Dong-Woo Ryu

Characterizing Excavation Damaged Zone and Stability of Pressurized Lined Rock Caverns for Underground Compressed Air Energy Storage

In this paper, we investigate the influence of the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) on the geomechanical performance of compressed air energy storage (CAES) in lined rock caverns. We conducted a detailed characterization of the EDZ in rock caverns that have been excavated for a Korean pilot test program on CAES in (concrete) lined rock caverns at shallow depth. The EDZ was characterized by measurements of P- and S-wave velocities and permeability across the EDZ and into undisturbed host rock. Moreover, we constructed an in situ concrete lining model and conducted permeability measurements in boreholes penetrating the concrete, through the EDZ and into the undisturbed host rock. Using the site-specific conditions and the results of the EDZ characterization, we carried out a model simulation to investigate the influence of the EDZ on the CAES performance, in particular related to geomechanical responses and stability. We used a modeling approach including coupled thermodynamic multiphase flow and geomechanics, which was proven to be useful in previous generic CAES studies. Our modeling results showed that the potential for inducing tensile fractures and air leakage through the concrete lining could be substantially reduced if the EDZ around the cavern could be minimized. Moreover, the results showed that the most favorable design for reducing the potential for tensile failure in the lining would be a relatively compliant concrete lining with a tight inner seal, and a relatively stiff (uncompliant) host rock with a minimized EDZ. Because EDZ compliance depends on its compressibility (or modulus) and thickness, care should be taken during drill and blast operations to minimize the damage to the cavern walls.

Failure Monitoring and Leakage Detection for Underground Storage of Compressed Air Energy in Lined Rock Caverns

Underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) in lined rock caverns (LRCs) provides a promising solution for storing energy on a large scale. One of the essential issues facing underground CAES implementation is the risk of air leakage from the storage caverns. Compressed air may leak through an initial defect in the inner containment liner, such as imperfect welds and construction joints, or through structurally damaged points of the liner during CAES operation for repeated compression and decompression cycles. Detection of the air leakage and identification of the leakage location around the underground storage cavern are required. In this study, we analyzed the displacement (or strain) monitoring method to detect the mechanical failure of liners that provides major pathways of air leakage using a previously developed numerical technique simulating the coupled thermodynamic and geomechanical behavior of underground CAES in LRCs. We analyzed the use of pressure monitoring to detect air leakage and characterize the leakage location. From the simulation results, we demonstrated that tangential strain monitoring at the inner face of sealing liners could enable one to detect failure. We also demonstrated that the use of the cross-correlation method between pressure history data measured at various sensors could identify the air leak location. These results may help in the overall design of a monitoring and alarm system for the successful implementation and operation of CAES in LRCs.

Numerical Analysis-Based Shape Design of Underground Rock Caverns for Thermal Energy Storage

The efficiency of thermal energy storage (TES) using water can be improved by storing the water in a thermally stratified form. Previous studies on the thermal performance of heat storage tanks, undertaken by Lavan and Thompson (1977), Cotter and Charles (1993), Matrawy et al. (1996), Ismail et al. (1997), Eames and Norton (1998), and Bouhdjar and Harhad (2002), have demonstrated that better thermal stratification can be obtained by increasing the aspect ratio (height-to-width ratio) of heat storage containers. However, a high-aspect-ratio storage design may lead to structural instability of the storage space because of its narrow, tall shape. Therefore, heat storage spaces should be designed to provide good thermal performance but should also consider the stability of the storage. This is an important issue in the design of heat storage, particularly for underground TES using rock caverns, because the stability of rock caverns is greatly influenced by geotechnical factors such as in situ stresses and rock properties. Therefore, a quantitative stability assessment is required to determine the shape of rock caverns used for TES, and to thus ensure the structural stability of the caverns. This technical note describes a numerical approach for the shape design of a rock cavern in which to store hot water for district heating. For reliable evaluation of the stability of the cavern, the approach employs probabilistic methods that can take into account the variability of input parameters using probability distributions. The arch height of the cavern roof is determined through a comparison of excavation-induced ground displacements between caverns with different arch heights.

