faster than that of the heating subzone, and a higher absolute permeability causes a faster expansion velocity of the dissociating zone, but barely affects the expansion velocity of the heating subzone; and (iii) the thickness of the heating subzone is less than 5% of the thickness of the dissociating zone in the latter stage of the hydrate dissociation process.