Failure transition of shear-to-dilation band of rock salt under triaxial stresses

Great potential of underground gas/energy storage in salt caverns seems to be a promising solution to support renewable energy.In the underground storage method,the operating cycle unfortunately may reach up to daily or even hourly,which generates complicated pressures on the salt cavern.Furthermore,the mechanical behavior of rock salt may change and present distinct failure characteristics under different stress states,which affects the performance of salt cavern during the time period of full service.To reproduce a similar loading condition on the cavern surrounding rock mass,the cyclic triaxial loading/unloading tests are performed on the rock salt to explore the mechanical transition behavior and failure characteristics under different confinement.Experimental results show that the rock salt samples pre-sent a diffused shear failure band with significant bulges at certain locations in low confining pressure conditions(e.g.5 MPa,10 MPa and 15 MPa),which is closely related to crystal misorientation and grain boundary sliding.Under the elevated confinement(e.g.20 MPa,30 MPa and 40 MPa),the dilation band dominates the failure mechanism,where the large-size halite crystals are crushed to be smaller size and new pores are developing.The failure transition mechanism revealed in the paper provides additional insight into the mechanical performance of salt caverns influenced by complicated stress states.

Mineralogy,microstructures and geomechanics of rock salt for underground gas storage

Rock salt has excellent properties for its use as underground leak‐proof containers for the storage of renewable energy.Salt solution mining has long been used for salt mining,and can now be employed in the construction of underground salt caverns for the storage of hydrogen gas.This paper presents a wide range of methods to study the mineralogy,geochemistry,microstructure and geomechanical characteristics of rock salt,which are important in the engineering of safe underground storage rock salt caverns.The mineralogical composition of rock salt varies and is linked to its depositional environment and diagenetic alterations.The microstructure in rock salt is related to cataclastic deformation,diffusive mass transfer and intracrystalline plastic deformation,which can then be associated with the macrostructural geomechanical behavior.Compared to other types of rock,rock salt exhibits creep at lower temperatures.This behavior can be divided into three phases based on the changes in strain with time.However,at very low effective confining pressure and high deviatoric stress,rock salt can exhibit dilatant behavior,where brittle deformation could compromise the safety of underground gas storage in rock salt caverns.The proposed review presents the impact of purity,geochemistry and water content of rock salt on its geomechanical behavior,and thus,on the safety of the caverns.

A fatigue damage model for rock salt considering the effects of loading frequency and amplitude

With the large-scale construction of underground gas storage in salt deposit, much more efforts have been made to assess the fatigue properties of rock salt. The fatigue damage processes the primary, steady,and accelerated phases, which is similar to the axial irrecoverable deformation compiled from the loci of the loading cycles of rock salt. The cumulative fatigue damage increases with a decrease in the loading frequency and with an increase in the stress amplitude within the range tested. To take into account the effects of loading frequency and amplitude on the fatigue behavior of rock salt subjected to cyclic loading, a low cycle fatigue damage model was exclusively established combined with the Manson–Coffin formula. The proposed damage evolution equation was validated with experimental results and proved to be efficient in the prediction of fatigue damage tendency of rock salt under different loading frequencies and amplitudes.

Investigation of rock salt layer creep and its effects on casing collapse

Casing collapse is one of the costly incidents in the oil industry. In the oil fields of southwest Iran, most casing collapses have occurred in Gachsaran formation, and the halite rock salt layer in this formation may be the main cause for these incidents because of its peculiar creep behavior. In this research, triaxial creep experiments have been conducted on Gachsaran salt samples under various temperatures and differential stresses. The main purpose was to determine the creep characteristics of Gachsaran rock salt,and to examine the role of creep in several casing collapses that occurred in this formation. Results indicated that the halite rock salt of Gachsaran formation basically obeys the power law;however, its creep parameters are quite different from other halite rocks elsewhere. The time-dependent creep of Gachsaran rock salt exhibits strong sensitivity to temperature change;however, its sensitivity to variation of differential stress is rather low. The numerical simulation of the rock salt creep in a real oil well demonstrated the importance of creep and reservoir conditions on the safety factor of the tubing related to casing collapse.