Mechanical Stability Analysis to Determine the Optimum Aspect Ratio of Rock Caverns for Thermal Energy Storage

It is generally well known that the stratification of thermal energy in heat stores can be improved by increasing the aspect ratio (the height-to-width ratio) of the stores. Accordingly, it will be desirable to apply a high aspect ratio so as to demonstrate the good thermal performance of heat stores. However, as the aspect ratio of a store increases, the height of the store become larger compared to its width, which may be unfavorable for the structural stability of the store. Therefore, to determine an optimum aspect ratio of heat stores, a quantitative mechanical stability assessment should be performed in addition to thermal performance evaluations. In the present study, we numerically investigated the mechanical stability of silo-shaped rock caverns for underground thermal energy storage at different aspect ratios. The applied aspect ratios ranged from 1 to 6 and the mechanical stability was examined based on factor of safety using a shear strength reduction method. The results from the present study showed that the factor of safety of rock caverns tended to decrease with the increase in aspect ratio and the stress ratio of the surrounding rock mass was influential to the stability of the caverns. In addition, the numerical results demonstrated that under the same conditions of rock mass properties and aspect ratio, mechanical stability could be improved by the reduction in cavern size (storage volume), which indicates that one can design high-aspect-ratio rock caverns by dividing a single large cavern into multiple small caverns.

Numerical Study on the Thermal Stratification Behavior in Underground Rock Cavern for Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

Abstract Using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT, the present study investigated the thermal stratification behavior of Lyckebo storage in Sweden, which is the very first large-scale rock cavern for underground thermal energy storage. Heat transfer analysis was carried out for numerical cases with different temperatures of the surrounding rock mass in order to examine the effect of rock mass heating due to periodic storage and production of thermal energy on thermal stratification and heat loss. The change of thermal stratification with respect to time was quantitatively examined based on an index of the degree of stratification. The results of numerical simulation showed that in the early operational stage where the surrounding rock mass was less heated, the stratification of stored thermal energy was rapidly degraded over time, but the degradation and heat loss tended to reduce as the surrounding rock mass was heated during a long period of operation. Key words Cavern thermal energy storage, Thermal stratification, Degree of thermal stratification, Computational fluid dynamics초 록 본 연구에서는 전산유체역학 코드인 FLUENT를 이용하여 열에너지 지하 저장을 위한 최초의 대규모 암반공동인 스웨덴 Lyckebo 저장소의 열성층화 거동을 분석하였다. 열에너지의 반복적인 저장 및 생산으로 인한 주변 암반의 히팅이 열성층화와 열손실에 미치는 영향을 분석하기 위해 암반의 온도조건을 달리하여 열전달 해석을 수행하였으며, 성층화 지수를 토대로 열에너지 저장 후 시간경과에 따른 열성층화의 변화를 정량적으로 분석하였다. 분석결과, 주변 암반이 히팅되지 않은 저장공동의 초기 운영단계에서는 시간경과에 따라 저장된 열에너지의 성층화가 빠르게 저하되는것으로 나타났으며, 저장공동의 운영기간이 늘어남에 따라 주변 암반의 히팅으로 인해 열성층화의 변화 및 열손실이 줄어드는 것을 확인하였다. 핵심어 암반공동 열에너지 저장, 열성층화, 열성층도, 전산유체역학

Thermal Stratification and Heat Loss in Underground Thermal Storage Caverns with Different Aspect Ratios and Storage Volumes

Thermal stratification in heat stores is essential to improve the efficiency of energy storage systems and deliver more useful energy on demand. It is generally well known that the degree of thermal stratification in heat stores varies depending on the aspect ratio (the height-to-width ratio) and size of the stores. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the aspect ratio and storage volume of rock caverns for storing hot water on thermal stratification in the caverns and heat loss to the surroundings. Heat transfer simulations using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT were performed at different aspect ratios and storage volumes of rock caverns. The variation of thermal stratification with respect to time was examined using an index to quantify the degree of stratification, and the heat loss to the surroundings was evaluated. The results of the numerical simulations demonstrated that the thermal stratification in rock caverns was improved by increasing the aspect ratio, but this effect was not remarkable beyond an aspect ratio of 3-4. When the storage volume of rock caverns was large, a higher thermal stratification was maintained for a relatively longer time compared to caverns with a small storage volume, but the difference in thermal stratification between the two cases tended to decrease as the aspect ratio became larger. In addition, the numerical results showed that the heat loss to the surrounding rock tended to increase with an increase in aspect ratio because the surface area of rock caverns increased as the aspect ratio became larger. The total heat loss from multiple small caverns with a reduced storage volume per cavern was larger compared to a single cavern with the same total storage volume as that of the multiple caverns.

Technologies of Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) and Swedish Case for Hot Water

Thermal energy storage is defined as the temporary storage of thermal energy at high or low temperatures for later use in need. The energy storage can reduce the time or rate mismatch between energy supply and demand, and thus it plays an important role in conserving energy and improving the efficiency of energy utilization, especially for renewable energy sources which provide energy intermittently. Underground thermal energy storage (UTES) can have additional advantages in energy efficiency thanks to low thermal conductivity and high heat capacity of surrounding rock mass. In this paper, we introduced the technologies of underground thermal energy storage and rock caverns for hot water storage in Sweden.

