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Growth of disk-shaped bubbles in sediment
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Growth of disk-shaped bubbles in sediment

B.S. Gardiner, B.P. Boudreau and B.D. Johnson
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol.67(8), pp.1485-1494
2003
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(02)01072-4
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Abstract

Disc-shaped methane bubbles, often observed in marine sediments, result from growth in a medium that elastically resists expansion of the bubbles and yields by fracture. We have modeled this process to obtain estimates of growth times by using a reaction-diffusion model coupled to a linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). For comparison, we also modeled the growth of a constant eccentricity bubble in a nonresistant medium. Discoidal bubbles that grow in sediments that obey LEFM grow much faster than spherical bubbles (two- to fourfold faster for the times and conditions tested here) and become more eccentric with time (aspect ratios falling from 0.3 to 0.03 over 8 d of growth). In addition, their growth is not continuous but punctuated by fracture events. Furthermore, under some conditions, LEFM predicts that bubble growth can become arrested, which is not possible for a bubble in a nonresistant medium, even for nonspherical bubbles. Cessation of growth occurs when the dissolved gas concentration gradient near the bubble surface disappears as a result of the increase in bubble gas pressure needed to overcome sediment elasticity.

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Source: InCites

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Citation topics
8 Earth Sciences
8.312 Gas Hydrates
8.312.1202 Gas Hydrate
Web Of Science research areas
Geochemistry & Geophysics
ESI research areas
Geosciences
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