8 research outputs found
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Laboratory creep and mechanical tests on salt data report (1975-1996): Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) thermal/structural interactions program
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a facility located in a bedded salt formation in Carlsbad, New Mexico, is being used by the U.S. Department of Energy to demonstrate the technology for safe handling and disposal of transuranic wastes produced by defense activities in the United States. In support of that demonstration, mechanical tests on salt were conducted in the laboratory to characterize material behavior at the stresses and temperatures expected for a nuclear waste repository. Many of those laboratory test programs have been carried out in the RE/SPEC Inc. rock mechanics laboratory in Rapid City, South Dakota; the first program being authorized in 1975 followed by additional testing programs that continue to the present. All of the WIPP laboratory data generated on salt at RE/SPEC Inc. over the last 20 years is presented in this data report. A variety of test procedures were used in performance of the work including quasi-static triaxial compression tests, constant stress (creep) tests, damage recovery tests, and multiaxial creep tests. The detailed data is presented in individual plots for each specimen tested. Typically, the controlled test conditions applied to each specimen are presented in a plot followed by additional plots of the measured specimen response. Extensive tables are included to summarize the tests that were performed. Both the tables and the plots contain cross-references to the technical reports where the data were originally reported. Also included are general descriptions of laboratory facilities, equipment, and procedures used to perform the work
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SALT DAMAGE CRITERION PROOF-OF-CONCEPT RESEARCH
The purpose of this study was to conduct a field-scale application demonstrating the use of continuum damage mechanics to determine the minimum allowable operating pressure of compressed natural gas storage caverns in salt formations. A geomechanical study was performed of two natural gas storage caverns (one existing and one planned) utilizing state-of-the-art salt mechanics to assess the potential for cavern instability and collapse. The geomechanical study consisted primarily of laboratory testing, theoretical development, and analytical/numerical tasks. A total of 50 laboratory tests was performed on salt specimens to aid in the development and definition of the material model used to predict the behavior of rock salt. Material model refinement was performed that improved the predictive capability of modeling salt during damage healing, recovery of work-hardened salt, and the behavior of salt at stress states other than triaxial compression. Results of this study showed that the working gas capacity of the existing cavern could be increased by 18 percent and the planned cavern could be increased by 8 percent using the proposed method compared to a conventional stress-based method. Further refinement of the continuum damage model is recommended to account for known behavior of salt at stress conditions other than triaxial compression that is not characterized accurately by the existing model
Advanced Gas Storage Concepts: Technologies for the Future
This full text product includes: 1) A final technical report titled Advanced Underground Gas Storage Concepts, Refrigerated-Mined Cavern Storage and presentations from two technology transfer workshops held in 1998 in Houston, Texas, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (both on the topic of Chilled Gas Storage in Mined Caverns); 2) A final technical report titled Natural Gas Hydrates Storage Project, Final Report 1 October 1997 - 31 May 1999; 3) A final technical report titled Natural Gas Hydrates Storage Project Phase II: Conceptual Design and Economic Study, Final Report 9 June - 10 October 1999; 4) A final technical report titled Commerical Potential of Natural Gas Storage in Lined Rock Caverns (LRC) and presentations from a DOE-sponsored workshop on Alternative Gas Storage Technologies, held Feb 17, 2000 in Pittsburgh, PA; and 5) Phase I and Phase II topical reports titled Feasibility Study for Lowering the Minimum Gas Pressure in Solution-Mined Caverns Based on Geomechanical Analyses of Creep-Induced Damage and Healing
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STORAGE OF CHILLED NATURAL GAS IN BEDDED SALT STORAGE CAVERNS
This report provides the results of a two-phase study that examines the economic and technical feasibility of converting a conventional natural gas storage facility in bedded salt into a refrigerated natural gas storage facility for the purpose of increasing the working gas capacity of the facility. The conceptual design used to evaluate this conversion is based on the design that was developed for the planned Avoca facility in Steuben County, New York. By decreasing the cavern storage temperature from 43 C to -29 C (110 F to -20 F), the working gas capacity of the facility can be increased by about 70 percent (from 1.2 x 10{sup 8} Nm{sup 3} or 4.4 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to 2.0 x 10{sup 8} Nm{sup 3} or 7.5 Bcf) while maintaining the original design minimum and maximum cavern pressures. In Phase I of the study, laboratory tests were conducted to determine the thermal conductivity of salt at low temperatures. Finite element heat transfer calculations were then made to determine the refrigeration loads required to maintain the caverns at a temperature of -29 C (-20 F). This was followed by a preliminary equipment design and a cost analysis for the converted facility. The capital cost of additional equipment and its installation required for refrigerated storage is estimated to be about 160 per thousand Nm{sup 3} (13.65 per megawatt-hour (MW-hr) (316,000 after the first year and to decrease as the rock surrounding the cavern is cooled. After 10 years, the cost of maintenance refrigeration based on the 4 per MMBtu) energy cost is estimated to be 2.05 per thousand Nm{sup 3} (13.65 per MW-hr ($4 per MMBtu) energy cost. In Phase II of the study, laboratory tests were conducted to determine mechanical properties of salt at low temperature. This was followed by thermomechanical finite element simulations to evaluate the structural stability of the cavern during refrigerated storage. The high thermal expansion coefficient of salt is expected to result in tensile stresses leading to tensile failure in the roof, walls, and floor of the cavern as it is cooled. Tensile fracturing of the cavern roof may result in loss of containment of the gas and/or loss of integrity of the casing shoe, deeming the conversion of this facility not technically feasible
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SALT DAMAGE CRITERION PROOF-OF-CONCEPT RESEARCH
This document is the annual technical progress report for Department of Energy Contract No. DE-FC26-00NT41026 entitled Proof-of-Concept Research for an Advanced Design Criterion to Improve Working Gas Capacity for Natural Gas Storage Caverns in Salt Formations. This report covers the reporting period from October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001. During this reporting period, the project was initiated and work was performed to develop structural models that will be used to evaluate two compressed natural gas storage caverns in the McIntosh Dome northwest of Mobile, Alabama. Information necessary to define the structural models include site-specific stress, temperature, geometry, stratigraphy, and operating scenarios in the dome and for the caverns. Additionally, material model development for the salt at the McIntosh Dome was initiated. Material model development activities include acquisition of salt core for testing, laboratory testing, and regression analyses to determine site-specific model parameter values that describe the behavior of salt around a storage cavern. Although not performed during this reporting period, the information and models developed will be used to perform advanced design storage cavern analyses for the Bay Gas caverns to determine the operating pressure ranges to maintain stable conditions
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Advanced Gas Storage Concepts: Technologies for the Future
This full text product includes: 1) A final technical report titled Advanced Underground Gas Storage Concepts, Refrigerated-Mined Cavern Storage and presentations from two technology transfer workshops held in 1998 in Houston, Texas, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (both on the topic of Chilled Gas Storage in Mined Caverns); 2) A final technical report titled Natural Gas Hydrates Storage Project, Final Report 1 October 1997 - 31 May 1999; 3) A final technical report titled Natural Gas Hydrates Storage Project Phase II: Conceptual Design and Economic Study, Final Report 9 June - 10 October 1999; 4) A final technical report titled Commerical Potential of Natural Gas Storage in Lined Rock Caverns (LRC) and presentations from a DOE-sponsored workshop on Alternative Gas Storage Technologies, held Feb 17, 2000 in Pittsburgh, PA; and 5) Phase I and Phase II topical reports titled Feasibility Study for Lowering the Minimum Gas Pressure in Solution-Mined Caverns Based on Geomechanical Analyses of Creep-Induced Damage and Healing