Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802

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Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
journal homepage: www.jrmge.cn

Review

Key issues in water sealing performance of underground oil storage

caverns: Advances and perspectives
Yutao Li a, Bin Zhang a, *, Lei Wang b, Yiguo Xue a, Hanxun Wang a, Lei Shi a, Zhenhua Peng c,
Junyan Li c
a
School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China
b
Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA
c
CNOOC Petrochemical Engineering Co., Ltd., Qingdao, 266061, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Water sealing performance is important for underground water-sealed oil storage (UWSOS). The key
Received 14 August 2022 issues concerning water sealing performance mainly include the permeability of fractured rock mass
Received in revised form (FRM), water-sealed safety (WSS), water curtain performance, and prediction and control of water inflow.
11 October 2022
This paper reviews the progress of above four key issues on water sealing performances. First, the
Accepted 7 December 2022
Available online 9 February 2023
permeability of an FRM is the basis of water sealing performance, and several commonly used perme-
ability test methods and spatial variation characteristics of permeability are outlined. Second, the current
water sealing criteria are compared, and the evaluation methods of WSS are summarized. Third, the
Keywords:
Underground water-sealed oil storage
design parameters and efficiency evaluation of water curtain systems (WCSs) are introduced. The water
(UWSOS) inflow of oil storage caverns (OSCs) can reflect the water sealing effect, and the prediction methods and
Water-sealed safety (WSS) control measures of water inflow are also summarized. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the
Water curtain system (WCS) current research are discussed, and the potential research directions are pointed out, such as optimi-
Water inflow zation of water sealing criteria and FRM model, quantitative evaluation of WCS efficiency, accurate
Fractured rock mass permeability prediction of water inflow, and improvement of grouting technology.
Ó 2023 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Oil has been recognized as the basis for economic development.
Therefore, oil reserves are of vital importance worldwide. Among the
various oil storage methods, underground water-sealed oil storage
(UWSOS) has been proven to be a safe, economical, and concealed
method of oil storage (Makita et al., 1993; Sturk and Stille, 1995;
Hepbasli, 2003; Kurose et al., 2014; Nilsen, 2021), and has become
the major method of oil storage. UWSOS caverns are unlined rock
caverns built below the stable groundwater level to store oil and gas
energy. The operating principle of UWSOS can be summarized as
“filling joints with water” and water-oil dynamic pressure balance,
that is, the hydraulic pressure in a fractured rock mass (FRM) should
be greater than the oil and gas pressure in the oil storage caverns
(OSCs) (Lindblom, 1997). The stability of the surrounding rocks and
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sc_zhb@cugb.edu.cn (B. Zhang).
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chi-
nese Academy of Sciences.
water sealing of OSCs are the focus of research on UWSOS (Zhang
et al., 2013; Ma et al., 2016; Zhuang et al., 2017; Hassanpour et al.,
2019; Zhao et al., 2020). The key issues in the research of water
sealing performance of UWSOS are the permeability of FRM water-
sealed safety (WSS), the performance of water curtain systems
(WCSs), and the prediction and control of water inflow.
The surrounding rocks of the OSCs are mainly of crystalline or
metamorphic rocks, and the fractures are infilled with groundwater
(Liu et al., 2018). The field testing methods for the permeability of
the surrounding rocks include pumping/injecting water tests, slug
tests, Lugeon tests, and pulse tests (Svenson et al., 2007; Selvadurai
and Ichikawa, 2013). Among them, the Lugeon test has been widely
used. The seepage mechanism of FRM is studied by a single fracture
model, and the cubic law is used to describe the seepage in ideally
parallel plate fractures (Romm, 1966). Considering the roughness of
the rock fracture surface, many researchers have proposed the
cubic law correction method based on roughness (e.g. Louis, 1974;
Olsson and Barton, 2001; Li et al., 2008; Cui et al., 2021). With the
deepening of understanding of seepage in FRM, the spatial
anisotropy of seepage in FRM has gradually gained more attention.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2022.12.017
1674-7755 Ó 2023 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-
NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2788 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802

Table 1
Modified equation of cubic law.

Method Modified cubic law Correction factor Parameters Source

Roughness coefficient 3
ge 1
D1:5 q is flow rate; g is gravitational acceleration; Lomize (1951)
q ¼ J C ¼ 1þ 6
correction method 12n C e

D 1:5 e is mean mechanical apertures; Louis (1974)
C ¼ 1 þ 8:8
2e

sc 1:2 eh is mean hydraulic apertures; Amadei and Illangasekare (1994)
C ¼ 1 þ 0:6
e

D0:75 n is kinematic viscosity coefficient of water; Su et al. (1995)
C ¼ 1 þ 1:2
e
h
sc 2 i1:5 J is hydraulic gradient; Wang et al. (2015c)
C ¼ 1þ
e 1 Wang et al. (2018a)
is correction coefficient of the cubic law,
c
which is related to the roughness and apertures
of the fracture;
geh 3 e2
JRC correction method q ¼ J e ¼ D is fracture roughness; Barton et al. (1985);
12n JRC 2:5
sc is mean square error of the aperture; Olsson and Barton (2001)
dmc is minimum closure distance;
JRCa 1=3 JRCa is average value of JRC for both upper and Rasouli and Hosseinian (2011)
eh ¼ e½ð1  0:03d0:565
mc Þ 
lower rock fracture profiles;
1S
Contact surface ratio e3h ¼ e3 S is fractional contact ratio; and Walsh (1981)
1þS
correction method
ge3
Fractal theory q ¼ Jf ðDÞ f1 ðDÞ ¼ 1:32  105 D10:2 D is fractal dimension. Cui et al. (2021)
12n 1
correction method

