Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823 Available at http://www.joics.

com

August 10, 2013

Creep Model Analysis of Rock Salt Cavern Under Normal Operations

Xinrong Liu a,b , Jianqiang Guo a,b,,
a College b Key

Junbao Wang a,b , Liang Zhang a,b

of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area (Chongqing University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400045, China

Abstract The quality of numerical simulation results depends on the availability of creep parameters, based on the characteristic of the creep parameters in engineering applications, put a great deal of emphasis on the choice of the creep model under injection and production, and propose that it is more meaningful to make the coecient of determination (R2 ) of creep parameters be to 1 under normal operations (in the range of inside pressure from 5 to 30 MPa) than complete stress (so called [0, +)). So, One side, to formulate the linear creep constitutive mode is one of the bases of the testing results and inside pressure standard under normal operations; For another, to evaluate the variability of the creep velocity in dierent creep parameters, which are linear and power function creep constitutive. The results show that linear creep constitutive mode has less parameters and is simple, but also variation of the creep rate is little in a relatively wide range. Linear creep model can be applied to research such as the prediction of the long-term volume shrinkage in the operation process of salt rock storage. Keywords : Rock Salt; Salt Cavern Storage; Critical Conning Pressure; Creep Constitutive Model

Introduction

Rock salt is a worldwide-recognized ideal medium for underground storage of hydrocarbons or others (e.g. toxic or radioactive). The results have showed in developed countries that it is now possible to store billions of normal cubic meters of hydrocarbons safely and economically in salt caverns [1]. The storage caverns in China, which were building in Jiang Su Jin-tan and planning Hu Bei Yun-ying, Chong Qing Wan-zhou, He Nan Ping-ding-shan, have to meet the criteria necessary to assure stable and tight high-pressure. The eects of rock salt creep on cavern shrinkage, several models for rock salt creep have been formulated. A common goal of the previous investigations is to determine the creep constitutive model. It has been found that some of them have not a remarkable success because

Graduate Creative Fund (0218005204101); Science Fund for Creative Research Groups (No. 50921063) Corresponding author. Email address: dianxiyou@163.com (Jianqiang Guo).

15487741 / Copyright 2013 Binary Information Press

DOI: 10.12733/jics20102020

3816

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

of multitudinous parameters in engineering applications [2]-[4]; other models (e. g. power and exponential function) are well received [5]-[14]. Rare investigation has, however, made to identify the parameters eect on the time-dependent properties and creep rate. The quality of numerical simulation results depends on the availability of creep parameters [13, 14]. In the present paper we start from a complete and accurate set of triaxial creep data on Jiang Su Hong-ze rock salt. One side, a new constitutive equation for normal operated cavern is proposed; For another, evaluate the variability of the creep rate in dierent creep parameters, which derive from linear and power creep constitutive. Linear creep constitutive mode have less parameters and is simple, but also variation of the creep rate is little in a relatively wide range, so it can be applied to research such as the prediction of the long-term volume shrinkage in the operation process of salt rock storage.

2
2.1

Rock Salt Creep Test Design

Testing Condition

Rock salt creep test have been performed in an MTS system-RLW2000 by the Laboratory for Coal Mine Disaster Dynamic and Control Chongqing University, Fig. 1. The axial stress is controlled by the MTS control system. Data acquisition system is high desirable to regulate the testing parameters, and to record the stress, temperature, displacement and pore water pressure. The maximum stress, axial and lateral, are 2000 kN and 80 MP. The measurement precision of the axial and lateral load is 200 N and an accuracy of 0.01%. The system is suitable for rock salt creep testing.

Fig. 1: RLW-2000 electric-uid serving compression machine

The specimens tested here were obtained from Hongze mining area Jiangsu province. The specimens were kept tightly wrapped in cellophane to preclude moisture loss or gain. The samples are cylinders with length 100 mm and diameter 50 mm. The samples, which meets the requirements of Code for Rock Tests of Hydroelectric and Water Conservancy Engineering (SL 264-2001) that requires without obvious fractures and cracks.

