Cold Weather

Foundation
Construction for
Sakhalin II
Overcoming material and curing challenges in an international setting

By Keisuke Matsukawa, Takashi Matsuno, Satoru Yoshimoto, Masatoshi Kagaya, and Takashi Ueno

S akhalin Island, located on the east coast of Russia and

north of Japan (Fig. 1), has rich reserves of oil and
gas. Recently, several large-scale projects related to
offshore oil and gas exploration have been started.
Sakhalin II, one of the largest and most complete of these
projects, was constructed by Sakhalin Energy Investment
Company, a consortium comprising Royal Dutch Shell,
Mitsui & Company, Mitsubishi Company, and Gazprom. The
company commenced commercial production and export
of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in March 2009.

LNG plant
The LNG will be processed at a plant located at
Prigorodnoye in the Korsakov district on the southernmost
part of the island. The major facilities at the plant include:
■ Two LNG production lines with a total production
capacity of 4.4 million tonnes (4.8 million tons) per year;
■ Two 100,000 m3 (131,000 yd3) LNG tanks;
■ Two 100,000 kL (630,000 barrel) crude oil tanks; and
■ An LNG jetty consisting of an 810 m (2660 ft) long steel
bridge and 25 concrete drilled piers.
The entire LNG plant construction project was executed
on an engineer/procure/construct, turnkey basis by CTSD,
a joint venture company of the Japanese engineering firms
Chiyoda Corporation and Toyo Engineering Corporation
started in 2003. The total volume of concrete used for
LNG plant and oil export terminal construction was
145,000 m3 (190,000 yd3).
During February, the coldest month of the year, the
daily mean temperature at the construction site is Fig. 1: Location of the Sakhalin II liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant

Concrete international / july 2009 51

−11.4 °C (11.5 °F), the mean daily period is −32.0 °C (−25.6 °F). Cold was that the concrete contained a
minimum temperature is −17.6 °C weather concreting was therefore blended cement with a high slag
(0.3 °F), and the design minimum used for a large part of the project. cement content specified principally
temperature for a 10-year return An additional technical challenge for enhanced durability.

Table 1: Cement
Specification requirements and physical properties for blended cement used A CEM III/B cement per EN 197-1,1
on the project
which is required to contain 66 to
80% slag cement, was specified for
EN 197-1,1 CEM III/B the project. The actual slag cement
requirement Test result content was about 68%. This level of
Slag content, % 66 to 80 68 slag content is higher than in Japan
Density, kg/m (lb/ft )
3 3
— 2990 (187) where the level is typically around
40 to 50%. The cement is specified
Blaine fineness, cm /g 2
— 4060
by the owner worldwide, regardless
Initial set ≥ 60 170 of the project location, and is
Set time, minutes
Final set — 285 characterized by enhanced durability
and low heat of hydration. The
2-day ≥ 10 (≥ 1450) 10.6 (1540)
cement used on the project was made
Compressive 7-day — 31.5 (4570) in Japan, and its physical properties
strength, MPa (psi) 42.5 to 62.5 are shown in Table 1.
28-day 52.5 (7610)
(6160 to 9060) Using a method similar to ASTM
C1202 to evaluate resistance to
chloride ion penetration, the cement
Table 2:
manufacturer compared concrete
Properties and mixture proportions for structural concretes
mixtures made using the blended
LNG plant structure Marine structure cement and a reference portland
cement. Each mixture had a water-
Russian code nomenclature B35 B40
cementitious material ratio (w/cm) of
Design 0.4 and was tested at 91 days. The
compressive 35 (5080) 40 (5800) mixture made with the blended
strength, MPa (psi) cement had a diffusion coefficient of
Design
Target compressive 0.27 × 10–12 m2/s (2.9 × 10–12 ft2/s), while
requirements 44.9 (6510) 51.4 (7450)
strength, MPa (psi) the mixture made with the reference
Freeze-thaw cement had a diffusion coefficient
F200 F300 nearly 10 times larger at 2.1 × 10–12 m2/s
resistance class3
(22.6 × 10–12 ft2/s).
Maximum size of aggregate, mm (in.) 20 (0.79) 20 (0.79) As there was concern about slow
Slump, mm (in.) 100 ± 25 (4 ± 1) 180 ± 25 (7 ± 1) hydration rate of the blended
w/cm 0.38 0.375 cement in cold weather, the strength
development of concrete cured at
Air content, % 5±2 5±2
5 °C (41 °F) was studied prior to the
Cement, kg/m (lb/yd )
3 3
447 (753) 440 (742) start of the project. This study
Water, kg/m (lb/yd )
3 3
170 (287) 165 (278) showed that hydration was not
significantly delayed compared to
Fine aggregate, kg/m 3
800 (1348) 829 (1397) portland cement concrete, mainly
(lb/yd3)
due to the relatively high reactivity
Mixture Coarse aggregate, of the slag cement ground in Japan.
995 (1677) 969 (1633)
proportions kg/m3 (lb/yd3)
HRWRA, L/m3 (oz/yd3) 1.9 (49) 1.54 (40) Mixture proportions
AE agent, L/m3 The mixture proportions for
0.004 (0.10) 0.01 (0.26) concrete used in the LNG plant
(oz/yd3)
structure and the marine structures
Total, kg/m3 (lb/yd3) 2412 (4065) 2403 (4050) are shown in Table 2. The Russian

