Salt Cavern Thermal Damage Evolution Investigation Based on a Hybrid Continuum-Discrete Coupled Modeling

Kai Feng, Wenjing Li (), Xing Nan and Guangzhi Yang
Additional contact information
Kai Feng: State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, Beijing 100083, China
Wenjing Li: Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering Beijing, Ministry of Education, Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil & Gas Distribution Technology, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Xing Nan: Sinochem Energy Logistics Corporation, Ltd., Beijing 100031, China
Guangzhi Yang: China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. Beijing Engineering Company, Beijing 100085, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-26

Abstract: The integrity and stability of salt caverns for natural gas storage are subjected to a gas cycling loading operation. The coupled effect of confining pressure and temperature on the response of the salt cavity surrounding the wall is essential to stability analysis. In this study, a hybrid continuum-discrete model accounting for the thermal-mechanical process is proposed to investigate the thermal-damage evolution mechanism towards a field case with blocks falling off the salt cavity. The salt cavity is modeled by continuum zones, and the potential damage zones are simulated by discrete particles. Three specimens at different locations around the surrounding wall are compared in the context of severe depressurization. The dynamic responses of rock salt, including temperature spatiotemporal variation, microscopic cracking patterns, and energy evolution exhibit spatial and confinement dependence. A series of numerical simulations were conducted to study the influence of microproperties and thermal properties. It is shown that the evolution of cracks is controlled by (1) the thermal-mechanical process (i.e., depressurization and retention at low pressure) and (2) the anomalous zone close to the brim of the salt cavity surrounding the wall. The zone far away from the marginal surrounding wall is less affected by temperature, and only the mechanical conditions control the development of cracks. This continuum/discontinuum approach provides an alternative method to investigate the progressive thermal damage and its microscopic mechanism.

Keywords: salt cavern; underground gas storage; continuum-discrete coupled method; thermal-mechanical coupling; thermal damage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8718/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8718/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8718-:d:1158115

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().