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

3817

2.2

Rock Salt Creep

Tests on samples were designed for stepwise creep testing with the same conning pressure (15 MPa and 25 MPa) and a stepwise increase in axial stress. The axial stress was increased and the next creep phase started when the creep curve achieved the steady state. Both Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show the creep strain versus time under constant conning pressure (3 = 15 MPa and 3 = 25 MPa) with dierent deviatoric stress.
0.048 0.043 Creep stain (s) 0.038 0.033 0.028 0.023 0.018 0.013 0.008 0 20 40 60 80 Time (h) 100 120 140

Fig. 2: Triaxial creep curve of rock salt (15 MPa)

Creep stain (s)

0.105 0.095 0.085 0.075 0.065 0.055 0.045 0.035 0.025 0.015 0 20 40 60 80 100 Time (h) 120 140 160

Fig. 3: Triaxial creep curve of rock salt (25 MPa) As is shown in Fig. 2 and 3 that the creep strain rate decrease continually from the transient state to steady state; steady state creep strain rate increases with increasing deviatoric stress. Table 1 is a summary of the creep experiment performed in this paper.

Rock Salt Linear Creep Constitutive Mode

Numerous constitutive theories have been driven by the need to develop improved operation and performance assessment predictions for rock salt carven volume shrinkage. Based on available experimental data, a simple equation is suggested to model creep strain. According to some research results [9, 17] that steady state creep strain rate is a function of the conning pressure,

3818

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

Table 1: Experiment results of rock salt creep

Stress/MPa 3 1 20 15 25 30 30 25 35 40 47 45 46 48 50 50 0.4 1.0 2.0 1.7 2.8 4.2 Rock salt Time/h Creep Rate/104 h1 Note

deviatoric stress and temperature, the equation is: s = fc (3 )D(1 3 )H (T ) (1)

where s is steady state creep strain rate; fc (3 ) is a function representing the eects of conning pressure; D(1 3 ) represents the eects of deviatoric stress; H (T ) is a function of temperature. For constant room temperature Eq. (1) can be written as: s = D(1 3 )fc (3 ) (2)

Both reference 5 and 7 paid attention to the analysis of the conning pressure and emphasized the critical conning pressure (30 ). 30 is 3.0 and 5.0 MPa respectively for Yang et al. in reference 7 and Liu et al. in reference 5. The critical conning pressure (30 ) is that value conning pressure 3 beyond which the steady state creep strain rate is eectively independent of the conning pressure and is only a function of deviatoric stress; When 3 < 30 the steady state creep strain rate decreases steeply in the range of the conning pressure (3 ) from 0 to 30 . The critical conning pressure (30 ) is dierent, however, one is not beyond 5 MPa. Yang et al. [12] based on the basis of the optimization of cavern, stability and long-term stability, proposed the change laws of the inside pressure in operation from 5.5 to 22 MPa; Ma [16] that considering results of stability and creep analysis, 17 MPa is advised to be the long-term minimum pressure for the formation of over 1800 m which is called ultra-deep formation. Based on research achievements obtained Yang et al. [12] and Ma [16], it is reasonable to think operating of the rock salt cavern is in the range of inside pressure from about 5 to 30 MPa, that is, operating inside pressure is greater than the critical conning pressure (30 ) under normal operation. We can see that deviatoric stress has good linear with the steady state creep strain rate by evaluating the results, which conning pressure is in the range of inside pressure from about 5 to 30 MPa. Based on the study achievement for rock salt, the following assumptions can be drawn: (1) Rock salt creep is absent under mean stress (so called static hydraulic stress), that is, initial creep rate is close to zero; (2) The R2 is the coecient of determination that falls be in the range from 0 to 1; the closer R2 value is to 1, the better the regression t. Based on the characteristics of cavern under injection and production to propose that it is more meaningful to make the coecient of

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

3819

determination (R2 ) of creep parameters be to 1 under normal operations than complete stress (so called [0, +)). (3) It is desirable that steady state strain rate appears not to be sensitive to creep parameters for constitutive model. Based on the above assumptions and creep investigation results, constitutive equation in the range of conning pressure from about 5 to 30 MPa can be represented by: q q0 a + b(1 3 ) ) ( (3) s = D(1 3 ) = a + b (1 3 ) q < q0 q0 where a and b are material constants, which are obtained by tting the experiment data; 10 is the minimum axial for stepwise creep testing; 3 is the conning pressure; q = 1 3 ; q0 = 10 3 . Based on the Eqs. (1), (2) and (3), one obtain: { [a + b(1 3 )]fc (3 ) 3 30 s = D(1 3 ) 3 > 30