52 july 2009 / Concrete international

code bases concrete compressive Three similar test methods are freezing in air at −18 °C (0 °F) and
strength on tests of 150 mm (6 in.) specified. According to Method One, thawing in water at 18 °C (64 °F) for a
cube specimens. The target com- also known as the Basic Method specified number of cycles. This is
pressive strength considering an specified in GOST 10060.1,4 a 150 mm similar to ASTM C666 procedure A.
allowance for variation at the batch (6 in.) cube specimen is soaked in Compressive strength is then measured.
plant in accordance with the Russian water and exposed to a cycle of The mixture is acceptable if the
code, however, is about 12.8% higher
than the design strength. The mixtures
had high cementitious material
contents of at least 440 kg/m3
(742 lb/yd3) and a w/cm around 0.38.
Because of the high fine powder
content and low w/cm, autogenous
shrinkage was also a concern. To
avoid cracking, moist curing by
covering with polyethylene sheet was
specified until the concrete reached
70% of the design strength.

Russian Codes
The LNG plant owner usually
requires design of their facilities to Fellowships
& Scholarships
comply with international codes
(either American or European), but
the engineering work for this project

Available
also had to be consistent with Russian
codes, such as the Construction
Codes and Regulations (Stroitelnye
Normy i Pravila [SNIP]) 2 design code
and the State Standard (Gosudarstvenii
Standart [GOST]) material and testing
standards. Therefore, concrete
structural design initially performed ACI Foundation Fellowships
by Japanese engineering firms in Graduate and undergraduate students studying concrete are eligible to
accordance with international codes apply for the ACI Foundation annual fellowships. Fellowship recipients
had to be reviewed by a Russian design receive an educational stipend valued at $7000 to $10,000, in addition
institute to obtain its endorsement of to travel/expenses for participation in two ACI conventions, assignment
design consistency with the Russian of an industry mentor, and the opportunity for a summer internship.
codes. Similarly, for concrete material
testing, the most stringent requirement
among international codes and
ACI Foundation Scholarships
Graduate students studying concrete are eligible to apply for these
Russian codes had to be satisfied.
scholarships annually, valued at $3000 each.
For example, the mixtures had to
meet a test for resistance to cyclic
Obtain all application information and requirements at:
freezing and thawing specified by the
www.scholarships.concrete.org
Russian code—one of the most
stringent in the world.

Freezing-and-
Thawing Test
The Russian cyclic freezing-and-
thawing resistance test is described
To be considered, students must attend school in the U.S. or Canada and send completed applications and
in the GOST 10060 series3 and applies all required documents to ACI by Friday, October 30, 2009.
to both concrete and aggregate.

Concrete international / july 2009 53

Table 3:
Summary of GOST 100603 series test requirements for resistance to freezing-and-thawing cycles
Number of
freezing-and-
Freezing cycles Thawing cycles thawing cycles
Method Temperature, Duration, Temperature, Duration, F200 F300
no. Medium °C (°F) hours Medium °C (°F) hours class class
Method –18 ± 2 18 ± 2
Air 3.5 Water 3 ± 0.5 200 300
One (0 ± 4) (64 ± 4)
Method –18 ± 2 5% NaCl 18 ± 2
Air 3.5 3 ± 0.5 45 75
Two (0 ± 4) solution (64 ± 4)
Method 5% NaCl –50 ± 5 5% NaCl 18 ± 2
2.5 ± 0.5 2.5 ± 0.5 5 8
Three solution (–58 ± 9) solution (64 ± 4)

