Tougher Concrete Structures To Service and Protect Oil and Gas Operations

摘要

Large on-shore and off-shore facilities for production, loadingrnand unloading, and storage of petroleum products are beingrnconstructed with the use of reinforced concrete. Recentrnexamples include the monumental platforms associated withrnthe Sakhalin II development, and the development of newrnLNG facilities driven by the world demand for transportationrnof large quantities of natural gas over large distances. Thernpolitical climate of the 21st century dictates a much higherrnattention level to questions of safety and security of thesernfacilities. Terrorist threat requires not only a heightenedrnsurveillance and threat-response readiness, but also thernincorporation of design features making such threats lessrnlikely to succeed. These design features include bothrnstructural and material level considerations. The authorsrndiscuss some of the currently available approaches to makingrnconcrete structures tougher to terrorist attacks while alsornmaking them more serviceable and longer lasting. Experiencernfrom research and field studies on fiber reinforced concrete,rnon slurry infiltrated mat concrete, and on Kevlar wrapping ofrncritical concrete structure elements in high seismicity areas arernsome of the discussed topics. Suggestions are made how thesernexamples could lead to toughening of oil and gas concreternfacilities or of concrete protective barriers.