WSS is the focus of UWSOS. The water sealing criterion is the
basis to judge the WSS of UWSOS. Åberg (1977) first proposed the
water sealing criterion with a vertical hydraulic gradient greater
than 1. Later, the criterion was revised (e.g. Goodall et al., 1988;
Zhang et al., 2020a). In engineering projects, empirical formulas are
often used to judge the WSS, and groundwater level is used as a
judgment index (Chung et al., 2009; Li et al., 2021). Field testing is a
direct method to study the WSS of UWSOS. The current conven-
tional field testing methods include hydrologic monitoring,
airtightness tests of OSCs, and water curtain tests (Kim et al., 2000;
Wang et al., 2015a; Shi et al., 2018). The numerical method is one of
the common methods used to analyze WSS in the design and
construction stage of UWSOS (Ji et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2020a; Liu
et al., 2021). For engineering scale models, the equivalent porous
medium (EPM) is widely used. The discrete fracture network (DFN)
model is limited by the difficulty in detecting and modeling of DFN
which can represent a naturally FRM. The proposed DFN model
cannot match the natural FRM, due to the difficulty in estimating
fracture permeability parameters and the low computational effi-
ciency. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out the DFN model simu-
lations of the seepage field on an engineering scale.
WCSs are an important part of UWSOS. Research on the WCS
mainly focuses on the optimization of the layout parameters and
efficiency evaluation (Ebrahim et al., 2016; Li et al., 2020a). The
layout of the WCS is mainly horizontal, vertical, or inclined (Wang
et al., 2015a; Winn et al., 2019). The optimization objects of the
WCS parameters include the water injection pressure, the hori-
zontal distance between the water curtain boreholes (WCBs), and
the vertical distance from the OSCs, which are mostly evaluated
numerically. In situ water curtain tests are used to verify the
effectiveness of the WCS, including water injection tests, water
curtain connectivity tests (Wang et al., 2015a). The efficiency
evaluation of WCSs is one of the hot topics (Shi et al., 2018; Wang
et al., 2020a; Liu et al., 2021; Xue et al., 2022). At present, there is
no universal quantitative characterization method for the efficiency
evaluation of WCSs.
A reasonable water inflow is of great significance to the design
and operation of OSCs, and analysis of the water inflow plays an
important role in evaluation of the WSS (Xu et al., 2021). Water
inflow is mainly controlled by the permeability of surrounding
rocks and groundwater level. On one hand, excessive water inflow
will endanger the long-term stability of OSCs; on the other hand, it
will increase the cost of oily sewage treatment. In addition, it will
increase the workload of grouting and plugging (Pal et al., 2015; Shi
et al., 2019). The treatment measures for the excessive water inflow
of OSCs are mainly grouting, and the water inflow must be
controlled within a certain range (Liu et al., 2018). However, in
engineering projects, due to the inability to ascertain the location of
the advantageous seepage channels, the grouting efficiency is low,
and there is a large room for optimization.
This paper reviews the state-of-the-art progress of water sealing
performances of UWSOS and points out the knowledge gap for
future research. Research on water sealing performance mainly
focuses on the permeability of FRM, WSS, water curtain perfor-
mance, and water inflow prediction and control. This paper ana-
lyzes these four aspects of water sealing performance, summarizes
the advantages and disadvantages of existing research methods,
and points out potential research directions in the future.
2. Hydraulic permeability of surrounding rocks
2.1. Basic: fracture seepage mechanism
UWSOS caverns are built in crystalline rocks, such as granite (SY/
T 0610-2008, 2008). The crystalline rock is characterized by good
integrity and stability, with high strength. There could be fractures
in the FRM, which is a concern for permeability. To achieve the
purpose of “water sealing”, OSCs are built below a stable water
level. The surrounding rocks of OSCs is in a water-saturated state
and has a certain hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic conductivity of
the fractures is several orders of magnitude greater than that of the
rock matrix (Xu et al., 2015; Ren et al., 2016), leading to ground-
water in the FRM flowing along the connected fractures. The
permeability of the FRM is mainly determined by the density,
connectivity, and hydraulic aperture of the fractures (Cao et al.,
2015; Chen et al., 2018).
The connected fracture network is the main seepage channel in
an FRM (Alghalandis et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2015b; Li et al.,
2020b). Numerical simulation is widely used in the research of
fracture connectivity. The DFN is generated by simulation software,
and the interconnected fractures are of research significance (Wang
et al., 2013; Li et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2020). The fracture
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
connectivity is sensitive to the fractal dimension, the number of
fracture groups, and the angle of the fracture group. With increase
of the fractal dimension, the fracture connectivity becomes worse.
With increase of the fracture groups and the angle between fracture
groups, the fracture connectivity becomes better (Li et al., 2020b;
Zhu et al., 2021). Based on accumulated experiences, hydraulic
connectivity fractures are relatively few among the fractures
exposed on the inner surface of OSCs. Studies on fracture networks
show that only approximately 10e20% of the total fractures are
connected and form potential flow paths (Zhao, 1998).
Based on the seepage experiments on parallel plates, the cubic
law was proposed, that is, the flow rate is proportional to the cube
of the fracture aperture (Lomize, 1951; Romm, 1966). The cubic law
is applicable to the steady laminar flow of smooth parallel plates.
Romm (1966) proposed that the cubic law is applicable to fractures
with apertures greater than 0.2 mm. However, the natural fracture
surfaces are rough. Many scholars have considered the effect of
fracture roughness, tortuosity, and contact surface ratio on the
equivalent hydraulic aperture and modified the cubic law (Table 1).
The joint roughness coefficient (JRC) is an indicator commonly used
in rock engineering to describe the roughness of the fracture sur-
face. Barton and Choubey (1977) proposed 10 typical roughness
profiles for the JRC range, which are recommended by the Inter-
national Society of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (Tse and
Cruden, 1979). To quantitatively characterize the roughness of the
fracture surface more accurately, the fractal method is introduced
(Lee et al., 1990; Zhang and Chai, 2020b).
2.2. Permeability test method of FRM
The permeability test is an effective method to measure the
hydraulic conductivity of surrounding rocks of OSCs. According to
the types of rock and soil, in situ test methods mainly include
pumping (injecting) test, slug test, Lugeon test, and pulse test
(Fig. 1). The pumping (injecting) test is a common method to
measure the hydraulic conductivity of rock and soil. Generally, the
pumping test is suitable for strong permeable rocks. The slug test is
widely used to measure the permeability of rocks. The slug test has
the advantages of high efficiency, economy, simplicity, and less
impact on the normal observation of groundwater. The disadvan-
tage of the slug test is that this method can only be performed in
saturated aquifers, and the test results only reflect the permeability
Fig. 1. Application range of different permeability test methods (based on Mejías et al.,
2009).
2789
of the FRM in the vicinity of the borehole. The test result is greatly
affected by the conditions of the borehole wall, which is the so-
called “well skin effect” (Svenson et al., 2007; Slack et al., 2013).
The Lugeon test is the most common method for determining the
permeability of rocks in UWSOS projects. It is suitable for weakly
permeable rocks with good integrity and few fractures (Houlsby,
1976). The Lugeon test can adjust the position of the test section
flexibly, and the test results can be easily obtained. However,
limited by the test pressure and the accuracy of the flowmeter,
when the hydraulic conductivity of the surrounding rocks is too
low (less than 1010 m/s), the Lugeon test is no longer applicable. In
this case, the pulse test can be then used. The pulse test has high
accuracy and is more suitable for measuring the permeability of a
complete FRM with undeveloped fractures (Bredehoeft and
Papadopulos, 1980; Chen et al., 2005; Selvadurai and Ichikawa,
2013; Li et al., 2021).
2.3. Anisotropic permeability
The anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity has an important effect
on the WSS (Chung et al., 2003; Kim et al. 2007). The influence of
the anisotropic permeability of an FRM on the water sealing per-
formance of an UWSOS project is the main research direction. The
theory of FRM permeability tensor was created by Romm (1966)
and Snow (1969). A mathematical model describing the perme-
ability of anisotropic FRM is proposed based on the tensor method
(Louis, 1974; Oda, 1985; Tian and Wan, 1989).
In the early years, studies on UWSOS mainly were focused on
the difference in permeabilities between horizontal and vertical
directions. It shows that with increase of the horizontal to vertical
permeability ratio, the water inflow gradually decreases, the “crit-
ical gas pressure” gradually increases, and the overall WSS will
decrease (Sun and Zhao, 2010; Gao et al., 2018). Taking an UWSOS
project as the research object, the concept of a conditional random
field is introduced to analyze the WSS. The main focus of our study
is the influence of the spatial variability of the hydraulic conduc-
tivity of the surrounding rocks on the WSS. The results show that
the difference between the horizontal and vertical spatial correla-
tion of the surrounding rocks has a significant influence on the
water sealing effect of the WCS, and the optimal distance between
the WCBs and OSCs can be determined according to the spatial
correlation of hydraulic conductivity (Zhang et al., 2022).
3. Water-sealed safety (WSS)
3.1. Water-sealed mechanism
3.1.1. The principles of water sealing
The water sealing principle of UWSOS can be summarized as
“filling joints with water” and water-oil dynamic pressure balance
(Li et al., 2016). Fractures are the main seepage channels for
groundwater. After oil storage in underground caverns, a sealing
protective gas with a certain pressure is designed at the cavern roof.
To ensure the WSS of the OSCs, it is necessary to fill the fractures in
the surrounding rocks with water that flows in the downward di-
rection with such a velocity that there is a hydraulic gradient in the
rock (Åberg, 1977; Li et al., 2019a).
According to the water sealing principle of UWSOS, the fracture
water in the surrounding rocks will continuously seep toward the
OSCs. When the groundwater supply in the surrounding rocks is
insufficient, the groundwater level drops, and a cone of depression
forms above the OSCs, reducing the WSS. Therefore, the construc-
tion of UWSOS usually requires setting up a WCS. The WCS adopts
the form of horizontal WCBs, which are set at a certain height above
the OSCs and play a role in replenishing the surrounding rocks
2790 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
seepage field through a certain water curtain pressure (Kjorholt and
Broch, 1992; Gao and Gu, 1997; Wang et al., 2015a).
3.1.2. Empirical criterion of water sealing
The vertical hydraulic gradient criterion is the basis for judging
the WSS of UWSOS. The water sealing criterion for UWSOS was first
proposed by Åberg (1977), which was reflected by the water
pressure of the surrounding rocks of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
caverns and the oil pressure in the cavern. If the vertical hydraulic
gradient is greater than 1, WSS can be guaranteed. However,
Åberg’s criterion ignores the influence of capillary force. Further-
more, it is difficult to apply in practical projects because it has to
identify the hydraulic gradient of all fractures on the surface of the
OSCs. Later, an alternative criterion was proposed by Goodall et al.
(1988), which is a generalization of Åberg (1977) proposal that the
vertical hydraulic gradient should exceed 1. Goodall’s criterion in-
sists that gas escape will not occur as long as the water pressure
along all possible escape paths increases for some small distance in
direction of the potential gas escape. Later, Zhang et al. (2020a)
concluded that the exact criterion to evaluate if a steady flow
field can be formed around the cavern is that the hydraulic head
gradient is greater than 0, rather than 1. In terms of hydraulic
pressure gradient, the criterion is that is greater than 1 above the
cavern and greater than 1 under the cavern. The criterion proposed
by Zhang et al. (2020a) is not consistent with the proposals by
Åberg (1977) and Goodall et al. (1988). By contrast, Åberg’s criterion
is more conservative than Zhang’s criterion, which is conducive to
engineering safety.
Although the form of the vertical hydraulic gradient criterion is
relatively simple, it is difficult to apply in engineering projects due
to the complex spatial structure of natural fractures. Therefore, an
empirical criterion for judging WSS based on the critical ground-
water level is proposed. The Norwegian Tunnelling Society (2007)
proposed an empirical formula for judging the WSS in UWSOS
(Eq. (1)). The GB/T 50,455e2020 (2020) draws on engineering
practice experience from an international perspective (Kiyoyama,
1990; Norwegian Tunnelling Society, 2007) and puts forward an
empirical criterion for evaluation of the WSS of UWSOS (Eq. (2)).
Feng et al. (2014) established a gas escaping model for describing
the migration of fracture water. According to the critical conditions
of fracture water movement, a formula for calculating the critical
groundwater level satisfying the WSS is deduced (Eq. (3)). Li et al.
(2021) considered the effect of capillarity in fracture seepage on
WSS and optimized the empirical formula for evaluating WSS (Eq.
(4)), concluding that the empirical formula given in China’s current
standard is reasonable but conservative:
Pro ¼ Pva þ 20rw g
H ¼ 100pg þ 20
 .
H  pg  pa gw
 
