DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION ASPECTS OF POST-TENSIONED

LNG STORAGE TANKS IN EUROPE AND AUSTRALASIA

Hudson Lun 1
Frank Filippone 2
Diana Cobos Roger 3
Marcel Poser 4

INTRODUCTION

The growing world-wide use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has seen the development of significant LNG
storage tank facilities for LNG exporters and importers. These massive storage tanks are essential for
receiving and safe storage of the liquid gas. The storage temperature of LNG is –162°C and is described as
cryogenic conditions. The liquid occupies 600 times less space than natural gas in its gaseous state, making
it practical to ship by ocean tanker. And it's stable and safe, because even though compressed in volume,
the liquid remains at normal atmospheric pressure. On land, LNG is stored in specially engineered and
constructed double-walled storage tanks. At these temperatures, the requirements for the containment
structures are very stringent and post-tensioned concrete tanks are ideally suited to the task. The large
concrete tank structures are extremely robust with significant amounts of prestressing required – all being
designed and installed under tightly controlled quality conditions with hardware requiring special
certifications. The design and construction techniques have been specially formulated for LNG tank
construction and this paper will outline typical details as employed on various projects around the world.

BACKGROUND

LNG or Liquefied Natural Gas is natural gas that sited in close proximity to port facilities ready for
has been super cooled to a temperature around transport, and the liquefied natural gas may be
–162°C, whereby it condenses into a liquid form. stored in liquid form in preparation for shipping.
The process is not a new one, having been
proven in 1917 and first used in the United States LNG is stored at atmospheric pressure in double-
over 60 years ago. walled tanks: the space between the tanks being
filled with insulation. The outer walls of the tank
The main benefit of the cooling is that the LNG is are most commonly constructed from post-
reduced to around 1/600th of its volume as gas. It tensioned concrete.
also weighs only about 45% as much as an
equivalent amount of water. This has obvious Over the past few decades, world consumption of
benefits in terms of transportation from natural LNG has increased more than five-fold and it is
gas rich areas. LNG is a non-toxic, non-corrosive, predicted that this growth will continue to be very
colourless and odourless fuel. strong. The growing demand from large markets
such as China and India combined with the
Once the gas has passed through the LNG increasing popularity in a large number of other
processing and distribution network, it can be smaller markets has resulted in the development
used in conjunction with, or in place of, domestic of many new LNG facilities throughout the world.
natural gas as its properties are very similar. There are significant natural gas reserves globally
and exploration companies are rapidly developing
The natural gas that is processed into LNG is facilities for exporting the natural gas with
explored for, and produced, in an identical way to corresponding receiving facilities being planned
natural gas. It is typically discovered in and built in emerging markets. With a timeframe
conjunction with oil exploration operations. Once of some 5-10 years required for planning and
extracted, the natural gas can be transported to a construction, there is currently much activity
liquefaction plant where it is super cooled to underway in the LNG supply chain in preparation
–162°C using refrigerants. LNG tanks are usually for current and predicted demands.
_____________________________________________________________________________
1
General Manager, Structural Systems (Western) Pty Ltd, Australia
2
Group Principal Engineer, Structural Systems Ltd, Australia
3
Project Manager, BBR Pretensados y Técnicas Especiales, S.L, Spain
4
Managing Director, BBR VT International, Switzerland
 DESIGN CONFIGURATION
Tests according to these guidelines were
Tank dimensions are typically in the order of completed for the BBR technology in Perth in
80-90m in diameter and 50m in height with a wall 2005.
thickness in the order of 750mm (refer Figure 1).
The post-tensioning tendons are very large and Subsequent to this, a new guideline has been
can run in both the vertical and horizontal published to cover prestressing in cryogenic
directions. Vertical tendons can either be single applications - ETAG 013. According to this
directional tendons from the top of the tank document, testing is to be conducted as follows:
terminating in a recess at the bottom or “U”
tendons starting at the top coming vertically down • Tendon stressed to 80% of the characteristic
through the tank curving around through 180 tensile strength
degrees and returning to the top. • Decrease temperature to specified cryogenic
temperature of –196°C
• Test tendon in 10 load cycles between
characteristic yield force and 80% level
• Finally, load tendon to failure

The testing and quality control of prestressing

materials used in cryogenic applications is critical
for the successful performance of the containment
systems.

