Challenges Associated with Arctic Construction

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Construction of the Operations Center facilities at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope required improved technologies and methodologies to deal with the challenges of construction in remote, cold climate areas. The objective was to provide housing and work facilities for the personnel operating the oil fields. The design dealt primarily with temperature, wind, and snow. In addition, considerations for maintaining the thermal regime of the permafrost and isolating heat transfer between the buildings and the permafrost were major considerations. Economics of construction and time required for construction were driving factors in the approach to the project. At the time of construction, the cost of labor and materials on the North Slope was many times the cost in the Lower 48 states. The North Slope construction season was limited to about four months per year. These factors dictated constructing the facilities in the Lower 48 states and shipping the completed buildings (weighing 700-1200 tons) to the North Slope by barge.

This presented a unique combination of the following conditions:

i. designing buildings for the environment at the construction site,
ii. moving the constructed buildings to the barge,
iii. subjecting the buildings to the environment on the barge at sea, and
iv. transporting them across the permafrost to their final resting place.

The design envelope had to include all of the above conditions. The design temperature range (-40°F to 80°F) required advances in building envelope design and construction, and supporting the buildings on permafrost required innovations in pile construction. Steel piles frozen into the permafrost support the buildings. The soffits of the buildings are approximately 7 feet above the tundra to allow blowing snow to pass under the buildings without forming snow drifts. The pile caps are reinforced concrete to reduce thermal conductance by breaking the continuity of steel piles from the permafrost through the ambient arctic air to top of the pile inside the heated building envelope (70°F plus or minus).

Product Details

Published:

2012

Number of Pages:

8

File Size:

1 file , 1.4 MB

Product Code(s):

D-CCC12-36

Note:

This product is unavailable in Russia, Belarus