No. 33.

09 - August 2009 Ready Mix Concrete Project

Sika at Work

67 Meter Slip Forming Chimney

Greenfield Wastewater Treatment and Water
Recycling Facility, Doha North, Qatar
Slip Forming Chimney
by J.P. du Plessis, Sika Gulf B.S.C.

Description of the Project

Keppel Seghers Corporation was awarded a design-build-operate con-
tract for the construction of the $1.5 billion Doha North waster water
treatment plant. HBK construction was appointed main contractor.

The Doha North facility is expected to be operational in 2010.

It has a design capacity of 439,000 m3 per day and will represent the
largest waste water treatment/water recycling facility in the Middle
East region.
The plant will serve the requirements of over 900,000 people when
fully operational and the treated water will be utilized for soil irrigation.

Sikament ®-600N combined with Plastiment VZ-D was

chosen to give the necessary concrete properties required for the slip
forming rate of 130 mm/hour at an ambient temperature of 45C.

This is the slip formed chimney at 30 m: 5 Sludge Tanks under construction

Slipformed Concrete
In the slipforming method, the formwork is moved continuously in sync Workability
with the concreting process in a 24-hour operation. The formwork, The best workability has proven to be a stiff plastic concrete having a
including the working platform and the hanging scaffold mounted low water content.
internally or on both sides, is fixed to the jacking rods in the centre of the
wall. The hydraulic lifting jack raises the formwork by 10 to 30 cm per Note in particular that
hour depending on the temperature. The jacking rods are located in pipe – a wall thickness of less than 14 cm can be a problem (plucking,
sleeves at the top and are supported by the concrete that has already anchorage of jacking rods etc.).
hardened. The rods and sleeves are also raised continuously. These – the newly struck surfaces should be protected as much as possible
works are carried out almost entirely by specialist contractors. from wind, sunlight etc.
Slipforming is quick and efficient. The method is particularly suitable for
simple, consistent ground plans and high structures such as:
 High bay warehouses, silos
 Tower and chimney structures Sika Solutions
 Shaft structures For the construction of the tanks and processing plant the project re-
Because the height of the formwork is usually only around 1.20 m and quired 300,000 m3 of high performance concrete containing Sika®
the hourly production rate is 10 to 30 cm, the concrete underneath is ViscoCrete®-3110.
4–6 hours old and must be stiff enough to bear its own weight (green Mix Design:
strength). However, it must not have set enough for some of it to stick to OPC 380 kg
the rising formwork (“plucking”). The main requirement for slipforming 20 mm Gabbro 700 kg
without problems is the ability to place the concrete uniformly as quickly 10 mm Gabbro 425 kg
as possible, to ensure that each layer gains "zero slump" within a given Washed Sand 780 kg
timescale. Therefore careful planning, appropriate mix design and well Free Water 120 lts
controlled production of a consistent concrete (slump/flow and water/ Sika® ViscoCrete®-3110 3-5 lts
cement ratio) are essential.
2,000 m3 of slip form concrete was produced using containing
Composition Sikament®-600N and Plastiment VZ-D.
Aggregate Mix Design:
– 0–32 mm, or 0–16 mm for close reinforcement OPC 380 kg
– Although slipformed concrete is placed by crane and skip the 20 mm Gabbro 765 kg
fines content should be increased slightly to enhance the 10 mm Gabbro 318 kg
Sika® ViscoCrete ® -3110 was selected to produce the high surface characteristics. Washed Sand 788 kg
performance concrete necessary for the construction of the main Cement Free Water 65 lts
processing plant and sludge waste tanks. – min. 300 kg/m³ Ice 100 kg
Sika was the preferred construction chemical supplier, delivering joint – CEM I 42.5 for close reinforcement and large dimensions, Sikament®-600N 4.5 lts
sealants and epoxy/cementitious grouts to the project. CEM I 52.5 for smaller dimensions (towers, chimneys) VZ-D Retarder 0.5 lts

Completed Chimney
 Picture taken of chimney inside construction

Typical starting up slip forming construction Processing Plant

Project Participants
Client Concrete Producer
Public Works Authority of Qatar HBK Ready mix

Main Contractor Sika KPM

Keppel Seghers Corporation Sika Gulf B.S.C., Bahrain

Main Consultant
KEO International Consultant
© Sika Gulf BSC / BU Concrete / 33.09 - August 2009 / CMS gho

Sika Gulf B.S.C.

Building 925 - Road 115
Sitra Area 601, P.O.Box 15776
BH-Adliya
BAHRAIN
Tel: +973 1773 5560
Fax: +973 1773 2476
www.sika.com.bh