A semi‐analytical approach for modelling heat transfer during salt‐cavern leaching process

The use of gas‐storage caverns in salt formations is a growing industry that continues to gain momentum because it allows gas to be injected and withdrawn at high rates compared with other underground gas‐storage systems such as porous rock systems. In order to predict cavern production performances, cavern thermodynamics behaviour must be studied by higher accuracy approaches. This behaviour is extremely related to the temperature distribution in the surrounding formations. During the leaching process, the thermal equilibrium of the rock salt surrounding the cavern is extensively disrupted. The purpose of this paper is to study the heat transfer problem during the leaching process and to develop a thermal model that can be easily used in field applications. The results of this work will be the input data for the prediction of the gas temperature and pressure during cavern gas‐storage operation phase. Moreover, the developed model can find its use in the design of salt caverns since it can be coupled with geometrical modelling of salt dissolution codes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.