Physical Modeling of the Champagne Effect

摘要

Successful commercialization of compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology depends largely on the ability to understand and predict potentially detrimental aspects of its implementation. A particularly important concern is the champagne effect, a hydraulic process with the potential to cause a loss of storage cavern pressure or even blowout of the cavern. Under subcontract to the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute conducted an investigation to determine the factors that influence bubble formation in a CAES cavern. Using this information, they then undertook to develop a model to predict the effect of those bubbles on the discharge of water from a CAES cavern. This research project involved parallel analytical and experimental efforts. Two physical models were developed, one relatively simple and analytical, the other much more detailed and numerical. A high-solubility carbon dioxide/water laboratory model of a CAES system was also constructed. Results obtained from bubble formation experiments using the laboratory-scale CAES facility were compared with those generated by the predictive models. The high-solubility CO sub 2 /H sub 2 O champagne effect laboratory model successfully simulated the behavior of a CAES system. Researchers noted that varying conditions and heterogeneous nucleation in bulk produced profound differences in the vigor of the observed champagne effect. Experimental observations further suggest that reproducible heterogeneous nucleation experiments are possible. The simple analytical model was found to show excellent agreement with the detailed numerical model. The latter, in turn, showed good agreement with the data obtained experimentally in the laboratory-scale CAES facility. Researchers concluded that physical modeling is relevant to practical studies of the champagne effect, and that the results of such modeling should be used in designing future experiments. (ERA citation 09:000596)