Thermal Behavior of Rock Caverns Affected by Hysteresis of High and Low Temperatures
Yoshinori INADA and Naoki KINOSHITA
Abstract:When high and low temperature materials, such as heated water, LNG, LPG and frozen food etc. actually are stored temporally in openings excavated in rock mountain, as the quantity of these changes continually, the rock mass around openings will receive the effects of thermal hysteresis of high and low temperatures. Therefore, obtaining the strength and deformation characteristics of rocks after receiving thermal hysteresis becomes important for discussing the stability of the openings. In this study, these characteristics of rocks were examined. >From the results of the tests, it was found that strength and deformation characteristics of rocks decrease with the increasing amount of thermal hysteresis. However, the ratio of the decrease also decreases. From these facts, it is supposed that the strength and deformation characteristics of rocks will converge to a constant value. Then using the results of the tests, thermal behavior of rock mass around openings were analyzed and discussed. Key Words:Rock caverns, Thermal hysteresis, High and low temperatures, Thermal behavior, Strength, Deformation