• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.192-202
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• 2013

The domestic demand of natural gas has increased continuously due to the sudden rise of oil price and regulations on greenhouse gas to global warming. In order to improve the supply security of natural gas market in Korea, the agreement on supply of pipeline natural gas (PNG) in Russia was signed between Gazprom and Korea Gas Corporation in 2008. If the supply plan of Russian natural gas is realized, underground storage facilities would be required in order to balance supply and demand of natural gas because the gas demand is concentrated in the winter. This study investigated the safety of the storage facility in quantitative way considering several design parameters such as gas pressure, depth of the storage cavern, rock condition and in-situ horizontal stress ratio. Two dimensional stress analyses were conducted using axi- symmetry condition to examine the behavior of cavern depending upon suggested design parameters. Results showed that the factor of safety, defined as the ratio of 'shear strength'/'shear stress', was largely affected by the depth, rock class and gas pressure but was insensitive to the coefficient of lateral pressure(Ko).

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.33-38
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• 1982

A successful operation of underground oil storage cavern depends on water-tightness around cavern by groundwater. If water-tightness is not secured, gas bubbles would leak out and oil would migrate to an adjacent empty cavern. In this research an electrical analogy method was employed to study the influence of shape of cavern on gas leakage and the required natural groundwater level, relative oil level in two neighboring caverns and cavern spacing to prevent oil migration. The results show that gas leakage is prevented from a cavern with a ceiling of large curvature. The required values of factors to curtail the migration of oil are given on a graph.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.442-453
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• 2013

A large-scale high-temperature thermal energy storage(TES) was numerically modeled and the heat loss through storage tank walls was analyzed using a commercial code, FLAC3D. The operations of rock cavern type and above-ground type thermal energy storages with identical operating condition were simulated for a period of five consecutive years, in which it was assumed that the dominant heat transfer mechanism would be conduction in massive rock for the former and convection in the atmosphere for the latter. The variation of storage temperature resulting from periodic charging and discharging of thermal energy was considered in each simulation, and the effect of insulation thickness on the characteristics of heat loss was also examined. A comparison of the simulation results of different storage models presented that the heat loss rate of above-ground type TES was maintained constant over the operation period, while that of rock cavern type TES decreased rapidly in the early operation stage and tended to converge towards a certain value. The decrease in heat loss rate of rock cavern type TES can be attributed to the reduction in heat flux through storage tank walls followed by increase in surrounding rock mass temperature. The amount of cumulative heat loss from rock cavern type TES over a period of five-year operation was 72.7% of that from above-ground type TES. The heat loss rate of rock cavern type obtained in long-period operation showed less sensitive variations to insulation thickness than that of above-ground type TES.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.87-94
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• 1983

The successful oil storage in the underground cavern is dependent on how to keep the water-tightness around the cavern by the groundwater. If the water-tightness is not secured, gas bubles will leak out and oil migrate to the adjacent empty cavern. An electrical analogy method was employed in studying the influences of the position of horizontal and vertical water curtains, the head of water curtain and the intervals of the cavern spacings and boreholes on the gas leakage and the oil migration into the adjacent empty cavern. The result shows that if the cavern spacing is narrow, the vertical water curtain should be established and if the cavern spacing is more than twice the cavern height, its establishment is not necessary. All the detailed factors required to prevent the oil migration are shown on graphs.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.1 s.66
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• pp.56-65
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• 2007

A new underground LNG storage concept in the rock mass has been developed by combining underground cavern construction and new ice-ring harrier technologies with the conventional cryogenic insulation system. Technical feasibility of the storage system has been verified through construction and operation of the pilot storage cavern and a full-scale project is expected to start in the near future. One of the most important issues in the LNG storage system is the operational efficiency of the storage to minimize heat loss during a long period of operation due to the cryogenic heat transfer. This paper presents several important results of heat transfer and coupled hydro-thermal analyses by a finite element code Temp/W and Seep/W. A series of heat transfer analyses for full-scale caverns were performed to determine design parameters such as boil-off gas ratio (BOR), insulation thickness and pillar width. The result of the coupled hydro-mechanical analysis showed that BOR for underground storage system remains at about 0.04 %/day during the early stage of the operation. This value could be even much lower when the discontinuities in the rock masses are taken into consideration.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.3 s.62
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• pp.241-250
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• 2006

