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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Distinct creep regimes of methane hydrates predicted by a monatomic water model

Henrik Andersen Sveinsson*

Pinqiang Cao

  • *Contact author: h.a.sveinsson@fys.uio.no
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L012007 – Published 9 January, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012007

Abstract

The power-law creep properties of methane hydrates were measured experimentally two decades ago, but their microscopic explanation is still missing. Here we show, using molecular dynamics simulations spanning almost 2 orders of magnitude of stresses and 3 orders of magnitude of strain rates, that such power-law creep emerges in molecular dynamics simulations of polycrystalline methane hydrates using a monatomic water model, suggesting that only simplified molecular interactions and the concept of a hydrate polycrystal are needed for such power-law creep behavior to emerge. Damage patterns post-creep suggest that hydrates are strong because damage only occurs on crystal surfaces.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L012007– Published 9 January, 2025
  • Received 7 December 2023
  • Accepted 20 November 2024
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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