Rheology of rock salt for salt tectonics modeling

Numerical modeling of salt tectonics is a rapidly evolving field; however, the constitutive equations to model long-term rock salt rheology in nature still remain controversial. Firstly, we built a database about the strain rate versus the differential stress through collecting the data from salt creep experiments at a range of temperatures（20–200 ℃） in laboratories. The aim is to collect data about salt deformation in nature, and the flow properties can be extracted from the data in laboratory experiments.Moreover, as an important preparation for salt tectonics modeling, a numerical model based on creep experiments of rock salt was developed in order to verify the specific model using the Abaqus package. Finally, under the condition of low differential stresses, the deformation mechanism would be extrapolated and discussed according to microstructure research. Since the studies of salt deformation in nature are the reliable extrapolation of laboratory data, we simplified the rock salt rheology to dislocation creep corresponding to power law creep（n = 5） with the appropriate material parameters in the salt tectonic modeling.

Experimental study on repair characteristics of damaged rock salt of underground gas storage

Damage in rock salt has significant implication on permeability, which affects the tightness of underground salt cavern gas storage in further. During the leaching of a salt cavern, the brine with formation temperature and pressure can promote the self-healing of rock salt in the excavation damage zone (EDZ). Laboratory tests were conducted to study the promoting effect. The permeability of two intact rock salt specimens was tested. Then they were damaged into two kinds of the state respectively through uniaxial compression. After that, they were put in saturated brine (with a temperature of 50℃ and pressure of 12 MPa, which we called the repair environment in this paper) for 7 d. Finally, the permeability and mechanical properties were obtained after the damaged specimens being repaired. The results show that the permeability of intact rock salt is below 10^-19 m^2;the permeability increases by more than two orders because of damage;the permeability decreases significantly after being repaired, which can be comparable to its intact state. Discussions of the repair mechanisms are presented (especially the mechanism of recrystallization), which may help to provide significant guidance for the study of the tightness and stability of gas storage facilities in China.

Effect of insoluble materials on the volumetric behavior of rock salt

This paper focuses on the presence of nodules of insoluble materials within salt specimens,and their effect on the volumetric strain measurements and the dilatancy phenomenon.We analyzed experimental results of over 120 conventional triaxial compression tests,and found that in 20%of the cases,the volumetric strain measurements were atypical.We also noted that the natural variability of the specimens can lead to a non-negligible data scattering in the volumetric strain measurements when different specimens are subjected to the same test.This is expected given the small magnitude of those strains,but it occasionally implies that the corresponding specimens are not representative of the volumetric behavior of the studied rock.In order to understand these results,we numerically investigated salt specimens modeled as halite matrices with inclusions of impurities.Simulations of triaxial compression tests on these structures proved that such heterogeneities can induce dilatancy,and their presence can lead to the appearance of tensile zones which is physically translated into a micro-cracking activity.The modeling approach is validated as the patterns displayed in the numerical results are identical to that in the laboratory.It was then employed to explain the observed irregularities in experimental results.We studied the natural variability effect as well and proposed a methodology to overcome the issue of specimen representativity from both deviatoric and volumetric perspectives.

Numerical modeling of thermally-induced fractures in a large rock salt mass

Numerical modeling of thermally-induced fractures is a concern for many geo-structures including deep underground energy storage caverns. In this paper, we present the numerical simulation of a large-scale cooling experiment performed in an underground rock salt mine. The theory of fracture mechanics was embedded in the extended finite element code used. The results provide reliable information on fracture location and fracture geometry. Moreover, the timing of the fracture onset, as well as the stress redis- tribution due to fracture propagation, is highlighted. The conclusions of this numerical approach can be used to improve the design of rock salt caverns in order to guarantee their integrity in terms of both their tightness and stability.

