A Review of the Application of Concrete to Offshore Structures

Abstract

This paper presents a review of the application of concrete that has been used in offshore structures over the last 35 years. The state-of-the-art technology available for offshore oil platforms and other offshore applications is also described. Currently, there are around 350 offshore gravity and floating concrete platforms in operation in the North Sea, Northern Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Congo, Nigeria, Indonesia, Russia, the Philippines, Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico. More recently, an important LNG offshore terminal has been designed and is now under construction in Algeciras, near the Gibraltar Strait in Spain. Over the past 30 years there has been a considerable improvement in the design and construction aspects of concrete production. Water-reducing admixtures and additions, such as metakaolin and silica, allowed the development of concretes with improved performance. These new concretes can easily achieve much higher strengths and durability which make them much more suitable for offshore applications. The liberal use of lightweight aggregates is considered crucial for a total weight reduction of the structure and for floating considerations. The evolving technology for the design and construction of this type of structures is discussed in the paper.