Concrete Barge of First Totally Offshore LPG Facility

by Arthur R. Anderson, (F.ASCE), Principal; Concrete Technology Corp., Tacoma, Wash.,


Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1976, Vol. 46, Issue 4, Pg. 58-60


Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

Some 20 miles off Java, below waters 95-ft to 135-ft deep, is the Ardjuna Field, from which oil and gas soon will be taken. The adjacent coastal land is marshy, so onshore storage would require costly pile foundations and road construction; coastal waters are too shallow for tanker access, so would require considerable dredging and long cargo-loading pipelines. Thus the facility is being built entirely offshore, including a big oil storage barge of steel and, perhaps the most unique aspect, an LPG storage barge of prestressed concrete. This material was chosen for reasons of cost and speed of delivery. The hull was made of precast pieces which were epoxy-bonded to their neighbors, then post-tensioned together in three directions to prevent cracking. Specified concrete strength was 6,000 psi, but 9,000-10,500 psi concrete was produced (since the ship code agency, American Bureau of Shipping has little experience with concrete vessels, so is being quite conservative in construction of ships. Concrete compares favorably with steel in first cost and maintenance.

Subject Headings: Concrete | Ships | Barges | Water storage | Steel | Shallow foundations | Sea water

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