ABSTRACT
The load-bearing behaviour of caverns constructed in salt formations to extract minerals or to store energy has been the focus of scientific research for many decades. This research previously concentrated on confirming the stability and safety of the caverns during construction and operation. During the past 10 years, the focus has also partially fallen on the questions involving the abandonment of caverns and their long-term behaviour. Various options are available for abandoning caverns: the preferred option in most cases is filling the caverns with water/brine and sealing the access borehole. The load-bearing behaviour of fluid-filled closed caverns has therefore been the focus of technical and scientific investigations. This paper presents a new approach to the analysis of the load-bearing behaviour of sealed fluid-filled salt caverns. This primarily concerns the process of brine infiltration into the originally impermeable salt rock, and the physical modelling and numerical simulation of this process.
