Effects of anisotropic permeability of fractured rock masses on underground oil storage caverns

An isotropic assumption is often applied to analyze permeability tests of in situ fractured rock mass, and the homogeneous hydraulic conductivities are then used directly in the seepage analysis. However, the hydraulic conductivities are normally anisotropic in fractured rock masses and the effects of the anisotropic permeability should be taken into account in rock engineering analysis, especially for seepage analysis of underground oil storage caverns. In this study, an underground oil storage cavern project is analyzed and the Oda’s method is used to determine the anisotropy in permeability, where the anisotropy in permeability is determined using the fracture orientation and the in situ stress information from the field survey. The horizontal hydraulic conductivities are obtained based on the geometric average hydraulic conductivities from the injection tests of six boreholes. A typical cavern unit is numerical modeled using code FLAC. The effects of anisotropic permeability on water pressure, water quantities and critical gas pressure are studied carefully. The results indicate that most calculated results based on in situ hydraulic tests with isotropic permeability assumption can be used safely in the underground oil storage cavern project.