Assessment of the properties of polycrystalline rock salt synthesized under nominally dry and wet conditions

Polycrystalline rock salt’s compression is a function of applied stresses,exposure duration to the applied stresses,ambient temperature,and water content.Rock salt’s compressional behavior under different conditions and its effects on the specimens’mechanical properties have been investigated in the literature.However,the one-dimensional(1D)compression behavior of polycrystalline rock salt at various water contents and how the specimen’s compression at different water contents further affects its physical and mechanical properties are not fully understood yet.In this study,polycrystalline rock salt specimens were prepared under nominally dry and wet conditions and some of the dry and wet specimens were annealed after the preparation.The relationship between the porosity of the specimens and the logarithm of the applied axial stresses during the 1D compression was found to follow a linear relationship after reaching unique critical porosities of 32%and 37%for the dry and wet specimens,respectively.Unloading and reloading the specimens did not result in any major changes in the porosity of the specimens.The specimens compressed under wet condition showed an average final porosity of 2.6%compared to 6.9%for the dry specimens.The dry and wet specimens that were annealed after the compression exhibited a lower porosity in comparison to the dry and wet specimens,respectively.Unconfined compression experiments on the specimens showed dry and wet specimens possess averaged unconfined compressive strengths(σ_(u))of 64.3 and 16.2 MPa,respectively.Annealing decreased σ_(u)of the dry specimens to 39.6 MPa and increased σ_(u)of the wet specimens to 41 MPa.

Phenomenological behavior of rock salt:On the influence of laboratory conditions on the dilatancy onset

Recently,stress-based dilatancy criteria have become essential tools to design underground facilities in salt formations such as gas storage caverns.However,these criteria can depend critically on the volumetric strain measurements used to deduce the dilatancy onset.Results from conventional triaxial compression tests can show different volumetric behavior depending on the loading conditions,as well as on the measurement techniques.In order to obtain a quantitative understanding of this problem,an experimental program was carried out and the testing procedure was investigated numerically under homogeneous and heterogeneous stress states.The experimental results showed that the deviatoric stress corresponding to the dilatancy onset was significantly dependent on the measurement techniques.With a heterogeneous stress state,the simulation results revealed that the strain measurements at different scales (referred to as local,hybrid or global) can provide different volumetric results with moderate to significant deviations from the idealized behavior,and hence different onsets of dilatancy.They also proved that,under low confinement,tensile stresses can take place within the compressed specimen,leading to a great deviation of the dilatancy onset from the idealized behavior.From both experimental and numerical investigations,the difference in sensitivity to the measurement techniques between the deviatoric and the volumetric behaviors is explained by the relatively small values of the volumetric strain.The non-ideal laboratory conditions have more impact on this strain than on the deviatoric one.These findings can have implications for the interpretation of the dilatancy behavior of rock salt,and hence on the geomechanical design aspects in salt formations.

Fatigue properties and damage constitutive model of salt rock based on CT scanning

To investigate the macroscopic fatigue properties and the mesoscopic pore evolution characteristics of salt rock under cyclic loading,fatigue tests under different upper-limit stresses were carried out on salt rock,and the mesoscopic pore structures of salt rock before and after fatigue tests and under different cycle numbers were measured using CT scanning instrument.Based on the test results,the effects of the cycle number and the upper-limit stress on the evolution of cracks,pore morphology,pore number,pore volume,pore size,plane porosity,and volume porosity of salt rock were analyzed.The failure path of salt rock specimens under cyclic loading was analyzed using the distribution law of plane porosity.The damage variable of salt rock under cyclic loading was defined on basis of the variation of volume porosity with cycle number.In order to describe the fatigue deformation behavior of salt rock under cyclic loading,the nonlinear Burgers damage constitutive model was further established.The results show that the model established can better reflect the whole development process of fatigue deformation of salt rock under cyclic loading.

