A design method for enhancing the cavity stability of salt-cavern gas storage

To realize the reliable design of salt-cavern gas storage and ensure its long term stable operation, cavities must satisfy the following stability criteria, e.g., no or little tensile failure zone, no or little shear dilatancy damage zone and limited volume shrinkage. In this paper, a typical well in Jintan Block was taken as an example for study. Numerical simulation was performed on three designed cavity shapes from the aspects of cavity stability and volume shrinkage by using the 2D axisymmetric finite element software Locas. The conditions of the three cavities were compared after steady operation for one year. Accordingly, cavity 2 was selected, and the optimal aspect ratio was provided to guide the solution mining in field. The research results can be used as the necessary reference for the cavity shape design of salt-cavern gas storages in Jintan area.