On the Performance of CAES Pile in Overconsolidated Soils: A Numerical Study

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a compressed air energy storage (CAES) pile in overconsolidated soils through finite element analyses. A hypoplastic constitutive model is used to account for the overconsolidation effects of the soil surrounding a CAES pile in a plane-strain model. The numerical results show that the normal force on the interface between the outer surface of the pile and the surrounding soil is a function of internal air pressure. The pressurization can influence the stress state of the surrounding soil only when the internal pressure is larger than a threshold value. Moreover, the overconsolidation effect increases the stiffness of the surrounding soil and reduces its compressibility. In turn, the change in soil behaviour influences the mechanical response of the CAES pile.