Mechanical behaviors of concrete plug in storage rock cavern

In this study, biaxial compression tests were carried out with three plug shapes to figure out the mechanical behavior of rock-plug structure. From the results of this test, it is verified that the mechanical behavior of rock-plug structure is dependent upon the plug shape and applied stress condition, and the failure characteristics of its structure is affected by in-situ stress condition. Also, the two-dimensional numerical analysis was carried out to examine the performance of a concrete plug in underground storage cavern. When the plug was installed at a great depth, where was a tendency for the plug to be more stable with increasing in-situ stress ratio (K). The results of analysis considering the interface elements at plug-rock contact indicated that the lower asymmetric shaped plug with smooth contact condition was more stable than the symmetric or upper asymmetric shaped plug.