pg  pa  ðpcB  pcA Þ
H
gw
where Pro is the groundwater pressure at the top of the cavern (Pa),
Pva is the vapor pressure of the liquid (Pa), rw is density of water
(m3/kg), g is gravity acceleration (m/s2), H is the vertical distance
from the designed stable water height to the roof of the cavern (m),
pg is the designed gaseous phase (nitrogen) pressure in the cavern
(MPa), Pa is the atmospheric pressure (Pa), gw is the unit gravity (N/
m3), PcA is the capillary force at the bottom of the fracture (Pa), and
PcB is the capillary force at the top of the fracture (Pa).
3.2. Hydrogeological models
Research on the WSS of UWSOS mainly focuses on the seepage
field of surrounding rocks, permeability of FRM, natural ground-
water recharge, and WCS (Lee et al., 1996; Dai and Zhou, 2014; Li
et al., 2017a; Qiao et al., 2017). A proper and representative
hydrogeological model is crucially important to the study of WSS.
In the conceptualization of the hydrogeological model of UWSOS
(Fig. 2), an independent hydrogeological unit should be delimited
according to the geological conditions of the study area (Xue et al.,
2015; Li et al., 2016, 2017b, 2019b). Specific locations such as rivers
and mountain ridges can be selected as the boundary of the
hydrogeological units. Then, the boundary conditions of the con-
ceptual model should be determined. Usually, a non-flow boundary
is assumed at the bottom of the model. On the sides of the model, a
specified head boundary is defined at the rivers, a non-flow
boundary is assumed at the mountain ridges, and a specified flux
boundary is applied at the borders without rivers and mountain
ridges according to the measured groundwater velocity. A rainfall
infiltration boundary or free boundary is assigned at the top of the
model. For UWSOS, a specified head boundary with fixed atmo-
spheric pressure is assigned at the caverns during the construction
period because they were open to the surface air. After storing oil in
the caverns, a time-dependent head boundary (the measured gas
pressure inside the cavern was converted to a hydraulic head unit)
is assigned at the caverns. A specified head boundary is defined at
the WCSs (Lee et al., 2015).
In particular, this study introduces the hydrogeological model of
UWSOS in an island environment. The island environment has
convenient shipping conditions, but the seawater intrusion and
tidal dynamic boundaries make the groundwater seepage field in
the study area be particularly complicated (Winn et al., 2019; Qiao
et al., 2022) (Fig. 3). The excavation of OSCs on islands will signif-
icantly affect the natural seepage field, leading to the risk of
seawater intruding into the OSCs along dominant seepage channels
(Lee et al., 2015). Seawater intrusion will not only corrode under-
ground structural facilities (steel, concrete, oil pipelines, etc.) but
also affect the quality of stored crude oil and groundwater in the
study area. More seriously, it can destroy the original ecological
balance inside the island, causing secondary environmental dam-
age (Lee et al., 2007; Ueda et al., 2021). In addition, oil leaks will
pollute the sea and damage marine environments. Therefore, the
construction of UWSOS projects on islands also puts forward
greater requirements for the WCS. In the project of excavating OSCs
(1) on islands, vertical WCBs were proven to be more advantageous,
which can provide a water sealing effect and play a role in inhib-
(2) iting seawater intrusion (Lim et al., 2013; Li et al., 2019a).
(3) 3.3. Evaluation of WSS
3.3.1. Field monitoring and testing methods
Field monitoring and in situ testing are the direct methods for
(4)
the WSS evaluation of UWSOS. Conventional methods include
groundwater level monitoring, groundwater osmotic pressure
monitoring, and airtightness testing (Kim et al., 2000; Wang et al.,
2020a; Qiu et al., 2021).
Based on the groundwater level monitoring data, it can be
concluded that during excavation of the access tunnel, the
groundwater level is significantly reduced. After the WCBs are
injected with water, the groundwater level rises, and the
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802 2791