reduction in compressive strength is not more than 5%
of the compressive strength of specimens that were not
subject to cycles of freezing and thawing. The durability
class is designated as an F-number, such as F200, where
200 corresponds to the number of freezing-and-thawing
cycles passed in the Method One test.
Because the Basic Method usually takes about 6 months
model used to find the best fit between the predicted
temperatures (solid lines in Fig. 3) and the actual
temperatures (dashed lines in Fig. 3) included the
adiabatic temperature rise of the concrete, T, which was
estimated using the following formula:
(
T = Q 1 – e–γ(t – to) )
β

to complete, two rapid methods are specified in GOST

10060.2.5 These rapid tests produce more severe freezing
conditions as summarized in Table 3. For example,
Method Two requires specimens to undergo a freezing
cycle down to −18 °C (0 °F) and then be immersed in a 5%
NaCl solution to thaw. Method Three requires a lower
freezing temperature of −50 °C (−58 °F) while immersed in
the 5% NaCl solution. The number of freezing-and-thawing
cycles in these extreme test conditions can be translated
into an equivalent F-number for the Basic Method, as
shown for F200 and F300 in Table 3. The test period can
be reduced to less than a month for Method Three.
Cold Weather Concreting
From November to April, the concrete was mixed at
the batch plant with 60 °C (140 °F) water. The initial
concrete temperature at the batch plant was kept at least
15 °C (59 °F), and various types of cold weather curing
were adopted, such as heating or insulating the formwork.
Several large generator foundations cast during the
winter were considered to be mass concrete. Sudden
exposure to low ambient temperatures at an early age
would initiate thermal shock and raise the risk of cracking.
Thus, a curing scheme for cold weather was established
through the engineering analysis procedure shown in Fig. 2.
In November, temperatures were monitored on a
2 x 2 x 1.3 m (6.6 x 6.6 x 4.3 ft) trial block of concrete to
obtain parameters that could be used to estimate concrete
temperatures in other placements and under different
ambient temperature conditions. The finite element
where t is the concrete age in days, to is the delay of heat
initiation estimated at 0.25 days, β is a modification factor
estimated at 1.0, γ is a constant for rate of temperature
rise estimated at 1.8, and Q is the ultimate adiabatic
temperature rise estimated at 44 °C (79.2 °F).
Separate compressive strength data for cubes cured in
5 °C (41 °F) water was obtained and expressed as a
function of maturity M obtained from the equation
(SI units)
(in.-lb units)
where θ is the concrete curing temperature in °C (°F) and
Δt is time fraction at temperature θ in days. Maturity
data for concrete specimens cured in 5 and 20 °C (14 and
68 °F) water are compared in Fig. 4. By using a thermal
analysis model, temperature and thermal stresses were
calculated, and the strength was also predicted as a
function of maturity, considering slow hydrating slag
cement at lower temperatures. This analysis was able to
predict whether the curing scheme was sufficient to keep
the concrete temperature above 20 °C (68 °F) for better
early-age strength development. The probability of
cracking was then estimated by a factor called the
cracking index, which is the safety factor for cracking.
The curing scheme was designed to keep the cracking
index at or above 1.8 for this particular case.
After examining different combinations of heating the

