A Long Gravity-Piston Corer Developed for Seafloor Gas Hydrate Coring Utilizing an In Situ Pressure-Retained Method

Type Article
Date 2013-07
Language English
Author(s) Chen Jia-Wang1, 2, Fan Wei3, Bingham Brian2, Chen Ying1, 4, Gu Lin-Yi4, Li Shi-Lun4
Affiliation(s) 1 : Zhejiang Univ, Ocean Coll, Hangzhou 310058, Peoples R China.
2 : Univ Hawaii, Dept Mech Engn, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA.
3 : Hangzhou Dianzi Univ, Dept Ocean Engn, Hangzhou 310018, Peoples R China.
4 : Zhejiang Univ, State Key Lab Fluid Power Transmiss & Control, Hangzhou 310027, Peoples R China.
Source Energies (1996-1073) (Mdpi Ag), 2013-07 , Vol. 6 , N. 7 , P. 3353-3372
DOI 10.3390/en6073353
WOS© Times Cited 23
Keyword(s) gas hydrate corer, in situ pressure-retained corer, mechanism of coring, long coring, gravity-piston, key pressure-retained structure
Abstract A corer, which can obtain long in situ pressure-retained sediments of up to 30 m core containing gas hydrates, has been applied in the South China Sea (SCS) dozens of times. The corer presented in this paper is a convenient, efficient and economical long in situ pressure-retained coring and research tool for submarine sediments, that can applied to completely cope with all sediments close to the seafloor ranging from shallow waters to the deep sea depths of 6000 m. This article mainly presents the overall structure, working principles, key pressure-retained components, coring mechanism, sea trials and outlook of the corer. The analyses found that the coring ability was affected by formation characteristics, the outer diameter of the core barrels and inner diameter of the core liners, the shapes of the cutter and the dead weight of the corer. This study can provide the practical basis for the structural optimization of this type of corer and designs for corers with greater penetrability. Sea trials showed that the developed corer presented in this paper can support the in situ pressure of the seafloor sediment core, which is an improvement over the conventional piston corer.
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