Fig. 2. Conceptual model of UWSOS in rock caverns (modified by Li et al., 2016; 2017a).

Fig. 3. Conceptual model of UWSOS in marine islands.

groundwater level changes slightly during the subsequent exca-
vation of the OSCs. This means that the WCS is important to WSS
(Shi et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). Osmometers are mostly
installed between the water curtain tunnels and the OSCs to
automatically monitor the water pressure in the surrounding rocks
at different elevations. Taking the monitoring data of an UWSOS
project in China as a study case, it can be seen that the water
pressure in surrounding rocks increases approximately linearly
with depth (Fig. 4). By comparing the water pressure in the FRM
and the oil storage pressure inside the cavern at the same elevation,
it can be determined whether the UWSOS meets the requirements
of water sealing or not. The airtightness test is used to test WSS
under the operating conditions of OSCs and is carried out after
cavern excavation is completed and before oil storage (Zhang et al.,
2020c).
3.3.2. Numerical methods for WSS evaluation
Numerical method is the main method used to evaluate the WSS
of UWSOS during design and construction stages. Based on seepage
simulation results, the groundwater level, water pressure, vertical
hydraulic gradient, and other indicators of surrounding rocks can
be analyzed, and WSS is evaluated.
In the current research, the surrounding rock mass is usually
regarded as the EPM, that is, the FRM is equivalent to the porous
medium according to the permeability (Lee and Chang, 1995;
Ebrahim et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2020a). In general, according to the
hydraulic conductivity of the FRM obtained from the field perme-
ability test, the average value of the hydraulic conductivity is
calculated and assigned to the homogeneous medium model for
numerical simulation (Fig. 5). On this basis, the FRM in the study
area can be partitioned horizontally and vertically according to the
2792 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802

Fig. 4. The monitoring curve of groundwater pressure.

Fig. 5. WSS simulation of UWSOS (from Zhang et al., 2019): (a) Homogeneous medium model; (b) Groundwater pressure head of surrounding rocks; and (c) Vertical hydraulic
gradient at different elevations.

