Numerical Simulation And 3D Visualization Of Salt Cavern Development

A general review of development and status in quo of salt cavern use and relative studies is given and the advantages of salt cavern used for storage is analyzed in this dissertation. Then the strategic importance of salt cavern use and the gap on salt cavern use and relative studies between our country and western developed countries is pointed out. With the economic development of our country, the demands for energy and the concerns for environment are increasing. Considering the potentials of salt cavern used for storage of energy products and harmful castoffs, we must lay more importance on studies of underground salt cavern use.The key technology of temporary or permanent storage of products and castoffs in underground salt cavern is to construct caverns, which would maintain their stability during a relative long period. Except for controlling the development of salt cavern during solution mining, it is important to take geological influences on salt cavern development into consideration during selecting sites for construction of salt caverns. Using numerical simulation to predict 3D development of a salt cavern under some geological condition can provide reference to construction of salt cavern used for storage.Therefore, this dissertation makes a pilot study of 3D development of salt cavern under different geological conditions and builds a three-dimensional mathematical model. A series of numerical simulationsare made based on this model and the results are compared with data obtained through experiments. The basic ideas of numerical simulation are listed as follows: first, the density distribution of the brine in salt cavern is gained; then based on it, the dissolving speed of rock salt is calculated; last, the three-dimensional development of salt cavern is simulated. Besides, a program of graphic display (including dynamic display) of salt cavern is completed in C++ Builder environment, based on OpenGL, so that the geometric structure of salt cavern can be directly observed and preliminary judge can be made.From the results of the pilot study, we can conclude that the construction of the three-dimensional mathematical model and the corresponding numerical simulation are successful to a certain extent.