Experimental and Theoretical Study on the Critical Breaking Velocity of Marine Natural Gas Hydrate Sediments Breaking by Water Jet

Water jet technology is a key technology in the marine natural gas hydrate (NGH) solid fluidization mining method. As an important parameter in water jet breaking NGH sediments technology, the critical breaking velocity of NGH sediments is unknown. In the present research, an orthogonal design experiment is carried out to study the critical velocity of NGH breakage by water jet, using frozen soil and sand as experimental samples. First, the time it takes to reach maximum NGH breaking depth is determined. Then, ultimate breaking distance is studied with respect to the NGH saturation, jet pressure, and nozzle diameter. Following that, the variation of critical velocity with NGH saturation is analyzed. Eventually, a formula to calculate the critical velocity for marine NGH breakage by water jet process is established, and the undetermined coefficient (η) in the formula is calibrated with the experiment data. The results show that the ultimate breaking distance is mostly achieved within 63 s. The three experimental factors in order of the effect on the ultimate breaking depth (from high to low) are NGH saturation, jet pressure, and nozzle diameter. The critical velocities for marine NGH breakage corresponding to the NGH saturations of 20%, 40,%, 6%, and 80% are 5.71 m/s, 7.14 m/s, 9.60 m/s, and 10.85 m/s, respectively. The undetermined coefficient η in critical velocity formula is 1.44 m/s.