hydraulic conductivity. In addition, considering the spatial vari-
ability in hydraulic conductivity, the mean and variance in the hy-
draulic conductivity of the surrounding rocks are calculated (Zhang
et al., 2022). The FRM is equivalent to an anisotropic continuum with
a random hydraulic conductivity tensor based on the Monte Carlo
random method (Gao et al., 2018). The EPM model is widely used in
the WSS evaluation of UWSOS on an engineering scale (Li et al.,
2017a; Zhang et al., 2019; Xue et al., 2022). Although fault struc-
tures are later introduced into the model, the evaluation results are
only regarded as a reference for macroscale WSS evaluation because
the complexity of FRM seepage has not been considered.
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
Fig. 6. WSS simulation based on the DFN model (from Lin et al., 2016a): (a) No WCS; (b) No horizontal curtain; (c) No vertical WCS; and (d) Whole WCS. The unsaturated parts,
whose pore pressures are less than zero, are uncolored.
The seepage simulation of UWSOS based on the DFN model is a
research focus currently (Rong et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2013; Li et al.,
2020a). The generation of the DFN model is based on in situ fracture
parameter measurements and statistics (including fracture aper-
ture, occurrence, spacing, trace length, and structural surface
roughness). Contrary to the EPM model, the DFN model ignores the
permeability of the porous matrix, and groundwater only moves
along the fractured network (Bogdanov et al., 2003; Li et al., 2014;
Javadi and Sayadi, 2018). Therefore, the accuracy of the fracture
parameters is a prerequisite for fracture network simulation (Rong
et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2015; Javadi et al., 2016). For UWSOS projects,
the spatial distribution and seepage characteristics of fractures
from the WCS to OSCs are the focus of research.
Model size has been regarded as a critical issue for the efficiency
of DFN simulation (Wang et al., 2020b). Limited by computing
power and efficiency, most of the current DFN simulations for
UWSOS are two-dimensional (2D) models or simplified three-
dimensional (3D) models that only contain one or several OSCs.
The effective connectivity of fractures is found to be a dominant
factor in determining water-sealing effects. In addition, the fracture
network is highly irregular in the flow domain, and the failure of
WSS can occur locally (Lin et al., 2016a). The effect of the WCS on
WSS is also affected by both fracture parameters and seepage
characteristics (Fig. 6). The DFN model can effectively identify the
2793
low-efficiency zones of the WCS and optimize the layout parame-
ters of the WCS more accurately (Hu et al., 2019a; Li et al., 2020a;
Liu et al., 2021; Tang et al., 2021).
The concept of a dual porosity model was first proposed by
Barenblatt et al. (1960). This model assumes that both fractures and
the porous matrix are permeable, and they are regarded as two
media with different permeabilities but can exchange fluid.
Compared with the EPM model and the DFN model, the dual
porosity model has more advantages in the analysis of unsaturated
seepage in rocks with well-developed fractures (small size, large
number, and dense distribution) and large porous matrix pores. The
dual porosity model could be further divided into dual-porosity
single-permeability (DPSP) model and dual-porosity dual-perme-
ability (DPDP) model. The DPSP model, ignoring fluid flow in the
porous matrix and considering the exchange between the porous
matrix and fractures, is applicable to the condition that the
permeability of fracture is much larger than that of the porous
matrix. The DPDP model is developed when the permeability dif-
ference between matrix and fracture is small. The dual-
permeability model has been widely used in the fields of frac-
tured reservoirs and shale gas multiphase seepage (Warren and
Root, 1963; Gerke and Genuchten, 1993; Wei and Zhang, 2010;
Zambrano et al., 2021). At present, research on dual-permeability
models in the field of UWSOS is relatively scarce.
2794 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
The fractured porous medium (FPM) model can benefit from the
advantages of both the EPM models and the DFN models. In short,
the FPM models have a broader perspective in modeling ground-
water flow in strongly heterogeneous media. The FPM model is
used for UWSOS, and it shows that such a model can correctly
analyze the groundwater flow of surrounding rocks with complex
fracture distributions (Lin et al., 2016a; Zhang et al., 2016, 2021). In
addition, Zhang et al. (2020a) used the EPM flow model to inves-
tigate the influences of borehole spacing on the seepage field. The
results show that regardless of the EPM model employed in nu-
merical analysis, a stable water covering layer of a certain thickness
can be generated above the OSCs and that the generated seepage
field can satisfy the water sealing criterion (Fig. 7).
4. Performance of water curtain system (WCS)
4.1. Overview of WCS
UWSOS achieves water sealing through the synergy of natural
and artificial WCSs (Wang et al., 2015a). The traditional WCS refers
to water curtain tunnels and WCBs. The generalized WCS should
also include access tunnels that are filled with water outside the
sealing plug.
During excavation of the OSCs, due to the drainage effect of the
OSCs, the groundwater level above the OSCs declines, forming a
groundwater depression cone. According to the water sealing crite-
rion of UWSOS, when the groundwater level drops to a certain height,
water sealing failure will occur. To avoid the occurrence of water
sealing failure, a WCS is adopted above the OSC (Kjorholt and Broch,
1992; Lin et al., 2016b). However, the hydrogeological conditions,
such as rainfall, groundwater level, and surrounding rocks perme-
ability of OSCs, are critical to the development of depression cones
above OSCs (Liang and Lindblom, 1994; Wang et al., 2018b, 2020a).
Therefore, the layout and parameters of the WCS should also vary
according to different hydrogeological conditions (Kurose et al., 2016;
Fig. 7. FPM flow model (from Zhang et al., 2020a): (a) 3D FPM model; (b) Distribution of the hydraulic head; and (c) Distribution of the hydraulic pressure head.
Ebrahim et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2020a). At present, research on the
WCS mainly focuses on the optimization of layout parameters,
working pressure design, water curtain connectivity testing, and
water curtain efficiency evaluation (Lindblom, 1989; Li et al., 2020a;
Wang et al., 2020a).
4.2. Design of WCS
The layout of the WCBs is determined according to the occur-
rence of the dominant fractures (i.e. dip direction and dip angle) in
the surrounding rocks of the OSCs (Wang et al., 2015a; Ravandi
et al., 2016). Theoretically, to improve the efficiency of the WCS,
OSC perpendicular to the dominant fractures is the most ideal
arrangement. The horizontal WCBs should be adopted when the
dip angle of dominant fractures is greater than 60 . When the dip
angle of dominant fractures is less than 30 , vertical WCBs should
be adopted. When the dip angle of dominant fractures is between
30 and 60 , inclined WCBs or a combination form of horizontal and
vertical WCBs could be adopted (Fig. 8). It is still challenging to
choose a suitable WCBs layout when there are two or more groups
of dominant fractures with large dip angle differences in the study
area. In this case, engineering experience, theoretical analysis, field
hydraulic tests, and numerical model can be combined to analyze
the water sealing effect and water curtain efficiency under various
WCBs layouts. The water curtain efficiency should be as high as
possible in order to ensure water sealing effect. In addition, the
construction difficulty and economic factors should be considered
to determine the optimal arrangement for the WCBs.
Table 2 lists the layout and parameters of the WCS for approx-
imately 15 UWSOS projects. According to the data, as capacity of
OSCs is large, horizontal WCBs are generally adopted. When the
capacity of LPG caverns is moderate, horizontal or combination
forms of horizontal and vertical WCBs are adopted. Among them,
vertical WCBs are mostly adopted between adjacent caverns with
different types of oils. Affected by geological conditions and
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
Fig. 8. Arrangements of WCBs (based on Wang et al., 2015a): (a) and (b) horizontal WCBs; (c) and (d) Vertical WCBs; and (e) and (f) Inclined WCBs.
construction difficulty, inclined WCBs are rarely adopted in engi-
neering projects.
The vertical WCBs can form a vertical barrier, which has the
function of “cutting off” the connection of the fractures in the
horizontal direction. When expanding an operating UWSOS proj-
ect, vertical WCBs should be adopted around the access tunnel and
shaft of the operating project during excavation of the proposed
project in order to ensure the WSS (Li et al., 2009). Following this,
Zhang et al. (2019) proposed that a separation distance of 200 m
was recommended between the operating and proposed projects,
and the vertical WCBs adopted between the two projects can
reduce the separation distance. In addition, when constructing an
UWSOS project in coastal areas, vertical WCBs can function better
than horizontal WCBs. The vertical WCBs adopted between OSCs
and coastlines can play a role in water sealing and preventing
seawater intrusion (Lee et al., 2015). However, the water inflow of
the OSCs under the action of the vertical WCBs is larger than that of
the horizontal WCBs (Li et al., 2019a).
2795
The working pressure is a key parameter of the WCS, which
determines the water supply of the WCSs and whether WSS can be
realized (Yang and Kim, 1998; Li et al., 2009, 2020c; Hu et al.,
2019b). The WSS worsens the increase in WCBs spacing (s) and
the vertical distance from the OSCs (r) and the decrease in working
pressure (p) (Rehbinder et al., 1988; Li et al., 2019c). The relative
influences of WCS parameters on the water inflow of the OSCs are
ranked as follows: p > s > r (Li et al., 2019c). The working pressure
in the WCBs is dependent on the elevation of OSCs, oil and gas
pressure in OSCs, and dynamic groundwater level during con-
struction and operation.
4.3. Effectiveness of WCS
For UWSOS projects, in situ testing is a direct method for eval-
uating the performance of WCSs (Shi et al. 2018; Li et al., 2022). The
water curtain test can be used to identify the connectivity between
the WCBs, as well as the connectivity between the WCS and the
OSCs. It mainly includes the single-borehole water injection test,
2796 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802

Table 2
The layout and parameters of the WCS.

