Rock engineering in underground energy storage in Korea

Since the early 1970s, Korea has constructed many large-scale underground energy storage caverns in response to rapid industrial development. In this period, rock mechanical engineers in Korea gained valuable experience in developing underground space technologies. A brief description of underground projects, including oil and gas storage and pumped storage power plants, is presented. Mechanical and hydrological stability analyses of the storage caverns are also introduced. These analyses were conducted using a finite-element method, back analysis, rock block analysis and fracture network analysis. In each analysis, the rock mass around the caverns is modeled as a rigid body, elastic, visco-elastic, visco-plastic or elasto-plastic porous medium. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.