Gebirgsmechanische und thermodynamische Simulation von Gaskavernen für eine optimierte Betriebsführung

Pipeline Engineering GmbH (PLE) has developed a program package for rock-mechanical and thermodynamic simulation of the operational status of gas caverns. The rock-mechanical program part calculates, for the first time, cavern convergence using very high-speed algorithms for any operating modes.Thermodynamic simulation determines the time-specific pressure and temperature behaviour, depending on the initial cavern status and the volume rates, from the cavern centre via the wellhead to the manifold. In the event of inadequate or missing volume rates for individual caverns, an additional module has been developed which can be used to determine the requested volume rates with a given level of accuracy by matching the individual wellhead pressure.The input data for simulation can be generated either by way of keywords - in line with the structure of simulation programs for porous rock storage facilities - or on screen by a graphic user interface in Windows. All program modules have been calibrated by means of field tests.