No. Location Storage substance Volume Lithology Arrangement Spacing Elevation difference Source
(104 m3) (m) (m)

1 Perama, Greece Diesel, petroleum 20 Limestone Horizontal 20 12 Benardos and Kaliampakos

(2005)
2 Ke1, Korea Gasoline, kerosene 23.1 Granite Horizontal 12 15 Lee and Song (2003)
3 Ue2, Korea Crude oil 429.3 Granodiorite Horizontal 7.14 20 Lee and Song (2003)
4 HD, China Crude oil 300 Granite Horizontal 10 26.5 Wang et al. (2015a)
5 ZJ, China Crude oil 500 Granite Horizontal 10 25 Fu et al. (2018)
6 HZ, China Crude oil 500 Granite Horizontal 10 25 Zhang et al. (2019)
7 Jurong-I, Crude oil and other 147 Volcanic, sedimentary Horizontal and 10 15 Li et al. (2016)
Singapore hydrocarbons rock vertical
8 Le1, Korea LPG 30 Andesite Horizontal 10 25 Lee and Song (2003)
9 Ningbo, China LPG 50 Tuff Horizontal 10 10 Levinsson et al. (2004)
10 Shantou, China LPG 20.6 Granite Horizontal 10 20 Tan et al. (2006)
11 Zhuhai, China LPG 40 Granite Horizontal 10 31.2 Li et al. (2016)
12 Pyongtaek, LPG 22.4 Gneiss Horizontal and 10 25 Park et al. (2005)
Korea vertical
13 Yantai, China LPG 100 Granite Horizontal and 10 20 Zhou et al. (2018)
vertical
14 Rafnes, Norway LPG 10 Granite Tilting N/A N/A Gao and Gu (1997)
15 Torpa, Norway Compressed air 1.4 Sandstone Tilting N/A N/A Gao and Gu (1997)

Table 3
Empirical formulations for water inflow estimation.

No. Empirical formulation Parameters Source

1 2pKHw K is hydraulic conductivity (m/s); Goodman et al. (1965)

q ¼
lnð2Hw =rÞ
2 2pmKHw m is empirical coefficient of 0.86; El Tani (2003)
q ¼
lnð2Hw =rÞ
3 2pmKHw Hw is initial hydraulic head from the center of the tunnel (m); El Tani (2003)
q ¼ h 
pð2Hw  rÞ pr r is radius of the tunnel (m);
ln tan cot
4h 4h
4 2pKHw h is thickness of water-bearing rocks (m); Lei (1999)
q ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ha is total head at the tunnel circumference (m);
ln½Hw =r þ ðHw =rÞ2  1 
5 2pKHw h1 is tunnel depth from the reference datum (m); Karlsrud (2001)
q ¼
lnð2Hw =r  1Þ s is groundwater level drawdown (m);
6 l2  1 Hw b is Forchheimer coefficient; g is attenuation coefficient; El Tani (2003)
q ¼ 2p K
l2 þ 1 ln l qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
7 2pKðHw  ha Þ Hw Kolymbas and Wagner (2007)
q ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi l ¼  Hw 2 =r 2  1
r
log10 ½r=ðh1  h21  r 2 Þ
8 2pKðA þ ha Þ 1  a2 Park et al. (2008)
q ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi A ¼ Hw
lnðHw =r þ Hw 2 =r 2  1 Þ 1 þ a2
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
9 2pKðHw  sÞ Moon and Fernandez (2010)
q ¼ Hw  Hw 2  r 2
lnð2Hw =rÞ a ¼
rqffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
10 2pK L2  1 Hw L ¼ Hw =r þ ðHw =rÞ2  1 Zhou et al. (2021)
q ¼
1 þ K 4=3 ðb=gÞ2=3 L2 þ 1 ln L