Statistical evaluation of five failure criteria for intact salt rock

Five multiparameter empirical criteria were exclusively evaluated by comparing them with the strength data covering various stress conditions to find out which failure criterion best fits the test data and describes the mechanical behavior of the salt rock sequence (halite,bedded composite specimens and anhydrite interlayers).Full-scale comparison of all criteria for the three rock types was conducted based on five standard statistics calculated from least squares curve-fitting,which measures both the goodness of fitting and the quality of future prediction.The results indicate that all five nonlinear criteria with a basic power form are efficient in predicting the strength trend in the low tension area as well as in the high compression area of the soft rocks.The parameters obtained for the bedded rock salt are somewhat in the ones for the "pure" rocks and are even closer to those obtained for the halite.The generalized Hoek-Brown criterion is proven to perform best to two rock strength data followed by one for the Bieniawski empirical criterion,thus is the best candidate for the analysis of the salt rock.The Sheorey empirical criterion consistently achieves an intermediate performance for all the three rocks.It seems that the superiority of the poly-axial criteria (the Mogi 1967 criterion and the N-type criterion) over the former three triaxial criteria no longer exists when applied to the conventional triaxial strength data.Besides,the method of tension cut-off was proposed to solve the ambiguity problem of the two poly-axial criteria in the tension field in the plane of the major (σ1) andminor principal stress (σ3).

Plastic Strain Energy Model for Rock Salt Under Fatigue Loading

The fatigue test for rock salt is conducted to investigate the effects of stress ampli- tude, loading frequency and loading rate on the plastic strain energy, from which the evaluation rule of the plastic strain energy is analyzed, which is divided into three stages： cyclic hardening, saturation and cyclic softening. The total accumulated plastic strain energy only depends on the mechanical behavior of rock salt, but is immune to the loading conditions. A novel model for fatigue life prediction is proposed based on the invariance of the total plastic dissipation energy and the stability of the plastic energy per cycle.

Design and realization of rock salt gas storage database management system based on SQL Server

Projects involving the construction of rock salt underground gas storage have several disadvantages,for example,effective management is not employed to manage the production information and data in the process of the project,resulting in duplication of data storage,waste of storage space,lower efficiency of data calling,and negative effects on the efficiency of data update.Therefore,a database and its management systems for a rock salt gas storage was constructed based on an SQL Server database system,primarily including the management forms of the geological modeling,storage simulation,stability evaluation,economic evaluation,and covering the addition and delete checks of static and dynamic data.The security of the system was improved by setting the administrator permission.The establishment of the database management system was of tremendous importance and it provided a significant technical support for the development of the gas storage project.

Dynamic subsidence prediction of ground surface above salt cavern gas storage considering the creep of rock salt

A new model is proposed to predict the dynamic subsidence of ground surface above salt cavern gas storage during the leaching and storage, which takes into account the creep of rock salt. In the model, the extended form of Gaussian curve is adopted to figure out the shape of subsidence areas. The corresponding theoretical formulas are derived. In addition, parameters are studied to investigate the surface subsidence as a function of the salt ejection rate, internal pressure, buried depth, diameter, height, running time, etc. Through an example, the subsidence of the salt cavern gas storage located at Jiangsu of China obtained by the new model was compared with those by Peter A F formula, Schober & Sroka formula and FLAC3D through simulation. The results showed the proposed model is precise and correct, and can meet the actual engineering demands. The surface subsidence is equidirectional with the increase of salt ejection rate, depth, diameter, height, and running time, but reverse to the increase of internal pressure. The depth, diameter, running time and internal pressure have great effects on the subsidence, whereas the salt ejection rate and height have little influences on it.

