Experimental results and modeling of long-term creep behavior of rock salt

The growing demand for underground storage of natural gas, petroleum products, compressed air, and radioactive waste has recently generated considerable interest in salt as a storage medium. Salt deposits are widely distributed throughout the world, and many are located at convenient depths for storage purposes. Salt is basically a good structural material, being relatively strong and largely free of discontinuities commonly found in other rocks. Furthermore, suitable excavations may be made in salt by solution mining as well as conventional methods.