Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION,
FORMWORK AND COATINGS

DGS-CU-010
Rev-4 June 2013

Alternate equal products shall be subject to COMPANY approval

Internal concrete faces of all underground pits and basins continuously exposed to
hydrocarbons, processing products, processing chemicals or effluents and liquid retaining
structures shall receive special coating or clad protection to resist the type of exposure
defined in Process Engineering documents.
Implementation of such special coating/clad systems shall be subject to approval of
properly documented Material Approval Requests (MARs) including supporting evidence
of suitability and durability for the intended purpose.
19.2

ABOVEGROUND PROTECTIVE COATING

All above grade concrete members shall have a three coat system comprising the
following:
a.

Primer - The first coat shall be a penetrating silane siloxane hydrophobic primer
applied as a flood coat at a rate of 0.4 liters per m2. The silane siloxane primer shall
have no less than 10% solids content.

b.

Intermediate Coat - The second coat shall be an acrylic polymer coating system
applied to a D.F.T. of 200 microns.

c.

Finish Coat - A third coat of acrylic polymer coating system shall be applied to a
D.F.T. of 200 microns.

The total D.F.T. of the coating system (all layers) shall be a minimum of 400 microns.
The acrylic polymer shall have the following minimum properties:
Solids Content

70%

Reduction In Chloride Ion Penetration

97%

Moisture Vapor Transmission

45g/m2/24 hour

Chloride Ion Diffusivity

3.63 x 10-10 cm2/s

Tear Resistance

12 N/mm

The coating system shall be capable of accommodating a 0.6 mm non-cyclic crack after
the coating is installed and cured.
20.0

TESTING
All testing of the materials used in the concrete mixes as well as the testing of fresh and
hardened concrete will be performed by the Testing Laboratory.
For the requirements of the testing laboratory and the type and frequency of testing refer
to COMPANY Specification DGS-CU-016, Testing Laboratory.

21.0

MONITORING AND FUTURE PROVISION FOR CATHODIC PROTECTION FOR STEEL

IN CONCRETE
The current section and next subsections are applicable to reinforced concrete
foundations and structures except the following categories which need satisfy the
applicable protection provisions of previous sections or as specifically indicated next:

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Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION,
FORMWORK AND COATINGS

DGS-CU-010
Rev-4 June 2013

a. Plant and non-process buildings

b. Marine concrete structures (shall have a dedicated lifelong CP system as defined
elsewhere in the project scope)
c. Onshore piling (no specific protection)
d. Unreinforced or mass plain concrete foundations
e. Concrete earth retaining walls, tank bund walls and heat shield walls
f. Offsite/interconnecting pipe sleeper-ways and offsite piperack foundations with overall
height not exceeding 6.0m to top tier and overall widths not exceeding 4.0m on column
centres
g. Minor and miscellaneous foundations and/or plinths of secondary structures or
steelwork such as:
- ladders, crossovers and, valve and site instrument access/maintenance platforms
- street lights and flood light posts
- cable trenches, duct banks and road culverts
- drainage network catch-basins, manholes, sewage lift stations and sceptic tanks
- firewater network valve pits, monitors and water hydrants plinths
- drain vessels dry pits
- chain-link fencing
- isolated pipe supports not exceeding 2.0m height and site instrument supports
- paving including paving supported minor foundations or thickening
21.1

DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of the next sub-sections the following definitions shall apply:
a. Critical Structures or Foundations are defined as those structures or foundations
whose failure may or could cause a plant shutdown. Those are equipment structures
or foundations which if impaired by corrosion would require a complete or partial plant
shutdown to allow their replacement or repair
The following criteria shall be used to identify Critical Structures and Critical Foundations:
Type

Description

Criteria

Critical
Structures

- Concrete or hybrid (concrete bottom) - Any concrete column xsection minor dimension
/(steel
top)
process
equipment
supporting
structures
and
their
600mm
foundations
- Compressor
tabletops
and
their - Do
foundations

Critical
Foundations

- Foundations for: horizontal vessels, - Foundation least overall

stacks, flares, reactors, columns,
plan dimension
3.0m
compressor blocks, boilers, furnaces,
and all firewater pump
heat exchangers, fired heaters, pumps
foundations
etc
- Internal clear length
- Large liquid retaining basins
10.0m

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Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION,
FORMWORK AND COATINGS