Methods to Characterize the Thermal Stratification in Thermal Energy Storages

A primary objective in creating a stratified thermal storage is to maintain the thermodynamic quality of energy, so thermally stratified energy can be extracted at temperatures required for target activities. The separation of the thermal energy in heat stores to layers with different temperatures, i.e., the thermal stratification is a key factor in achieving this objective. This paper introduces different methods that have been proposed to characterize the thermal stratification in heat stores. Specifically, this paper focuses on the methods that can be used to determine the ability of heat stores to promote and maintain stratification during the process of charging, storing and discharging. In addition, based on methods using thermal stratification indices, the degrees of stratification of stored energy in Lyckebo rock cavern in Sweden were compared and the applicability of the methods was investigated.

Coupled Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical Behavior of Rock Mass Surrounding Cavern Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract The thermal-hydrological-mechanical (T-H-M) behavior of rock mass surrounding a high-temperature cavern thermal energy storage (CTES) operated for a period of 30 years has been investigated by TOUGH2-FLAC3D simulator. As a fundamental study for the development of prediction and control technologies for the environmental change and rock mass behavior associated with CTES, the key concerns were focused on the hydrological-thermal multiphase flow and the consequential mechanical behavior of the surrounding rock mass, where the insulator performance was not taken into account. In the present study, we considered a large-scale cylindrical cavern at shallow depth storing thermal energy of 350℃. The numerical results showed that the dominant heat transfer mechanism was the conduction in rock mass, and the mechanical behavior of rock mass was influenced by thermal factor (heat) more than hydrological factor (pressure). The effective stress redistribution, displacement and surface uplift caused by heating of rock and boiling of ground-water were discussed, and the potential of shear failure was quantitatively examined. Thermal expansion of rock mass led to the ground-surface uplift on the order of a few centimeters and the development of tensile stress above the storage cavern, increasing the potential of shear failure. Key words TOUGH2-FLAC3D simulator, Cavern thermal energy storage (CTES), Thermal-hydrological-mechanical coupled analysis초 록 본 연구에서는 TOUGH2-FLAC3D 연계해석기법을 이용하여 암반공동에 고온의 열에너지를 30년간 저장하는 경우 주변 암반에 야기되는 열-수리-역학적 연계거동을 살펴보았다. 열에너지저장에 따른 암반의 거동 특성 및 환경 영향을 예측하고 이에 대한 제어기준을 수립하기 위한 기초 연구로서 , 저장소 주변 암반에서 발생하는 열-수리 흐름과 역학적 거동의 상호작용에 대하여 검토하였다 . 기본해석으로서 결정질 암반 내 원통형 공동에 350℃의 대용량 열에너지를 저장하는 경우를 모델링하였으며, 열에너지저장소의 단열성능은 고려하지 않았다. 암반 내 열전달의 주요 메카니즘은 암반의 전도에 의한 것으로 판단되며 , 암반의 역학적 거동은 수리적 요소보다는 열적 요소에 지배적인 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다 . 암반과 지하수 가열에 따른 유효응력 재분포 양상과 열팽창으로 인한 암반 변위 및 지표 융기를 검토하였으며 , 주변 암반에서의 전단파괴 위험도를 정량적인 수치를 통해 제시하였다. 암반 가열에 따른 열팽창으로 인하여 지표면에서 수 cm의 융기가 발생하였으며, 저장공동 상부에 인장응력이 크게 발달하면서 전단파괴의 위험도가 증가하는 것으로 나타났다 .핵심어 TOUGH2-FLAC3D 연동해석, 암반공동 열에너지저장, 열-수리-역학적 연계해석

Thermal Energy Balance Analysis of a Packed Bed for Rock Cavern Thermal Energy Storage

A packed bed thermal energy storage (TES) consisting of solid storage medium of rock or concrete through which the heat transfer fluid is circulated is considered as an attractive alternative for high temperature sensible heat storage, because of the economical viability and chemical stability of storage medium and the simplicity of operation. This study introduces the technologies of packed bed thermal energy storage, and presents a numerical model to analyze the thermal energy balance and the performance efficiency of the storage system. In this model, one dimensional transient heat transfer problem in the storage tank is solved using finite difference method, and temperature distribution in a storage tank and thermal energy loss from the tank wall can be calculated during the repeated thermal charging and discharging modes. In this study, a high temperature thermal energy storage connected with AA-CAES (advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage) was modeled and analyzed for the temperature and the energy balance in the storage tank. Rock cavern type TES and above-ground type TES were both simulated and their results were compared in terms of the discharging efficiency and heat loss ratio.