Friday 24 November 2023
Time: 13:30-16:30 h
Location: TU Delft, Faculty CiTG, CEG Hall B
Are you curious about the challenges of engineering in or with salt? Then attend and register here: google forms
Program/Speakers:
13.00-13.30 Welcome coffee/tea
13.30-13.35 Introduction (Ingeokring)
13.45-14.15 Heijn van Gent (State Supervision of Mines)
Underground Hydrogen storage in salt – view and lessons from a mining authority
14.15-14.35 Els Wijermars (Nobian)
Applied Rock Mechanics in Salt solution mining
14.35-14.55 Brecht Wassing (TNO)
Fingerprints of salt creep around caverns
14.55-15.30 Break
15.30-16.00 Anna Ramon Tarragona (Polytechnic University of Catalonia)
The threat of anhydritic formations to civil infrastructures
16.00-16.20 Jelle van der Zon (Royal HaskoningDHV)
Salt tailings – deriving geotechnical parameters
16.20-16.30 Closing remarks (Ingeokring)
16:30-19:00 Snacks and drinks in the exposition room next to the MV office (1st floor)
Highlights of the 2023 Ingeokring/TU Delft symposium talks:
Heijn van Gent (State Supervision of Mines)
Underground Hydrogen storage in salt – view and lessons from a mining authority
With the ongoing energy transition there is a need for Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) and salt caverns are a prime candidate for that. This is a new technology, so what can we learn from the past to make this a success? After defining the role of SodM, we will look at some examples of storage of other gasses and salt mining, and the latest scientific insights in salt behavior and their implications for future UHS.
Els Wijermars (Nobian)
Applied Rock Mechanics in Salt solution mining
Nobian produces salt by solution mining in different types of salt deposits in areas in the Netherlands and Denmark. From relatively small and shallow caverns in the layered salt deposit in the Twente area to tall cylindrical caverns in the salt domes in Groningen and Denmark. All fields have their own characteristics and challenges in which rock mechanical processes play an important role. Specifically on the topic of safe closure of a cavern or cavern field after production, interesting research is ongoing to combine insights from micro, cavern and dome scale processes.
Brecht Wassing (TNO)
Fingerprints of salt creep around caverns
Rock salt is unique in its deformation behavior compared to other rocks, as it shows time-dependent creep behavior. Salt creep behavior has been studied on the micro- and sample scale in laboratory examples, which has helped us to understand the rheological properties of the salt. However, when we use these properties in our models to predict the subsidence of the subsurface above caverns, we sometimes find that our model results do not match the observations at surface level. We will look at some examples of deformation around salt caverns, and in what way observations at surface level can further our understanding of deformation mechanisms around salt cavern at depth.
Anna Ramon Tarragona (Polytechnic University of Catalonia)
The threat of anhydritic formations to civil infrastructures
Anhydritic formations develop important expansions capable of damaging civil infrastructures built in these materials. They can be found in Europe in Tertiary and Triassic formations. The rock mass expansion commonly affects tunnels. One extreme example is the mean rate of floor heave of 2 mm/day and the maximum swelling pressures against the tunnel lining up to 7 MPa that were recorded in Lilla tunnel, excavated in Eocene anhydritic rocks in Spain. In addition, the swelling phenomenon is also capable of damaging severely viaducts and buildings founded in these formations. The presentation will describe the large expansions suffered in different infrastructures built in Spain and the field and laboratory investigations that permitted to identify the phenomenon. The origin of expansions in anhydritic formations and the main mechanisms involved will be highlighted.
Jelle van der Zon (Royal HaskoningDHV)
Salt tailings – deriving geotechnical parameters
Fertilizers are often produced from Potash, a mineral resulting from evaporation of high density brines in natural arid environments. In the production of potash, a waste stream of potash tailings is produced. These tailings consist of NaCl crystals that are stored on tailings spoil areas. In a study on the minimization of environmental pollution by these tailings areas, Royal HaskoningDHV has performed a geotechnical campaign in which various tests were performed on the salt (both in-situ and laboratory). The results will be presented, showing a large difference in behavior of the salt depending on disposal strategies, stress history and water content.
