Hydraulic conductivity estimation of rock mass in water sealed underground storage caverns

After the suitability of some previous model for estimating hydraulic conductivity of rock mass, a new model was proposed considering the hydraulic characteristic of water sealed underground storage caverns. Four geological parameters including rock quality designation(RQD), rock mass integrity designation(RID), aperture designation(AD), and lithology permeability designation(LPD) were adopted for establishing the estimated RMP model according to the double packers test data of Yantai LPG underground storage caverns. Then the hydraulic conductivity of 277 sections of rock mass of 14 boreholes in the area of Qingdao water sealed underground storage caverns were estimated by the RMP model. The results indicate that the rock mass in the study area has much randomness of spatial distribution; and 57.04% of the conductivity are between 10-4m/d and 10-3m/d. The study result has some theoretical significance and engineering value for water curtain system design and evaluating water sealed effectiveness.