Multivariate statistical analysis of underground gas storage caverns on groundwater chemistry in Korea

Jeonghoon Lee, Kyung Seok Ko, Jun Mo Kim, Ho Wan Chang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

An understanding of groundwater flow and chemistry is important to operate underground storage caverns. Groundwater flow is mainly affected by cavern operating conditions. Groundwater chemistry is modified by disinfection activities for removing possible biological clogging and by mixing with cement pore water. It is important to discern these two effects, because wells affected by the disinfection activities may have hydrological connections with water curtains used to inject the disinfectant. However, it is difficult to separate these two effects using graphical methods because of their similar chemical characteristics. Instead, multivariate statistical analysis, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA), can be used. Groundwater samples for chemical analysis were obtained from four surveys in 1999-2000. Based on the results from PCA and FA, it appears that there were temporal variations of seepage water into the propane area when the cavern operation fluctuated, but we could not observe such variation in the butane area. These changes may occur mainly at depth, where water flow is slow and water renewal in the cavern surrounding is limited.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3410-3417
Number of pages8
JournalHydrological Processes
Volume22
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Aug 2008

Keywords

  • Cement pore water
  • Disinfection activity
  • Factor analysis
  • Principal component analysis
  • Temporal variation
  • Underground gas storage

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