The mechanical behavior of methane hydrate-bearing sediments has been a research focus in the area of exploiting methane hydrate from deep seabed currently. This paper presents a numerical analysis of mechanical behavior of hydrate-bearing sediments by using the discrete element method (DEM). Firstly

a new method for preparing hydrate-bearing samples in the DEM simulation is proposed. Then

a series of numerical simulations of drained triaxial tests are performed on hydrate-bearing sediments with different hydrate saturations. And the simulation results are compared with the test results obtained in the laboratories. Finally

some numerical experiments on hydrate-bearing sediments with different micro-bond parameters are performed using the same method. The study shows that the DEM simulation is able to capture the main mechanical characteristics of hydrate-bearing sediments; and their mechanical properties will change with the variation of the properties of the bond between methane hydrate and soil particles. Furthermore

it is found that both of their peak strength and elastic modulus are enhanced by the presence of methane hydrate in hydrate-bearing sediments with the forms of cementation and pore-filling in combination.