The thermo–mechanical behavior of a gas storage cavern during high frequency loading

New operation modes for gas storage caverns require a more detailed rock mechanical consideration of thermal induced stresses in the vicinity of the caverns. This means that the change of gas temperatures during operation and their consequences of these temperature changes on the stressing of the rock salt mass cannot be neglected any more. As rock salt has a time dependent material behavior stress redistributions in the rock salt mass take place even under constant internal pressure conditions. Not only the phases with different pressure change rates but also the phases with nearly constant internal pressure have an influence on the resulting state variables. The significant influencing factors for the gas cavern layout for high rate pressure changes and several loading cycles per year will be demonstrated. The results of numerical calculations will be discussed with respect to avoiding loss of tightness of the storage system and maintaining cavern integrity.