• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.150-159
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• 2013

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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.155-167
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• 2015

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 $350^{\circ}C$. 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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.297-307
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• 2014

Cavern Thermal Energy Storage system stores thermal energy in caverns to recover industrial waste heat or avoid the sporadic characteristics of renewable-energy resources, and its advantages include high injection-and-extraction powers and the flexibility in selecting a storage medium. In the present study, the structural stability of rock mass pillar between these silo-type storage caverns was assessed using a coupled thermal-mechanical model in $FLAC^{3D}$. The results of numerical simulations showed that thermal stresses due to long-term storage depended on pillar width and had significant effect on the pillar stability. A sensitivity analysis of main factors indicated that the influence on the pillar stability increased in the order cavern depth < pillar width < in situ condition. It was suggested that two identical caverns should be separated by at least one diameter of the cavern and small-diameter shaft neighboring the cavern should be separated by more than half of the cavern diameter. Meanwhile, when the line of centers of two caverns was parallel to the direction of maximum horizontal principal stress, the shielding effect of the caverns could minimize an adverse effect caused by a large horizontal stress.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

Multiple thermal energy storage (TES) caverns can be used for storing thermal energy on a large scale and for a high-aspect-ratio heat storage design to provide good thermal performance. It may also be necessary to consider the use of multiple caverns with a reduced length when a single, long tunnel-shaped cavern is not suitable for connection to aboveground heat production and injection equipments. When using multiple TES caverns, the separation distance between the caverns is one of the significant factors that should be considered in the design of storage space, and the optimal separation distance should be determined based on a quantitative stability criterion. In this paper, we described a numerical approach for determining the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns for large-scale TES utilization. For reliable stability evaluation of multiple caverns, we employed a probabilistic method which can quantitatively take into account the uncertainty of input parameters by probability distributions, unlike conventional deterministic approaches. The present approach was applied to the design of a conceptual TES model to store hot water for district heating. The probabilistic stability results of this application demonstrated that the approach in our work can be effectively used as a decision-making tool to determine the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns. In addition, the probabilistic results were compared to those obtained through a deterministic analysis, and the comparison results suggested that care should taken in selecting the acceptable level of stability when using deterministic approaches.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.573-573
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• 2009

지열에너지는 지구가 생성될 당시부터 지구 내부에 존재하는 무한한 열에너지로 온실가스 배출이 적으며 태양광이나 풍력 등 다른 신재생 에너지와는 달리 일정한 에너지를 공급할 수 있는 항상성 에너지로 기저부하를 담당할 수 있다. 지열을 이용한 전력 생산은 1904년에 이탈리아 라데렐로에서 처음으로 시작되었으며, 현재까지 화산지대를 중심으로 활발히 이루어지고 있다. 2001년에서 2005년 사이에 전세계 지열발전용량은 약 13% 증가하였으며, 2005년을 기준으로 약 8,933MWe의 지열발전설비가 가동 중이다. 최근 들어 지하 심부까지 시추하여 지열저장소(geothermal reservoir)를 형성하고 이를 통해 지열에너지를 생산하는 새로운 시스템인 EGS(Enhanced Geothermal Systems)가 개발됨에 따라 비화산지대에서도 지열발전소를 건설하려는 움직임이 가속화되고 있다. EGS는 지하 심부의 불투수성 결정질 암반에 존재하는 지열에너지의 경제적인 생산뿐만 아니라 물을 주입하여 생산시키는 순환 방식을 이용하여 지열에너지 획득의 매개 역할을 하는 지열수의 고갈 문제를 해결하였다. 결정질 암반에서의 지열저장소의 형성은 암반 내에 분포하는 불연속면에서 주로 발생하며, 이를 위한 압력 조건은 현지 암반의 응력 분포 특성과 암반 및 불연속면의 물성에 좌우된다. 시추공을 통해 지하 심부의 암반에 수압이 가해지면 물의 주입으로 불연속면의 마찰력이 감소하며, 이로 인해 불연속면에 전단변형이 발생하게 된다. 전단변형은 불연속면을 열린 상태로 유지시켜 지열저장소를 형성하게 된다. 불연속면의 전단 변형시 발생하는 미소 탄성파는 시추공 주변에 설치한 모니터링 장비에서 측정되며, 모니터링 장비에 의해 측정된 미소 탄성파 발생 지점의 클러스터는 지열저장소의 공간적 분포 및 규모를 추정할 수 있는 자료가 된다. 현재 EGS를 이용한 지열발전 프로젝트는 프랑스 슐츠, 스위스 바젤, 호주 하바네로에서 대표적으로 진행 중이다. 슐츠는 현재 1.5MWe의 파일럿 플랜트를 가동 중이며, 하바네로는 파일럿 플랜트 건설 단계를 진행중이다. 스위스 바젤은 지열저장소를 형성시킬 목적으로 수행된 주입시험에서 발생된 문제에 대한 기술의 신뢰성을 확보할 목적으로 잠시 중단된 상태다. 제주도는 신생대에 분출하여 형성된 대표적인 한국의 화산지형으로 지열부존 가능성이 높을 것으로 예상되는 지역이다. 따라서 폐사는 지열에너지 부존 특성을 파악하기 위한 심부 물리 탐사 및 탐사정 시추가 실시될 예정이며 궁극적으로 국내 최초의 상용화된 지열발전소 건설을 목표로 하고 있다.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.308-318
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• 2013

