Abstract:
To accurately predict the morphology, stability, and sealing capacity of irregular salt caverns and support their application in compressed air energy storage, this study establishes a comprehensive geological and geophysical evaluation process for salt cavern reservoirs. Through detailed structural interpretation, the tectonic stability of salt cavern regions is assessed. Target probability inversion is employed to predict the distribution of salt rock and interlayers. Based on seismic forward modeling, multi-attribute joint analysis and 3D geological body carving are used to quantitatively predict salt cavern morphology and effective volume. Finally, microscopic characteristic analysis of salt cavern core samples is conducted to verify the sealing capacity of the cavern roof. The results indicate that the saline formation has a gentle dip, with only small-scale fractures developing in the deep section and no fractures within a 2km plane. The total salt layer thickness exceeds 60m, with a salt-to-ground ratio of approximately 50%. Among these, salt layers 1 to 5 are stably developed across the entire area, interbedded with gypsum-salt layers, while both the roof and floor formations consist of dense lithologies. A seismic facies model for salt caverns is established, featuring an upward-convex strong amplitude reflection at the top boundary, a downward-concave weak amplitude reflection at the bottom boundary, and seismic events discontinuities on both sides. Four sensitive attributes—instantaneous amplitude, texture, edge detection, and coherence energy gradient—are preliminarily selected, revealing relatively independent salt cavern development in wells 1, 4, and 5, while connecting channels exist between the salt caverns in wells 2 and 3. The edge detection attribute demonstrates optimal characterization performance, and based on this, the "threshold segmentation method" is used to delineate the 3D morphology of salt caverns. The predicted volume aligns with the converted salt extraction data and well records, with an error rate of only 0.76%. Further verification of the strong sealing capacity of salt cavern roofs is conducted through microscopic structure, porosity and permeability, breakthrough pressure, and diffusion coefficient tests on salt cavern core samples. In summary, the salt caverns in the study area exhibit stable tectonic conditions, considerable storage space, and strong sealing capacity, meeting the geological requirements for constructing compressed air energy storage facilities.