Design of a shaft foot as a supporting element of the Thermal Energy Storage in Adiabatic CAES concept in post-mining shaft

Abstract

Development of the idea of using post-mining infrastructure for new purposes such as energy storage is currently the scope of intensive research. One of the ideas is to convert the shaft of a closed mine into adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) facility. In this concept the most important design problem is the placement of the Thermal Energy Storage container in the shaft. In this article the construction of shaft foot for the purpose of Thermal Energy Storage container suspended in the mine shaft is discussed. The size and number of shaft feet using existing mining industry standards for TES installation is estimated. Depending on the type of rock mass the size of the foot and amount of concrete needed for its construction is calculated.