Experiments on mechanical properties of salt rocks under cyclic loading

The primary purpose of underground gas storages is to provide gas for seasonal consumptions or strategic reserve.The periodical operations of gas injection and extraction lead to cyclic loading on the walls and surrounding rocks of gas storages.To investigate the mechanical behaviors of different host rocks in bedded salt deposit,laboratory experiments were conducted on the samples of rock salt,thenardite,glauberite and gypsum.The mechanical properties of rock samples under monotonic and cyclic loadings were studied.Testing results show that,under monotonic loading,the uniaxial compressive stress（UCS） of glauberite is the largest（17.3 MPa）,while that of rock salt is the smallest（14.0 MPa）.The UCSs of thenardite and gypsum are 16.3 and 14.6 MPa,respectively.The maximum strain at the peak strength of rock salt（halite） is much greater than those of the other three rocks.The elastic moduli of halite,thenardite,glauberite and gypsum are 3.0,4.2,5.1 and 6.8 GPa,respectively.Under cyclic loading,the peak strengths of the rock specimens are deteriorated except for rock salt.The peak strengths of thenardite,glauberite and gypsum decrease by 33.7%,19.1% and 35.5%,respectively;and the strains of the three rocks at the peak strengths are almost the same.However,the strain of rock salt at the peak strength increases by 1.98%,twice more than that under monotonic loading.Under monotonic loading,deformation of the tested rock salt,thenardite and glauberite shows in an elastoplastic style.However,it changes to a ductile style under cyclic loading.Brittle deformation and failure are only observed for gypsum.The results should be helpful for engineering design and operation of gas storage in bedded salt deposit.

Self-recovery ability of stress-damaged salt rock experiment

After being compressed to different plastic deformation stages, the salt rock samples with lateral stress damage of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 were selected. Ultrasonic technology was used to monitor the wave velocity variation law of stress-dam-aged salt rock during the self-recovery experiment under different temperatures to analyze the influence of initial stress damage and temperature during the self-recovery of salt rock. The experiment shows that the change of salt rock axial wave velocity is smaller than that of lateral wave velocity. The sample ultrasonic velocity is positively correlated with the time of self-recovery, and the damage had been recovered to a certain extent. In the first 200 hours of self-recovery stage, the salt rock lateral damage recovers fast, and then the damage remains almost unchanged. The value of lateral stable damage is positively correlated with the value of lateral initial stress damage. With the increase of temperature, the recovery of lateral damage speeds up and the value of stable damage decreases; the axial damage of salt rock almost remains unchanged during the self-recovery experiment.

A power function model for simulating creep mechanical properties of salt rock

In this paper,a new micro-creep model of salt rock is proposed based on a linear parallel bonded model(LPBM)using the two-dimensional particle flow code(PFC2D).The power function weakening form is assumed to describe the variation of the parallel bonded diameter(PBD)over time.By comparing with the parallel-bonded stress corrosion(PSC)model,a smaller stress fluctuation and smoother creep strain−time curves can be obtained by this power function model at the same stress level.The validity and adaptability of the model to simulate creep deformation of salt rock are verified through comparing the laboratory creep test curves and the Burgers model fitting result.The numerical results reveal that this model can be capable of capturing the creep deformation and damage behavior from the laboratory observations.

Numerical simulation and experimental study on dissolving characteristics of layered salt rocks

Underground salt cavern reservoirs are ideal spaces for energy storage. China is rich in salt rock resources with layered lacustrine sedimentary structures. However, the dissolution mechanism of layered salt rocks remains poorly understood, resulting in significant differences between the actual measurements and the designed indices for the layered salt rock water-soluble cavity-making cycle and the cavity shape. In this work, the dissolution rates of 600 groups of layered salt rocks in China under different conditions were determined experimentally.Thus, the established artificial neural network prediction model was used to assess the effects of the contents of NaCl, Na2 SO4, and CaSO4 in the salt rocks, concentrations, dissolution angles, and flow rates on their dissolution rates by performing ANOVA and F-test. The results provide a theoretical basis for evaluating the dissolution rate of layered salt rocks under different conditions and for the numerical simulation of the layered salt rock water-soluble cavity-making process.