Estimating in situ mechanical properties of sediments containing gas hydrates

A method for managing a field operation in a multicomponent particulate system, comprising:

• obtaining at least one of a plurality of geophysical and petrophysical parameters associated with the multicomponent particulate system;
• calculating at least one property corresponding to the plurality of geophysical and petrophysical parameters;
• obtaining at least one measurement of an elastoplastic property of the multicomponent particulate system;
• predicting at least one elastoplastic property of the multicomponent particulate system using the at least one measurement of the elastoplastic property of the multicomponent particulate system and the at least one property;
• constructing a correlation for the at least one elastoplastic property based on a general expansion that relates the at least one elastoplastic property to the at least one property;
• using a numerical search scheme to eliminate redundant terms from the general expansion;
• estimating, using a computer processor, at least one elastoplastic property of sediments in a formation of interest using the correlation;
• evaluating mechanical integrity of the formation of interest using the at least one elastoplastic property of sediments;
• and
• adjusting the field operation based on the evaluation.

A system for constructing elastoplastic property correlations in multicomponent particulate systems, comprising:

• at least one measuring mechanism configured to retrieve parameters from geophysical data of a sediment-hydrate system, wherein the parameters comprise Shyd and pc, and wherein Shyd is a hydrate saturation and pc is a confining pressure;
• a data analysis system configured to:
• construct a correlation between the Young's modulus (E) and at least one property of the geophysical data, wherein the correlation is:
• E
• p
• c
• =
• 90.58
• +
• 78.90
• α
• 0.5831
• +
• 800.4
• ⁢
• s
• hyd
• 1.371
• α
• 1.022
• ,
• and wherein α=pc/c and c is a scaling variable with dimensions of pressure;
• and
• determine the Young's modulus of the sediment-hydrate system using the parameters and the correlation;
• and
• at least one field component configured to adjust a field operation based on the Young's modulus of the sediment-hydrate system.