Ice ring formation, one of the core techniques in LNG storage in a lined rock cavern, is investigated through hydro-thermal coupled analysis. An ice ring acts as a secondary barrier in case of leakage of cryogenic liquid and as a primary barrier for groundwater intrusion into an LNG cavern. Therefore, the thickness and location of the ice ring are crucial factors for the safe operation of an LNG storage cavern, especially for maintaining the integrity of a primary barrier composed of concrete, PU foam, and steel membrane. Through numerical analyses, the position and thickness of the ice ring are estimated, and the temperature and groundwater level are compared with measured values. The temperature md groundwater level by numerical analyses show good agreement with the field measurements when temperature-dependent properties and phase change are taken into account. The schemes used in this paper can be applied for estimation of ice ring formation in designing a full-scale LNG cavern.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.1 s.60
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• pp.38-49
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• 2006

LNG storage in lined rock cavern demands various techniques concerned with rock mechanics, thermo-mechanics and hydrogeology in design, construction and maintenance stage. LNG pilot cavern was constructed in Daejeon in order to verify these techniques. In this paper, evaluation of drainage system and ice ring formation was studied by numerical simulation. By Modflow analysis in the viewpoint of aquifer and Seep/W analysis in the viewpoint of flow system, it was verified that the drainage system in the pilot cavern was efficiently operated. Since ice ring formation can be simulated by interactive relation between heat transfer and water flow, coupled analysis of those was performed. In this analysis, the position of ice ring was presumed and it was demonstrated that the formation is affected by velocity and direction of groundwater flow.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.76-80
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• 1998

In order to identify the cause of ground water drawdown of a piezometer installed around the LPG storage cavern, parameter estimations were conducted by inverse and forward numerical models. An inverse model, SK-EST developed by SK Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd.(SKEC,1997) was performed to estimate the change of the hydraulic conductivity. It was verified by the commercial forward model, AQUA3D (VATNASKIL,1995). The simulation results showed that the hydraulic diffusivity of the rock mass between the piezometer and the cavern had been increased and the change rate of the hydraulic head had been abruptly increased in response to the change of the operation pressure. Finally the statistical analysis for observed data showed the increase of the change rate of the hydraulic head and thus proved the applicability of SK-EST.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.287-296
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• 2011

We performed a numerical modeling study of thermodynamic and multiphase fluid flow processes associated with underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) in a lined rock cavern (LRC). We investigated air tightness performance by calculating air leakage rate of the underground storage cavern with concrete linings at a comparatively shallow depth of 100 m. Our air-mass balance analysis showed that the key parameter to assure the long-term air tightness of such a system was the permeability of both concrete linings and surrounding rock mass. It was noted that concrete linings with a permeability of less than $1.0{\times}10^{-18}\;m^2$ would result in an acceptable air leakage rate of less than 1% with the operational pressure range between 5 and 8 MPa. We also found that air leakage could be effectively prevented and the air tightness performance of underground lined rock cavern is enhanced if the concrete lining is kept at a higher moisture content.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.75-86
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• 2002

A TSP(Tunnel Seismic Prediction) survey which is modified VSP(Vertical Seismic Profiling) survey applied in tunnel was carried out at Pyongtaek and Incheon liquefied petroleum gas(LPG) storage cavern during excavation. The TSP survey in Pyongtaek LPG storage cavern which is located below Namyangho was performed to confirm the location and orientation of the fault detected at pre-investigation stage. The TSP survey was carried out in access tunnel, construction tunnel, and watercurtain tunnel to characterize 3 dimensional figure of the fault. The results of TSP survey are compared four in vestigation boreholes drilled in shelter of access tunnel. The fault was also detected by borehole survey and the location was coincided with the result of TSP survey. Depending on the result of TSP survey and core logging, the design such as cavern layout and length was changed. Another TSP survey was performed in Incheon LPG storage cavern which is located below sea. Because of poor geological information at pre-investigation stage and suffering from heavy leakage of groundwater, the TSP survey to detect fracture zone was carried out. The support and grouting design was reflected by the result of TSP survey.