cross borehole interconnectivity test, WCS injection test. The
single-borehole water injection test can be used to obtain the initial
hydrostatic pressure of the FRM, the cross-borehole inter-
connectivity test is used to evaluate the connectivity between the
boreholes, and the WCS injection test is performed to estimate the
water inflow rates into the boreholes and the OSCs (Wang et al.,
2015a). Based on the interconnectivity test, it can be concluded
that the relatively intact rock mass can effectively block the leakage
of oil or gas, so addition of the boreholes is unnecessary (Zhang
et al., 2020a). The WCS injection test shows that the groundwater
inflow into the OSCs is dominated by groundwater inflow in the
rock fractures. That is, the dominant seepage channels between the
WCS and the OSCs will directly determine the design of the WCS
and selection of grouting measures. In addition, the transient
electromagnetic method (TEM) can be used to detect the quality of
a WCS during construction in LPG caverns because of its water
sensitivity (Lin et al., 2016b).
4.4. Efficiency evaluation of WCS
In recent years, the efficiency evaluation of the WCS has grad-
ually attracted wide attention. Based on the correlation analysis
method, Shi et al. (2018) studied the functional efficiency of arti-
ficial WCSs in the southeast coastal area of China with better
hydrogeological conditions. His research proved a weak influence
of the water supply of the WCS on the groundwater level. In
addition, the amount of the water supply of the WCS had few
contributions to the recharge of the groundwater. In other words,
the efficiency of the WCS in this area is low. The contribution of the
WCS to the groundwater level and water inflow of OSCs is analyzed
according to the monitoring data. Furthermore, an evaluation
method for water sealing efficiency is presented from the
perspective of optimization of WCS parameters.
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
5. Prediction and control of water inflow
5.1. Prediction of water inflow
To ensure the WSS of the UWSOS, it is necessary to ensure that
the water pressure in the FRM around the OSCs is greater than the
oil/gas pressure in the OSCs. Therefore, under the effect of the
pressure gradient, the groundwater in the surrounding rocks seeps
into the OSCs. When the pressure gradient is large or the perme-
ability of the surrounding rocks is large, it will cause excessive
water inflow into the OSCs. On one hand, when the density of
fractures is large, the long-term erosion of groundwater with high
flow rates may increase the connectivity of fractures, which will
endanger the stability of OSCs. On the other hand, it will increase
the cost of oily wastewater treatment. In addition, it also increases
the workload of grouting and plugging (Pal et al., 2015; Shi et al.,
2019).
At present, the prediction methods for the water inflow are
divided into the empirical formula method, engineering analogy
method, and numerical simulation method. The empirical formula
for predicting the water inflow is derived from the water inflow
estimation method of horizontal wells and tunnels. According to
the empirical formula, water inflow is determined by hydraulic
conductivity of FRM, initial groundwater level and equivalent circle
radius of the OSCs, and it has a linear relationship with the hy-
draulic conductivity (Table 3). The empirical formulas of Nos. 1 and
4 in Table 3 are the most commonly used to estimate the water
inflow into OSCs. These two empirical formulas belong to the
category of semiempirical formulas since the empirical coefficients
are added based on the traditional analytical formulas.
The engineering analogy method is an empirical method for
predicting the water inflow of the proposed projects based on the
field monitoring values (initial groundwater level, capacity of OSCs,
and water inflow) of analogical projects. The analogical projects
shall have the same or similar hydrogeological conditions as the
proposed projects. The higher the similarity of the geological con-
ditions of the two comparison projects, the higher the reliability of
this method. The analogy formula used in China is (SY/T 0610-2008,
2008):
HA VA
QA ¼ QB
HB VB
where QB is the water inflow of the analogical project (m3/d), HB is
the burial depth of the analogical project (m), VB is the capacity of
the analogical project (m3), QA is the water inflow of the proposed
project (m3/d), HA is the depth of the proposed project (m), and VA
is the capacity of the proposed project (m3).
Numerical method for predicting water inflow mainly includes
finite element method and finite difference method (Xu et al.,
2018). According to on-site groundwater level monitoring data,
the interpolation method is used to assign the initial groundwater
level to the model, which makes up for the shortcomings of the
empirical formula method that cannot take into account the
topography. In addition, this method can establish a 3D model of
UWSOS that is consistent with the study area, which makes up for
the disadvantage that the empirical formula method can only be
equivalent to a circular section. However, this method has the same
problem as the empirical formula method, and the accuracy of
water inflow estimation results depends on the representativeness
of hydraulic conductivity obtained in the field.
2797
5.2. Influence factors on water inflow
Based on engineering experience, the water inflow of OSCs is
affected by the factors including permeability of surrounding rocks,
groundwater level, and WCS. The water inflow of OSCs fluctuates
greatly during the excavation period and tends to decrease steadily
during the grouting period. In previous studies, research on the
influence of the surrounding rocks permeability and groundwater
level on water inflow was widely reported (e.g. Shi et al., 2018,
2019; Xu et al., 2021).
The water inflow into OSCs is mainly affected by five factors in
descending order of importance: fracture permeability, aperture,
dip angle and spacing of fractures, and working pressure of WCSs
(Liu et al., 2021; Xu et al., 2021). Thus, the influence of WCS on the
water inflow of OSCs is also of interest. The working pressure (p),
length of borehole (l), and dip angle (a) of borehole are positively
correlated with water inflow of the OSCs, and the WCB spacing (s) is
negatively correlated with water inflow of the OSCs. The relative
influences of WCS parameters on the water inflow of the OSCs
ranks as follows: p > l > s > a (Xu et al., 2018). It should be pointed
out that the water inflow of OSCs is relatively less affected by the
WCS under a sufficient natural groundwater supply (Shi et al.,
2018).
In particular, the access tunnels outside the sealing plug are
filled with water during the operation period, which will become a
part of the WCS and provide stable working pressure for the WCSs.
However, due to the large access tunnel cross-section, more frac-
tures are exposed. Moreover, the access tunnel is close to the OSCs,
so the access tunnel made a great contribution to the water inflow
into OSCs (Shi et al., 2019). Therefore, to reduce the water inflow of
the OSCs, it is recommended that the length of the access tunnel
should be shortened as possible in the design stage.
5.3. Existing control measures of water inflow
The water inflow control measures of OSCs are mainly grouting,
and the goal is to make the water inflow meet the operational
design standard (Sun et al., 2013; Kobayashi et al., 2014). Grouting
can significantly improve the quality of the water sealing effect of
the WCS. When the groundwater level is raised, the hydraulic
gradient of the surrounding rocks also increases (Pal et al., 2016;
Ren et al., 2016; Lin et al., 2018; Xue et al. 2022). In addition, full-
face grouting has been proven to effectively prevent oil leakage
(5)
and improve the water sealing performance of OSCs. Taking the
UWSOS project in Huangdao, China, as an example, the optimal
grouting thickness is approximately 5 m (Zhang et al., 2014).
At present, the grouting methods for UWSOS are pre-grouting
and post-grouting. The pre-grouting method plays a more impor-
tant role in water inflow control of UWSOS (Lee et al., 1996;
Woldmo and Grov, 2013; Pal et al., 2015). During the excavation of
the OSCs, according to the surrounding rock conditions revealed by
geological drilling, the method of pre-grouting in the sections with
large water inflow. After the excavation of the OSCs, the post-
grouting method is adopted in the areas with large water inflow.
Usmani et al. (2015) proposed that pre-grouting is the key to con-
trolling the water inflow of OSCs and suggested that most of the
measured water inflow inside the OSCs came from the corner invert
and bottom covert of the OSCs (Fig. 9).
The water inflow control of UWSOS has strict requirements on
the grouting materials, and chemical grout that reacts with oil
should not be used. In addition, due to environmental risks, long-
term durability, and oil/petroleum gas safety, chemical grout is
not widely used in UWSOS. The most commonly used grout
2798 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
Fig. 9. Typical scheme of pre-grouting in OSC (from Usmani et al., 2015).
material is Portland cement (; Weideborg et al., 2001; Lee et al.,
2004). Wei et al. (2017) proposed a new type of sulfoaluminate
cement grouting material, and found that the sulfoaluminate
cement can significantly improve the grouting speed and effect
compared with Portland cement. Taking an LPG project built in
granite as an example, Yoshida et al. (2013) analyzed the grouting
characteristics of flow-path fractures in surrounding rocks and
concluded that pre-grouting could not fully reduce the flow-path
conductivity. Micro-sheeting type fractures contribute signifi-
cantly to water inflow, but the grouting effect is poor.
6. Discussion
This study summarized the research progress on the key issues
of water sealing performance of UWSOS, including permeability of
FRM, WSS, performance of WCSs, and prediction and control of
water inflow. Next, the existing problems and potential develop-
ment directions in the future will be analyzed and discussed for the
study of the four key issues in water sealing performances.
6.1. Hydraulic permeability of surrounding rocks
The permeability and spatial variation characteristics of the
fractures in the surrounding rocks of OSCs are the basis of WSS. In
terms of FRM seepage, the cubic law and its modified formula are
the challenging issues in previous research. In addition, based on
water sealing principle of UWSOS, study on water-oil displacement
tests of FRM has attracted much attention. In past years, study on
water-oil displacement tests was mainly carried out in the field of
fractured reservoirs. In contrast, the dynamic balance of water and
