Bearing performance and crack width of concrete lining in rock-lined caverns with compressed air energy storage

Concrete lining is an important component in the bearing system of underground rock-lined caverns for compressed air energy storage. Reasonable concrete lining design can effectively transfer air internal pressure to the surrounding rock and protect the sealing layer from failure. In order to guide the structural design of concrete lining in rock-lined caverns, a calculation method for the maximum crack width of concrete lining under high internal pressure is proposed, and the corresponding crack analysis program based on Analysis of Systems (ANSYS 17.0) is developed. By our proposed calculation method for crack width and the corresponding implementation program, the relationship between the maximum crack width and the reinforcement ratio of the concrete lining under different rock qualities can be revealed. The results indicate that a larger reinforcement ratio of the concrete lining corresponds to a smaller crack width. It is recommended to adopt a reinforcement scheme with a small rebar diameter and small rebar spacing to control the crack width of the concrete lining. Our research results can guide the structural design of concrete lining and reduce the construction cost of artificial caverns.