Technical Review of the Lined Rock Cavern Concept and Design ...

Technical Review of the Lined Rock Cavern (LRC) Concept and Design Methodology 3
suggest that the limit equilibrium models used in the ground-uplift design evaluations are
too simple to adequately represent the rock-mass load/deformation response for LRC
conditions. Results also show potentially important effects from the presence of natural
rock fractures on local strains in the steel liner during cavern pressurization. Such effects
are not accounted for in the current LRC design methodology, because it regards the rock
mass only as a continuum. When a rock mass is represented as a continuum, the deformational
effects of natural rock fractures are smeared/averaged throughout the rock mass.
Although this is frequently done in rock engineering, the importance of the steel liner
strain in the context of the LRC design also warrants evaluation using methods that account
for local effects associated with the presence of explicit rock fractures.
The remaining sections of this report contain the following.
♦ Title list of the review documents (for completeness), with a brief
summary of the LRC concept and design methodology expressed in
these documents.
♦ Review of key LRC design aspects:
� Criterion for Safety Against Ground Uplift;
� Cavern-Wall Response (Steel Liner/Concrete/Rock Mass Interaction);
and
� Concrete-Liner Fracture Analysis.
♦ Review of the LRC design methodology:
� General Comments
� Probabilistic Approach
♦ Conclusions
� Summary and Observations of the Rock Mechanics Review
� Judgement of the LRC Concept
� Recommendations