54 july 2009 / Concrete international

air around the formwork and insulating the formwork, a
successful curing scheme was established. The concrete
was cast in plywood forms covered with 50 mm (2 in.)
thick polystyrene foam board, and a shelter was
constructed out of polyethylene sheet around the entire
foundation. Jet heaters were set up to warm the air inside
the shelter, as shown in Fig. 5, and were operated to
maintain a temperature inside the shelter of 22 °C (72 °F)
for 3 days. After the first 3 days, the temperature was
decreased in a controlled manner to 12 °C (54 °F) over a
period of 2 days by reducing the number of heaters.
After the termination of heating, the insulated formwork
was left in place until the foundation reached an age
Fig. 2: Flowchart for developing a cold weather curing scheme
Fig. 3: Temperature history for a 2 x 2 x 1.3 m (6.6 x 6.6 x 4.3 ft)
trial concrete block (°F = °C × 9/5 + 32)
of 3 to 4 weeks. Using this curing procedure, no harmful
cracking was observed.
Working internationally
Apart from the technical issues described in this
article, we had to manage associated administrative
matters in Russia. For example, the concrete mixture
proportions were basically owned by the local registered
laboratory. The mixture proportions for concrete with a
designated strength and frost resistance class and the
relevant material test data could not be disclosed without
the permission of the laboratory, even though it was
available at the batch plant. Contractors had to contract
with the laboratory to “purchase the mixture.” In addition,
the laboratory was not just a testing laboratory but also
Fig. 4: Strength as a function of maturity for concrete samples
cured at different temperatures (1 MPa = 145 psi; 1 °C-day =
0.56 °F-day)
Fig. 5: To prevent thermal shock, the mat foundation was cured
by insulating the formwork, covering the formwork with
polyethylene sheet, and heating the air under the polyethylene
cover
Concrete international / july 2009 55
the authorization agent that would, for example, certify
conformance of the concrete to the required durability
class. Sometimes this required the authorization agent’s
interpretation or judgment on portions of the criteria in
the Russian codes that were unclear to us. Therefore, for
special tests such as the GOST 10060 series freezing-and-
thawing tests that required long testing periods, it
sometimes required long, persistent discussion before we
obtained the laboratory’s authorized certification.
Another issue was the language barrier. All of the
technical documents, such as drawings and specifications,
had to be written in both English and Russian. The
communication became further complicated because
we had to translate them once more in our head into
Japanese, which lead to frequent misunderstandings.
In the 5 years we have been working on the project,
we have learned plenty of precious lessons and become
accustomed to Russian codes and their methods. We
hope that we have now become qualified to cast concrete
in Russia.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Royal Dutch Shell for overall assistance on the
project and Nittetsu Cement Company, Ltd.; Kajima Corporation;
and Toa Corporation for providing data on cement, concrete
production, and construction.
References
1. BS EN 197-1:2000, “Cement. Composition, Specifications and
Conformity Criteria for Common Cements,” British Standards
Institute, London, Sept. 2000, 52 pp.
2. SNIP 2.03.01-84, “Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Structures,”
Stroitelnye Normy i Pravila (SNIP), USSR State Committee for
Construction Matters, Moscow, 1984.
3. GOST 10060.0-95, “Methods for the Determination of Frost-
Resistance. General Requirements,” Gosudarstvenii Standart
(GOST), Intergovernmental Scientific and Engineering Commission
on Standardization and Quantity Surveying in Construction
(MNTKS), Moscow, 1995.
4. GOST 10060.1-95, “Concretes, Basic Method for the
Determination of Frost-Resistance,” Gosudarstvenii Standart
(GOST), Intergovernmental Scientific and Engineering Commission
on Standardization and Quantity Surveying in Construction
(MNTKS), Moscow, 1995.
5. GOST 10060.2-95, “Concretes, Rapid Method for the
Determination of Frost-Resistance by Repeated Alternated Freezing
and Thawing,” Gosudarstvenii Standart (GOST), Intergovernmental
Scientific and Engineering Commission on Standardization and
Quantity Surveying in Construction (MNTKS), Moscow, 1995.
Note: Additional information on the ASTM Standards discussed in
this article can be found at www.astm.org.
Selected for reader interest by the editors.
56 july 2009 / Concrete international
ACI member Keisuke Matsukawa is a Civil
Engineering Consultant at Chiyoda
Corporation in Yokohama, Japan, and a
Visiting Professor at the Tokyo Institute of
Technology. He received his BS from the
University of Tokyo and MS and PhD from
Purdue University. His research interests
include durability design of concrete
materials and structures in industrial facilities.
Takashi Matsuno is a Civil Senior Engineer
at Chiyoda Corporation. He received his
bachelor’s degree from the Waseda
University, Japan. His research interests
include civil and structural engineering in
industrial facilities.
Satoru Yoshimoto is a Civil Engineer with
Chiyoda Corporation. He received his
bachelor’s degree from the Nihon University,
Japan. His research interests include civil
and structural engineering in industrial
facilities.
Masatoshi Kagaya is a Senior Engineer in
the Civil and Architectural Engineering
Division of Toyo Engineering Corporation
(TEC) in Japan. He has worked for TEC for
30 years on various projects including
fertilizer plants, petrochemical plants, gas
processing plants, oil production facilities,
LNG plants, utility plants, and power
generation plants. He received a B.Tech.
degree in civil engineering from the Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Takashi Ueno is a Technical Team Manager
in the Civil and Architectural Engineering
Division of TEC. He has worked for TEC for
29 years on petroleum, petrochemical, gas,
and power plants and has performed
design, analysis, and troubleshooting for
structural engineering. He received M. and
B.Tech degrees in civil engineering from
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.