oil in rock fractures under the condition of circulating oil pumping
and injection should be considered in UWSOS projects. However,
there are few studies on the migration mode of oil in fractures after
water sealing failure. After the oil leaks into the fractures, the
working pressure of WCSs should be controlled to make the oil be
pushed back to the OSCs. This study is of great significance to the
understanding of water-sealed mechanism of UWSOS, the risk
assessment of oil leakage, and the selection of water sealing
remedial measures.
It is important to understand the spatial distribution of fractures
more accurately for determining the location of the dominant
seepage channels in the surrounding rocks of OSCs. The dominant
seepage channels in the surrounding rocks of the OSCs will directly
determine the design of the WCS and the selection of water inflow
control measures. However, due to the unascertainable spatial
distribution of fractures, the study of the permeability spatial
variation law of FRM is needed. Developing more advanced rock
fracture detection technology, formulating more scientific investi-
gation schemes, and constructing more refined 3D FRM models are
critical issues for future research.
6.2. Water-sealed safety
The water sealing criterion is used to judge the WSS. Although
the vertical hydraulic gradient criterion proposed by Åberg (1977)
is considered to be relatively conservative, no recognized alterna-
tive criterion is developed at present, and the criterion of a vertical
hydraulic gradient greater than 1 is still used to identify WSS in
most studies. Most of the empirical criteria of WSS are conservative
and do not consider the permeability anisotropy of surrounding
rocks. Application of these water sealing criteria to FRM requires
knowledge of the connection between the fractures and the OSCs,
the distribution of groundwater pressure within the fractures.
However, it is difficult to discriminate the WSS of all fractures one
by one practically, according to the water sealing criteria. Thus, a
macroscopic empirical criterion for WSS based on the critical water
sealing thickness was proposed. Although a stable groundwater
level will be formed in the FRM above the OSCs and the criterion of
water sealing can be satisfied, the hydraulic head and water pres-
sure distribution show strong anisotropy due to the presence of
fractures. Therefore, the lowest groundwater level should be used
for WSS evaluation.
The numerical model is the main method used to evaluate the
WSS of UWSOS in the design and construction stages. At present,
limited by computing power and efficiency, the EPM model is used
in the WSS evaluation of UWSOS from an engineering scale.
However, in the local range, there is a great difference between the
simulation results of the EPM and the anisotropic seepage of the
natural rocks. In addition, the EPM model cannot describe the in-
fluence of the dominant seepage channel in the FRM on the
groundwater seepage field. The dominant seepage channel is very
important in the study of the WSS of UWSOS, which determines the
water inflow of OSCs and the size of the groundwater depression
cone formed above the OSCs. Although the anisotropy of an FRM
can be considered in the DFN model, this method also has the
following shortcomings. First, due to the limitations of current
measurement methods, it is impossible to detect all fractures in a
large study area. Second, the distribution of fractures is stochastic,
so it is very difficult to establish the same DFN model as the engi-
neering project. Third, the fracture permeability parameters are
difficult to estimate. Finally, the computational efficiency of the
DFN model is low. Therefore, the DFN model has poor operability
and is difficult to apply to practical engineering.
 Y. Li et al. / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 15 (2023) 2787e2802
6.3. Performance of the WCS
The WCS is a facility to ensure the WSS of UWSOS. Layout
parameter optimization and efficiency evaluation of WCS are the
focus of WSS research. Due to the geological conditions and other
factors, horizontal WCBs are widely adopted in UWSOS, while
vertical WCBs are mostly used to “cut off” the seepage channel
between adjacent OSCs and prevent seawater intrusion. At present,
the layout parameters of the WCS are primarily selected based on
experiences. To ensure WSS, the layout parameters of the WCS are
often too conservative. A need in future research is to form a more
scientific design method for WCS. On the basis of sufficient pre-
liminary investigation, reasonable layout parameters of the WCS
should be conducted according to the site-specific geological con-
ditions of the UWSOS project. In addition, during the construction
period, the design parameters, such as the distance between WCSs
in different sections, should be dynamically adjusted.
The efficiency evaluation of WCS is one of the present focuses.
The layout parameters of the WCS are basically the same for the
Huangdao oil storage project and another project on the southeast
coast of China with different hydrogeological conditions. As a
result, the water inflow of the oil storage project on the southeast
coast of China is significantly greater than that of the Huangdao
project. Therefore, the concept of the “excess water-sealed func-
tion” of an artificial WCS was proposed (Shi et al., 2018). To solve
this problem, a method to quantitatively characterize the propor-
tion of natural and artificial water sealing effects is needed. In
addition, dynamic water recharge design can be carried out for the
WCS according to the tempo-spatial distribution characteristics of
natural recharge in the study area (for example, different working
pressures of WCSs are adopted in different rainfall events, or even
artificial WCSs recharge is stopped in seasons with abundant nat-
ural recharge) to form dynamic water recharge schemes and
standards.
6.4. Prediction and control of water inflow
The prediction and control of water inflow in OSCs are one of the
important means of WSS. Affected by the randomness and anisot-
ropy of the permeability of an FRM, topographic relief and other
factors, the accuracy of water inflow calculated by empirical for-
mula method is low. According to engineering experiences, it is
common for the predicted results to differ from the monitoring
results by 300e500%. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the
empirical formula of water inflow prediction for UWSOS projects in
the future. The numerical method makes up for some shortcomings
of the empirical formula method. In the future, with the improve-
ment of rock fracture detection technology and numerical
computational efficiency, numerical methods will have a broad
application in accurate prediction of water inflow. The engineering
analogy method has high prediction accuracy in the expansion
project of UWSOS, but low accuracy for the engineering projects
with complex geological conditions.
Cement grouting is the direct and effective engineering measure
to control water inflow into OSCs. Determining the dominant
seepage channels in surrounding rocks is the key to grouting. Ac-
cording to engineering experience, cement is the main material for
grouting in surrounding rocks of OSCs. Limited by the small fracture
aperture of crystalline rocks, cement grouting is difficult. The water
inflow after cement grouting in most areas cannot meet the design
standards. Based on relevant biological studies, microbially induced
carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology has the advantages of
good fluidity and can generate cementation precipitation, which
can have a good effect in the fields of seepage prevention and
sealing.
2799
7. Conclusions
This paper analyzed the permeability of FRM, WSS, the perfor-
mance of WCSs, and the prediction and control of water inflow. The
study shows that the permeability of the FRM is the basis of water
sealing research. However, studies on the spatial structure and
permeability of the natural fracture network are still insufficient.
(1) The current water sealing criterion is conservative and can be
further optimized. The WSS evaluation method based on the
EPM can basically achieve the expected goal, and
engineering-scale WSS evaluation considering fracture net-
works is an urgent problem to be solved in the future. The
design of WCS is the hot topic in the research of water sealing
performances, and the optimization of layout parameters
and working pressure of WCSs are the focus of the research.
(2) The quantitative evaluation of WCS efficiency is the main
research direction in the future. Based on the efficiency of the
WCS, a dynamic design method for the WCS should be
formed in the future. The accuracy of the current water
inflow prediction method is insufficient, and the method can
be optimized in the future to propose a more suitable
method for the evaluation of the water inflow of OSCs. I
(3) The main control measure of excessive water inflow is to use
grouting. Therefore, the new grouting materials and pro-
cesses are of significance in improving the grouting effect
and reducing grouting expenses.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (Grant Nos. 41972300, 41572301, and 42107201).
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Yutao Li is a PhD candidate of the China University of
Geosciences (Beijing). He is engaged in research on
geotechnical multi-field coupling numerical simulation and
its application to large underground engineering under the
supervision of Prof. Bin Zhang. His research interests
include (1) the study on stability and water sealing proper-
ties of underground water-sealed oil storage; (2) identifica-
tion of dominant seepage channel in fractured rock mass;
and (3) seawater intrusion characteristics of underground
water-sealed oil storage in island environment.
Bin Zhang is a Professor of Civil Engineering in the School
of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geo-
sciences (Beijing). He received his PhD from Wuhan Uni-
versity, China in 2004. He is editorial board member of
journals such as Journal of Engineering Geology and Bulletin
of Geological Science and Technology. He is engaged in
research on underground oil/gas storage, energy engi-
neering geology, geotechnical multi-field coupling, and
geological disaster prediction and prevention. He presided
over 3 projects funded by the National Natural Science
Foundation and 1 sub-project of major scientific research
instrument research projects funded by the National Nat-
ural Science Foundation. He has published 5 books and
over 100 research papers. He has obtained 9 invention
patents, and participated in the compilation of 6 Chinese national standards and trade
standards.