Dry Dock No 1 – Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Cianbro
Maine, United States
2019-2020

SIMCO was tasked by Cianbro’s to develop different concrete mixtures to achieve a design life of 75 years for the construction of a Superflood Basin Project in Dry Dock no 1 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard located in Kittery, Maine, United States.

Enabling Long-Term Resilience of Strategic Naval Infrastructure

SIMCO elaborated the marine concrete mixtures to meet the project’s specifications pertaining to durability and, material quality requirements as well as for the specific construction methods to be used to build the different concrete elements constituting the Super Flood Basin. SIMCO provided technical support to Cianbro from the early-stage evaluation of concrete mixtures, including selection of raw materials, through their optimization and quality control during construction.

The long-term performance of concrete mixtures was evaluated using STADIUM®, SIMCO’s proprietary service-life prediction tool recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense and specified in the UFGS for marine infrastructure. The analysis accounted for a variety of parameters such as the concrete composition, the concrete cover thickness, geometry of the structure or structural element, type of rebar and environmental conditions.

SIMCO’s scope of work:

• Define the site-specific exposure condition of each element
• Preliminary service life calculations to determine the required concrete characteristics based on theoretical calculations
• Analysis of binders, admixtures and aggregates
• Theorical temperature control plan for mass-concrete elements
• Laboratory production and characterization of the concrete mixtures for each element
• Service life calculations to evaluate the durability of each mixture based on time to initiate corrosion and chemical degradation of concrete calculations
• Concrete pre-production testing and validation
• Design recommendations & optimizations (reinforcement, cover, delivery, placement & curing)
• Durability compliance report
• Technical support during on-going construction

SIMCO enabled risk-reduced delivery of the long-life naval infrastructure with quantified service-life verification and enforceable quality control, supporting decisions on materials, cover, reinforcement, and construction practices.

For more details about the project:

Cianbro Achieves Milestone for Superflood Basin Project

Image credit: Cianbro