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The headlong development of the Chinese economy is going hand in hand with soaring energy consumption. To secure its gas supplies over the long term, the People’s Republic of China is investing heavily in expanding the necessary infrastructure. All along the Chinese coast, a chain of terminals is being built to store and distribute liquefied natural gas. When all phases of the Shanghai LNG project are completed, it will boast an annual storage capacity of over six million tonnes, a high-capacity distribution grid and a berthing terminal for superheavy tanker vessels, making it one of the key elements in this huge project to import liquefied gas across the South China Sea from Malaysia. The contracting consortium of Shanghai Electric Power Construction Company and China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Company built the three large-volume liquefied-gas tanks using the cost-effective Doka climbing formwork 150F. The fast repositioning made possible by this system saves on crane time, and this, plus the Climbing formwork 150F’s sheer ease of handling, assured swift, smooth forming operations.
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The three constructionally identical LNG tanks are each 52 m high, with an inside diameter of 40 m. In order to ensure the highest possible degree of gas-tightness, the containers are of a full-containment double-skin design in which the steel inner tank is housed inside an 80 cm thick outer shell made of in-situ concrete.
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With the crane-time-saving Doka climbing formwork system 150 F, the three large-volume liquefied-gas tanks were formed in a weekly cycle. The formwork is joined to the climbing scaffold and can be lifted up to the next casting section in a single crane cycle.
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To construct these in-situ concrete shells, 192 units of Doka climbing formwork system 150 F and 1020 m² of large-area formwork Top 50 were in service on each LNG tank. Thanks to the fast, crane-time-saving repositioning operations, the site crew were able to reinforce, form and pour the ten casting sections in a record-breaking weekly cycle. The formwork is joined to the climbing scaffold to make a unit which can be lifted in one piece from one casting section up to the next, in a single crane cycle. No crane assistance is needed for setting up and striking the formwork. This greatly reduces the craneage needed for the forming operations, hugely simplifying the site logistics.
The site engineers were particularly impressed by the user safety and ease of handling offered by this climbing formwork system. “The scissor-action spindles enabled us to manoeuvre the timber-beam formwork into the pouring position quickly and accurately. Also, the broad-sized working platforms, with a 70 cm retracting distance for the formwork, leave plenty of space for cleaning the form-ply”, says project manager Chenwu Li, testifying to the advantages of the Climbing formwork 150 F. A very high degree of workplace safety is also ensured by the all-round enclosure of the working platforms and by the safety netting between the main work deck and the follow-up platform.
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The platforms of the climbing formwork units and the extra-large elements of Top 50 large-area formwork were assembled on the site under the expert guidance of an experienced Doka field service technician. This greatly shortened the time needed for assembly. What is more, the instruction given to the site crew by the field service technician also made a big contribution towards enhancing operational safety, and thus to ensuring safe, smooth forming operations. Thanks to the streamlined planning of this forming assignment, to the just-in-time delivery of the formwork equipment and to the cost-effective climbing formwork solution, the in-situ concreting works on the LNG tanks were completed on-schedule and on-budget.
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| The all-round enclosure of the working platforms, and the safety netting between the main working platform and the follow-up platform, together ensure a very high degree of workplace safety in every phase of the formwork operations. |
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