DGS-CU-010
Rev-4 June 2013

b. Non-Critical Structures or Foundations All other structures or foundations not listed

under 21.1.a.
21.2

GENERAL
The following provisions shall be read in conjunction with STD-CU-00217, Cathodic
Protection Details.
Steel in concrete will not initially be cathodically protected. However, to prevent stray
current corrosion and to provide negative connection points for connection of future CP
systems, all reinforcing steel embedded in concrete above and below ground will be made
electrically continuous during construction.
For Non-Critical Structures or Foundations of equipment, process pipe rack footings,
process pipe sleepers, electric motor plinths, etc. continuity will be achieved by means of
intimate metal to metal contact and by wire ties.
For Critical Structures or Foundations individual reinforcing bars shall be bonded by
means of mechanical connectors of the C ring tie type (or approved equivalent) and
galvanised steel wire rope to create a common current collecting circuit.
In all cases continuity between individual reinforcing bars shall be checked before and
after concrete pouring and the results recorded. Where tests show that continuity has not
been established steps will be taken to rectify the omission. Following concrete pouring
any discontinuity discovered will be reported to COMPANY.
Each structure, structure foundation or equipment foundation (Critical or Non-Critical)
made electrically continuous will have an external cable connection point (Details-1 of
STD-CU-00217). At this point a negative cable may be connected in the future to make
the structure or foundation continuous with the plant CP systems if the need arises.
Connections to structures will be provided during construction at the rate of one
connection point for small structures. For larger structures, and for above ground items
which may require dedicated cathodic protection in the form of embedded anodes at some
future date, negative cable connection bosses will be provided on the basis of surface
area with one connection point being provided for each 64m2 of concrete surface.
All earthing systems in the vicinity of cathodically protected structures will also be made
electrically continuous with the CP system to prevent stray current corrosion of grounding
rods and networks. Anchor bolts will also be made electrically continuous with the CP
system by connecting them to the earthing network locally.
All items which are intended to be electrically continuous with the CP system and which
will collect CP current shall have their continuity with the system checked and where
required rectified.
If at the time of commissioning it becomes necessary to mitigate stray current corrosion on
parts of buried concrete foundations or other structures in close proximity to current
dissipation sources then a bond cable may be connected through a central cable bonding
system to the negative terminal of the transformer rectifier. This strategy will prevent
interaction between the CP systems and reinforcing steel and provide one common
current collecting circuit.
Allowances for current losses to reinforcing steel when bonded to the cathodic protection
system will be made in the detailed design.

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Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company

CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION,
FORMWORK AND COATINGS
21.3

DGS-CU-010
Rev-4 June 2013

POTENTIAL MONITORING (BURIED CONCRETE)

All steel reinforcement in concrete below ground shall be electrically continuous so that it
may form part of future plant integrated Cathodic Protection system. To allow monitoring
of potential shift within a sample of buried foundations, 20% of Critical Foundations (one
minimum as applicable) and 20% of tank ring beams (one minimum as applicable) shall
have electrodes of the silver / silver chloride type (Silver/Silver Electrode Detail and Detail
3 of STD-CU-00217) installed so that potential shift and rates of cathodic depolarisation
may be monitored. Electrodes shall be located in an evenly distributed sample of Critical
Foundations and tank ring beams, such that a faithful representation of potential shifts
may be monitored.
Potential change shall be monitored locally using portable equipment. Electrode cable
tails and cable connections to embedded steel shall be brought to a junction box mounted
on the structure to facilitate monitoring (Detail-3 of STD-CU-00217). The electrodes used,
shall be specifically designed by a specialist company for use in concrete. Remote
monitoring of electrodes is not required.

21.4

LONG TERM CORROSION MONITORING (ABOVE

GROUND CONCRETE)

To provide long term indication of corrosion progress the means of monitoring chloride
migration through above ground concrete shall be installed. This type of monitoring will
provide an early indication of potential corrosion problems. Monitoring of the corrosion
front will be achieved by the installation (at the time of construction) of corrosion rate
probes (macrocell probes and linear polarisation resistance probes, Details-2 and 3 of
STD-CU-00217)) within Critical Structures.
Critical Structures are as defined in 21.1 above. All Critical Structures shall have
reinforcement bonded by means of mechanical connectors as described in Section 21.1.
All probes and cells shall be installed during construction and shall be in place before
concrete is poured.
Corrosion rate probes will have the provision for monitoring by hand held data collection
units including facilities for data down-loading and transfer.
This equipment shall be manufactured by a specialist company and will be subject to
approval by the COMPANY.

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