High Frequency Cycling of Salt Storage Caverns: Development of Appropriate Lab Tests & Design Criteria
Innovative uses of salt storage caverns in recent years include High Performance Natural Gas Storage (HPNGS) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). Compared to seasonal storage caverns, operating pressure conditions are here characterized by (1) higher injection/production rates and subsequently higher pressure variation rates, and (2) more intensive cycling i.e. essentially more cycles over the anticipated operating lifetime.
The SMRI recognizes that the design and operation of such salt storage caverns can require important refinements of the rock salt Constitutive Behaviour Laws as well as the Mechanical Stability Design Criteria currently used by the industry for seasonal storage caverns. Due to the relatively more aggressive pressure scenarios, these adjustments will need to address at least such items as: salt material fatigue, reduced average cavern pressure, thermally induced stresses, reduced transient creep periods and specific field monitoring.