The BBR CONA post-tensioning system is in full

compliance with the fip and ETAG testing regime
under cryogenic conditions (-196 ºC).
Figure 1 - Typical LNG tank cross-section

Horizontal tendons typically start at a buttress and PROJECT EXAMPLES

travel half way around the tank terminating at the
opposite buttress. Another tendon commences DARWIN (AUSTRALIA) LNG TANK
from the same buttress and travels back through
the remaining half of the tank terminating at the Background
original buttress - hence creating a complete
“hoop” from the two tendons. For efficient use of The LNG processing plant at Darwin receives gas
post-tensioning, adjacent tendons are anchored at via an undersea pipeline from the Bayu-Undan
the alternate buttresses 90 degrees from the gas field in the Timor Sea, some 500km north
above noted buttress. west of Darwin (refer to Figure 2 for an artist
impression of the plant). The liquid is then
LNG tanks are typically constructed in a pumped to the storage tank at a temperature of
design-build fashion and the principal contractor is –162°C prior to shipment to customers in Japan.
responsible for determining the specific design
requirements for the prestressed concrete. The
post-tensioning specialist will examine the
required force profile and detail the spacing and
tendon size of the post-tensioning.

DESIGN REGULATIONS

There is no official standard for the design of

these tanks and the first guidelines published
were based on the pioneering work in cryogenic
applications. According to fip SR 88/2, testing is
required to be carried out on;
Figure 2 – Darwin LNG tank
• Prestressing steel (at room temperature and
at cryogenic temperature) Japan consumes more than half of the world's
• Tendon anchorage assembly (at room LNG production. The Darwin LNG Plant is
temperature and cryogenic temperature) expected to supply gas to Japan over a 17 year
• Load transfer (at cryogenic temperature) period. Construction of the $1.5 billion Darwin
LNG plant began in June 2003 and was The 37m long vertical tendons were prefabricated
completed by January 2006 (refer Figure 3). at ground level and then lowered through the top
anchorage by crane as a complete tendon.
Prefabrication of the tendons and site installation
of the vertical tendons is illustrated in Figure 5.

Figure 3 – Darwin LNG tank near completion

The LNG storage tank has 550mm thick post-

tensioned concrete walls on the exterior. An inner Figure 4 – Bottom anchorage recess for vertical
tank is made of a special steel/nickel alloy to tendons
accommodate cold LNG.

Thiess and LNG Tank specialist TKK were

responsible for the design and construction of the
188,000m3 LNG storage tank - one of the largest
above-ground tanks in the world at the time.

Some 47m high and approximately 94m in

diameter, the LNG tank comprises an outer
concrete wall and nickel alloy steel lining. Thiess
is responsible for site construction, design of the
secondary concrete containment tank and design
management.

Specialist post-tensioning contractor Structural

Systems was engaged to install, stress and grout
approximately 570T of post-tensioning tendons.
The stressing system is a combination of 172
vertical tendons comprising 19 No. 15.2mm EHT
strands and 114 horizontal tendons comprising
19-22 No. 15.7mm Euronorm strands.

The vertical tendons are stressed to

approximately 4,000kN with an ultimate capacity
in the order of 5,000kN. The horizontal tendons
are stressed to as much as 5,000kN with an
ultimate capacity of over 6,000kN.

