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Development of a modeling tool to assess seepage management options for large-scale water-sealed oil storage caverns

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Abstract

The key to preventing the seepage of hydrocarbons from underground water-sealed oil storage facilities is to maintain a certain thickness of groundwater on the top of the caverns so that the groundwater pressure can maintain their tightness. However, the presence of fractures in the rockmass that surrounds the caverns complicates the calculation of the seepage field in the oil storage area. Conventional two-dimensional or equivalent three-dimensional seepage models cannot accurately reflect the impact of the fractures on the seepage field. Therefore, in this study, a dual-porosity medium modeling approach was used to develop an unsteady-state seepage model using the three-dimensional discrete element software 3DEC. The model was developed to assess the effect of grouting on the rock mass that surrounds oil storage caverns that took into account the possible presence of non-persistent fractures. Thus, the simulation of the three-dimensional seepage field of large-scale water-sealed oil storage caverns was realized. The three-dimensional seepage field evolution law and seepage control effect under different working conditions during the construction and storage phases were studied. The results can provide a particular reference for the construction and operation of large-scale underground water-sealed oil storage caverns.

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Acknowledgements

This study was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51778070), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No. 2019JJ50642), Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Department of Education (18C0191) and the Fund of National-local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Road Engineering and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Technology in Mountainous Areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Hydraulic Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410114, People’s Republic of China

    Dong Tang, Zhezhen Xiao & Zhongming Jiang

  2. Changsha Water Industry Group Water Supply Co., Ltd., Changsha, 410015, China

    Tianzuo Yin

  3. Key Laboratory of Water-Sediment Sciences and Water Disaster Prevention of Hunan Province, Changsha, 410114, People’s Republic of China

    Yi Li

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  1. Dong Tang
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  2. Tianzuo Yin
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  3. Zhezhen Xiao
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  4. Zhongming Jiang
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  5. Yi Li
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Correspondence to Zhongming Jiang.

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Tang, D., Yin, T., Xiao, Z. et al. Development of a modeling tool to assess seepage management options for large-scale water-sealed oil storage caverns. Environ Earth Sci 80, 652 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09930-x

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