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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.201-211
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• 2014

In the present study, the thermal performance of multiple rock caverns for large-scale thermal energy storage (TES) was numerically investigated for different separation distances between the caverns through heat transfer analysis using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. The thermal performance of multiple caverns was assessed in terms of the thermal stratification within the caverns and the heat loss to the surroundings, and the heating characteristics of the rock around the caverns were investigated. The results of numerical simulation showed that there was little difference in thermal performance between multiple TES caverns with different separation distances when the surrounding rock was less heated and it reached thermal steady-state, which represent the thermal states of the surrounding rock at the early and long-term operational stages of the TES caverns, respectively. However, as the separation distance decreased, the rock between the caverns reached thermal steady-state more quickly, and thus the heat loss from the caverns tended to converge rapidly to the value of heat loss occurred under thermal steady-state conditions in the surrounding rock. This result implies that the operating cost of heating the surrounding rock (i.e., rock heating) can be reduced with a reduction in the separation distance between multiple caverns, and suggests that the separation distance should be determined by considering the operating cost of rock heating as well as the construction cost of the caverns.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2015

Mechanical energy is accumulated in the object when stress is exerted on rock specimens, and the failure is occurred when the stress is larger than critical stress. The accumulated energy is emitted as various forms including physical deformation, light, heat and sound. Uniaxial compression strength test and point load strength test were carried out in low temperature environment, and thermal variation of rock specimens were observed and analyzed quantitatively using thermal infrared camera images. Temperature of failure plane was increased just before the failure because of concentration of stress, and was rapidly increased at the moment of the failure because of the emission of thermal energy. The variations of temperature were larger in diorite and basalt specimens which were strong and fresh than in tuff specimens which were weak and weathered. This study can be applied to prevent disasters in rock slope, tunnel and mine in cold regions and to analyze satellite image for predicting earthquake in cold regions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.558-567
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• 2022

The evolution of temperature and thermal stress in a granite specimen is studied via heating experiment in the context of a high-level radioactive waste repository. A heating condition based on the decay-induced heat is applied to a cubic granite specimen to measure the temperature and stress distributions and their evolution over time. The temperature increases quickly due to heat conduction along the heated surfaces, but a significant amount of thermal energy is also lost through other surfaces due to air convection and conduction into the loading machine. A three-dimensional finite element-based model is used to numerically reproduce the experiment, and the thermo-mechanical coupling behavior and modeling conditions are validated with the comparison to the experimental results. The most crucial factors influencing the heating experiment are analyzed and summarized in this paper for future works.