The horizontal tendons are anchored at four Figure 5 – Installation of prefabricated vertical
equally spaced buttresses (local wall thickenings). tendons
Each tendon is approximately 150m in length and
spans half the circumference of the tank. Access to the horizontal tendons was via mast
climbing work platforms measuring 10m long.
The vertical tendons were anchored at the top and The work platforms could be shaped to suit the
bottom of the wall. Access to the bottom geometry of the workface and allow access to any
anchorage was via inverted concrete culverts level. A typical mast climbing platform is shown in
measuring 750mm wide x 600mm high installed Figure 6.
below the base slab (refer Figure 4).
 The horizontal tendons were installed one strand
at a time using specially designed high capacity
strand pushers. The strand pushers are
electronically controlled and can be set to
automatically stop at any desired distance.
Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the strand pusher
equipment and pushing operation.

The post-tensioning configuration involves some

large tendons which require high capacity jacking
equipment. The 6,000kN capacity stressing jacks,
weighing about 2.5 tonne, were supported by a
winch mounted on steel framework that
cantilevered over the top of the tank wall (refer
Figure 9). The winch system was mounted on a
rail so that the jack could easily slide over the
protruding strands. The winches are controlled at
the work platform level to provide the operators
with complete control.

Figure 6 – Access platform at pilaster

Figure 9 – Schematic showing handling of 2.5

tonne stressing jack.

Grouting of the tendons for these tanks is a critical

operation. To ensure that there are no voids
Figure 7 – High capacity strand pusher around the tendons, a vacuum pump grouting
process is used.

5th & 6th LNG TANKS

BARCELONA (SPAIN)

The construction of the 5th and the 6th LNG tanks

in Barcelona (Spain) started in 2003 for the
project owner Repsol YPF / ENAGAS. The two
tanks have an inner diameter of approximately
80m and an inner height of 37m (49.5m total
overall height of the structure). The outer
containment walls are 800 mm thick, post-
tensioned vertically and horizontally with the
cryogenically proven and tested BBR CONA
Figure 8 – Strand pusher operating on the access post-tensioning system (refer to Figure 10).
platform
 ADRIATIC LNG TERMINAL
SPAIN / ITALY

The Adriatic LNG Terminal is being constructed in

a large dry-dock facility in Algeciras in the south of
Spain. This same dry dock has been previously
used to build a similarly large concrete structure
for the Monaco Floating Dock in 2002. The
Adriatic terminal is a rectangular structure, 180 m
long, 88m wide and 47m high, with the capability
to hold two 125,000m³ LNG tanks. It is a gravitiy-
based structure, which will be tugboated to its final
destination 17 km off the coast of Italy, where it
will be used for receiving, storage and
regasification of LNG (refer Figure 11).
Figure 10 – 5th LNG Tank in Barcelona
Approximately 90,000m³ of concrete, 30,000
An approximate total of 600 tons of prestressing tonnes of rebar and post-tensioning steel and
steel is required in each tank. There are 140 No. 350,000 tonnes of solid ballast are being used for
horizontal tendons each containing 15 No. the construction of the terminal. BBR PTE is
15.2mm strands. The 140 No. vertical tendons developing the post-tensioning works in
are of a loop configuration containing 19 No. association with two other companies. This project
15.2mm strands. In addition, there are 12 includes both horizontal and vertical post-
horizontal tendons in the external ring of the tensioning utilising tendon configurations of 12
foundation slab each with 24 No. 15.2mm strands. and 19 No. 15.2 mm strands.
To ensure corrosion protection of the tendons,
grouting has been carried out using a specially Instead of the usual corrugated flexible metal
developed vacuum grouting technique with ducts, rigid steel pipes with a wall thickness of
special high-turbulence mixers. 2mm are being used to guarantee maximum
durability. The pipes are factory formed to the
All post-tensioning work on these tanks is being required curvature to adapt them to the tendon
conducted by BBR Network member, BBR PTE geometry. The joints between the pipes are
(Spain). The 5th tank was finished in 2004 and the dovetailed and sealed with thermal retraction
post-tensioning works on the 6th tank will be couplings.
completed in the fall of 2006.
The terminal will be put into service in April 2008.
Another 150,000m³ LNG tank is currently under
construction in Cartagena (Spain) with an outside
diameter of 81m and an inner height of 40m. The SOUTHHOOK LNG TERMINAL
containment walls are 800 mm thick, post- WALES, UK
tensioned vertically and horizontally. As with the
5th and 6th Barcelona tanks, the work is being This large facility commenced construction in mid
undertaken with the BBR CONA post-tensioning 2005 by UK contractor Taylor Woodrow for project
system by the Spanish BBR Network Member, manager and specialist facility designer Chicago
BBR PTE. The construction is expected to be Bridge and Iron (CB&I). This project includes 5
completed by the end of 2006. No. 94m diameter x 31.2m wall height tanks (refer
to Figure 12). The outer containment walls are
700mm thick, post-tensioned vertically and
horizontally. This work follows on from the
successful completion of the 5th LNG tank in
Barcelona. In the UK, BBR Network Member
Structural Systems (UK) was appointed post-
tensioning subcontractor to this significant project.