(4)

From the data of Table 1, the parameters in Eq. (4) are as follows: a = 0.4088, b = 0.1402 for conning pressure 3 = 15 MPa: q5 0.4088 + 0.1402(1 3 ) ) ( s = 0.4088 0.1402 (1 3 ) q < 5 5 For conning pressure 3 = 25 MPa, a = 0.3504, b = 0.2190: q5 0.3504 + 0.219(1 3 ) ( ) s = 0.3504 0.219 + (1 3 ) q < 5 5

Study on Parameters of Power Function Creep Constitutive Mode

Norton-Power creep strain rate is assumed to be an power function of deviatoric stress (q) alone, as given by: s = Aq n (5)

Eq. (5) can be t to almost all experimental data of creep strain rate versus time; Both A and n are material constant, the parameters are get by tting. Chen et al. [11], the parameters in Eq. (5) are as follows: A = 5.86E-6, n = 3.5. Fig. 4 show a set of creep strain rate at dierent parameters (A and n) for Eq. (5), the unit of creep stain rate is yr1 and the unit of stress q shall be in MPa.

3820

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823
1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Cited References [11] A = 3.0E6; n = 3.6 A = 3.0E6; n = 3.8 A = 3.0E6; n = 3.3 A = 3.0E6; n = 3.4 A = 3.0E6; n = 3.5 A = 5.86E6; n = 3.5

Creep rate/yr1

10 20 Deviatoric stress/MPa

30

Fig. 4: s under dierent creep parameters

9 8 7 Creep rate/yr1 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 5 10 15 20 Deviatoric dtress/MPa 25 30 Caluated values from experiments

A = 0.25; n = 0.7500 A = 0.25; n = 0.8121 A = 0.25; n = 0.9000 A = 0.3961; n = 0.7500 A = 0.3961; n = 0.8121 A = 0.3961; n = 0.9000

Fig. 5: s under dierent creep parameters

From the data of Table 1, the parameters in Eq. (5) for conning pressure 25 MPa with least square method are as follows: A = 0.3961, n = 0.8121. Fig. 5 show a set of creep strain rate at dierent parameters (A and n) for Eq. (5), the unit of creep stain rate is yr1 and the unit of stress q shall be in MPa. As shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 creep strain rate appears to be sensitive to parameters A and n, creep strain rate increases or decreases with either or both increasing or decreasing, the divergence of the creep strain rate are more obvious with increasing deviatoric stress, especially. According to some research results (Wu et al. [14]; Zhao et al. [13]) the quality of numerical simulation results of power function creep equation s = Aq n depends on the variability of creep parameters A and n.

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

3821

Study on Parameters of Linear Creep Constitutive Mode

Fig. 6 show a set of creep strain rate at dierent parameters (a and b) for Eq. (4), the unit of creep stain rate is yr1 and the unit of stress q shall be in MPa.
14 12 Creep rate/yr1 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 5 10 15 20 Deviatoric stress/MPa 25 30 a = 0.15; a = 0.35; a = 0.70; a = 0.15; a = 0.35; a = 0.70; b = 0.10 b = 0.22 b = 0.40 b = 0.10 b = 0.22 b = 0.22 Caluated values from experiments

Fig. 6: s under dierent linear creep parameters

Fig. 6 presents the results for Eq. (3). It is possible for the creep rate of the linear creep model to change signicantly, as a result just both parameter a and b increase or decrease obviously, but creep rate change negligibly because of b stability for conning pressure in the range from 5 to 30 MPa. Based on above test results and analysis, the following conclusion may be drawn, it is reasonable to make use of the linear constitutive equation to estimate the volume shrinkage in the operation process of salt rock storage by identifying the creep parameters both s = Aq n and linear creep formulation

Conclusions

(1) The quality of numerical simulation results of power function creep equation s = Aq n depends on the variability of creep parameters A and n, the same conclusions are gained in cited reference 13 and 14; (2) Based on the characteristics of cavern under injection and production to propose that it is more meaningful to make the coecient of determination (R2 ) of creep parameters be to 1 under normal operations than complete stress (so called [0, +)); (3) By evaluating the creep data conning pressure from 5 to 30 MPa, the results show that deviatoric stress has good linear with the steady state creep strain rate, so the creep constitutive

