Interaction effects of storage caverns in salt (original) (raw)

1980

Abstract

The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve program for crude oil stockpiling utilizes some existing solution mined caverns in Gulf Coast salt domes. Geomechanical analyses are impotant tools used to assess the structural stability of these caverns. This report addresses the ineractions between adjacent caverns which result from maintaining different pressures in the caverns. Finite element models of two adjacent caverns are analyzed for four different cavern spacings. The brine pressure is simulated in one cavern while the pressure in the adjacent cavern ranges from that of the oil head to atmospheric conditions. Stress distributions and deformed profiles of the caverns are plotted for the conditions simulated. Since the tensile strength of salt is low (typically 100 to 300 psi), regions in which tensile stresses occur are considered to have a significant probability of slabbing. A preliminary recommendation is made to maintain similar pressures to adjacent caverns in which the pillar thickness/cavern diameter ratio of the web between caverns is less than 0.5 unless cavern specific assessments indicate that the potential for pillar slabbing is minimal.

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