The contract scope included the detailed design

and specific detailing of all post-tensioning to
cover the prestress force profile determined by
CB&I’s structural design engineers.

Figure 11 – Adriatic LNG Terminal

Working closely with the designers, Structural NEW ZEALAND PROSPECTS
Systems adopted and detailed the BBR CONA
tendons (19 No. 15.2mm configuration The case has been investigated for New Zealand
horizontally and 12 No. 15.2mm strand vertically) to import LNG as an alternative fuel source to the
to closely follow the required long term post- diminishing natural gas supplies locally available.
tensioning force profile in the wall. There are various studies underway to investigate
the feasibility and cost of constructing an LNG
storage facility and a decision will have to be
made in the near future to ensure that predicted
energy demands in the next 5-10 years can be
satisfied. Several suitable sites have been
identified and preliminary planning is underway.
The future energy requirements and power
generation sources for New Zealand continues to
be a very political subject but there is no question
that the local infrastructure, resources,
international associations and capability to build
such a facility are readily accessible once the
decision is made to proceed.

Figure 12 – Aerial view of the South Hook LNG

tank terminal. CONCLUSION

The post-tensioning design was carried out by LNG storage tanks are ideally suited to
Structural Systems in Melbourne and BBR CONA construction methods employing slip formed or
type tendons and anchorages were used. These climbing insitu concrete construction combined
anchorages were tested for compliance with fip with post-tensioning. The specific design and
recommendations for use in cryogenic conditions. installation techniques are very specialised and
require the use of specially certified and tested
This project included ‘U’ type vertical tendons and materials and highly experienced contractors.
wall construction was achieved by continuous slip
forming. A large database of information has been
developed during the construction of these
massive concrete structures and many innovative
RUWAIS LPG (Propane & Butane) TANKS. techniques have streamlined the activities
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES associated with the supply and installation of
post-tensioning materials and other construction
The nature and form of construction of these large related engineering. The nature of the typical
concrete tanks can readily be adapted to storage design/build project delivery method has seen the
of other materials. Another significant storage formation of some strong design and construction
facility designed and constructed by CB&I has relationships and this has seen the rapid
recently commenced near Abu Dubai, in the UAE. development and optimisation of design and
installation techniques.
In this project, 4 No. 62.8m diameter x 34m wall
height tanks with domed concrete roofs are With the expected growth in demand of LNG
required for storage of propane and butane. storage facilities throughout the world and the
rapid pace with which these facilities will need to
These tanks generally have 500mm thick walls be constructed, the specialised teams, equipment,
with a lower taper to 800mm thick at the base and materials and innovations developed to date are
are horizontally post tensioned only since the sure to add value to future customers.
concrete wall here is static formed outside an
inner steel liner.
ACKNOWLEDEMENTS
Working again in partnership with C B & I,
Structural Systems Ltd is the specialist post- The authors would like to acknowledge the
tensioning subcontractor and has provided the contributions from numerous members of the
design and detailing input in addition to the supply international BBR Network who contributed
and installation site services. material for inclusion in this paper.