Feasibility of construction and operation of strata aligned cavern in bedded salt

The pure salt sections in the salt-cavern gas storages in the periphery of West-to-East Gas Pipeline (such as Huai'an and Chuzhou gas storages) are thinner, so deep wells shall be drilled to connect the salt layers at different depth if the conventional vertical single cavern leaching technology is used. With the increasing of drilling depth, the reservoir pressure, reservoir temperature and investment as well as the creep effects increase. If the strata aligned cavern leaching technology is adopted, strata aligned caverns can be built in the thicker pure salt sections in the shallow layers, and the utilization of salt rock volume can be maximized. The feasibility of strata aligned cavern leaching technology in China was demonstrated by analyzing the strata aligned cavern leaching technology and the stability and economy of strata aligned cavern. It is indicated that this strata aligned cavern leaching technology costs less and its cavern stability can satisfy the injection and withdraw conditions, but the control and detection of cavity shape are in a way difficult. Cavity shape controlling method can be determined by using the test of strata aligned cavern leaching and adjusting sonar parameters to detect cavity shape precisely.