Design criteria for the Brooklyn Union gas storage caverns at JFK airport, New York

In the planning of a major underground natural gas storage project in the New York area recently, the author developed criteria to ascertain the full operation integrity of the caverns. These criteria, which primarily addressed rock stability and gas containment, are based on experimental research and theoretical work, and are outlined in the paper. The containment criteria address questions like the layout of the caverns and the permeability distribution of the rock mass. These factors determine the level of the break-through pressure of individual caverns and groups of caverns. Contrary to what is commonly believed, this pressure could be as low as 50% of the abundant, hydrostatic groundwater pressure in the rock mass. The paper also provides design criteria for water curtains, either operating at normal hydrostatic pressure or for overpressurized curtains, used to increase gas storage capacity. To obtain stability criteria for the cavern roof and walls, account must be taken of the primary stress field in the host rock and of the gas pressure in the cavern. With the high horizontal to vertical stress ratio, occurring even at great depth at the site, there is a risk that a state of tension develops in the cavern walls in combination with the gas pressure. Compressive roof stresses may, on the other hand, approach the compressive strength of the rock mass at depletion of the gas pressure.