Construction prediction of horizontal energy storage salt caverns using a novel concentration-field model

Song Zhu, Daosheng Ling, Jia Liu, Zhuoteng Wang, Wu Gao, Muhammad Usman Azhar, Yunmin Chen, Liangtong Zhan, Wenjie Xu and Jinlong Li

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2025, vol. 216, issue C

Abstract: Horizontal salt caverns are widely used for oil and gas storage, hydrogen storage, compressed air energy storage, and carbon dioxide geological storage in bedded salt. Accurate modeling of solution mining processes is critical for predicting and controlling the shape and capacity of the caverns. To improve the accuracy and efficiency of such predictions, a novel construction prediction model is proposed using a simplified concentration field distribution model. The dissolution of salt and the convection of brine are simulated by solving the Navier-Stokes equations and the convective diffusion equation. Simulation results indicate that the injected freshwater mixes with the brine and forms an upward buoyant jet. Except in the buoyant jet region, there is a vertical concentration stratification. The brine concentration is the lowest from the apex of the buoyant jet to the cavern top, and gradually increases in the downward direction until the saturated zone below the injection port. In this regard, the simplified concentration field distribution model introduces a distribution factor β to describe these distribution patterns. A C++ simulation program, named “Horizontal Salt Cavern Construction Prediction”, is developed combining the simplified concentration model, the dissolution model and the grid system based on the Volume of Fluid Method. The construction of Volgograd Gas Storage is simulated for verification. Simulated brine concentration and cavern shapes coincide well with the actual cases, indicating that the proposed model is reliable. Work in this paper can serve as a new construction design tool and facilitate renewable energy storage in salt caverns.

Keywords: Energy storage; Horizontal salt caverns; Construction prediction; Concentration field model; Bedded salt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032125002564
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:rensus:v:216:y:2025:i:c:s1364032125002564

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2025.115583

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().