Parametric assessment of salt cavern performance using a creep model describing dilatancy and failure

Abstract

The present paper discusses a systematic approach to study the time-dependent performance of underground storage caverns in rock salt. An elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model capable of describing dilatancy, short-term failure and long-term failure during creep of rock salt was implemented in a Lagrangian finite element formulation. Using the finite element formulation, a series of numerical analyses was performed to investigate the influence of the cavern geometry and non-salt interbeds on the performance of underground storage caverns excavated in rock salt in the framework of large displacements. The attained results demonstrated the capability of the proposed approach in performance assessment of the underground caverns.