3822

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

equation is expressed as: q q0 a + b(1 3 ) ( ) s = D(1 3 ) = ; a + b (1 3 ) q < q0 q0 (4) It is possible for the creep rate of the linear creep model to change signicantly, as a result just both parameter a and b increase or decrease obviously, but creep rate change negligibly because of b stability; (5) It is reasonable to make use of the linear constitutive equation to estimate the volume shrinkage in the operation process of salt rock storage by identifying the creep parameters both s = Aq n and linear creep formulation.

References
R. L. Thoms, R. M. Gehle, A brief history of salt cavern use [C], Proc. 8th World Salt Symposium, Elsevier, 2000, 207-214 [2] D. E. Munson, K. L. DeVries, A. F. Fossum et al., Extension of the M-D model for treating stress drops in salt [C], In: Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on the Mechanical Behavior of Salt, Palaiseau, France: [s.n.], 1993, 31-44 [3] K. S. Chan, S. R. Bodner, A. F. Fossum et al., A damage mechanics treatment of creep failure in rock salt [J], International Journal of Damage Mechanics, 6(1), 1997, 121-152 [4] Z. M. Hou, W. Wu, A damage and creep model for rock salt as well its validation [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 21(12), 2002, 1797-1804 [5] Jiang Liu, Chunhe Yang, Wen Wu et al., Study on creep characteristics and constitutive relation of rock salt [J], Rock and Soil Mechanics, 27(8), 2006, 1267-1271 (in Chinese) [6] Xiaoping Gao, Chunhe Yang, Wen Wu et al., Eperimental studies on temperature dependent properties of creep of rock salt [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 24(12), 2005, 2054-2059 (in Chinese) [7] Chunhe Yang, Shiwei Bai, Yimin Wu, Stress level and loading path eect on time dependent properties of salt rock [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 19(3), 2000, 270275 (in Chinese) [8] Feng Chen, Yingpin Li, Chunhe Yang et al., Experimental study on creep behavior of rock salt in YU Ying salt mine [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 25(s1), 2006, 3022-3027 (in Chinese) [9] Chunhe Yang, Yijun Zeng, Wen Wu et al., Constitutive relationship of deep salt rock and its application to petroleum drilling engineering [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 22(10), 2003, 1678-1682 (in Chinese) [10] Feng Chen, Chunhe Yang, Shiwei Bai, Investigation on creep damage of natural gas storage in salt rock layer [J], Rock and Soil Mechanics, 27(6), 2006, 945-949 (in Chinese) [11] Feng Chen, Chunhe Yang, Shiwei Bai, Investigation on optimized gas recovery velocity of natural gas storage in salt rock layer by numerical simulation [J], Rock and Soil Mechanics, 28(1), 2007, 57-62 (in Chinese) [12] Chunhe Yang, Weiguo Liang, Donghou Wei et al., Investigation on possibility of energy storage in salt rock in China [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 24(24), 2005, 4409-4417 (in Chinese) [1]

X. Liu et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 10:12 (2013) 38153823

3823

[13] Kelie Zhao, Haijun Yang, Feng Chen, Chunhe Yang, Research on creep parameters optimization of salt bed in deep gas storage group [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 28(s2), 2009, 3550-3555 (in Chinese) [14] Wen Wu, Zhengmeng Hou, Chunhe Yang, Investigations on evaluating criteria of stabilities for energy (petroleum and natural gas) storage caverns in rock salt [J], Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 24(14), 2005, 2497-2505 (in Chinese) [15] Chunhe Yang, Yinping Li, Feng Chen, Mechanics Theory and Engineering of Bedded Rock Salt [M], Beijing: Science Press: 2009 [16] Hongling Ma, Study on Feasibility of Rock Salt Underground Storage in Ultra-deep Formation [D], Ph.D. Thesis, Wuhan: Institute of Rock & Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wu Han, China, 2010 [17] K. S. Chan, A damage mechanics treatment of creep failure in rock salt [J], International Journal of Damage Mechanics, 6, 1997, 122-152