Cold Storage Facility Design 1

[MegaStructures]

Hello:

I'm doing some initial market research on the design of cold storage facilities. Does anyone here have experience designing these facilities and can give a quick summary of the special considerations?

[ul]
[li]Are there unique building codes that are used specifically for cold storage buildings?[/li]
[li]How are the material properties of the concrete and steel typically affected? I assume shrinkage of concrete is an important consideration. Is the steel strength affected?[/li]
[/ul]

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

See the link for description of a cold-storage facility:

https://www.arconational.com/cold-storage-construction/

“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” Robert Kiyosaki

 

[phamENG]

I'm going to follow this. Just got NTP this morning on a conversion of a warehouse to cold storage.

 

[MegaStructures]

Awesome phamENG the market seems to be really heating up for these right now.

“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” Robert Kiyosaki

 

[KootK]

I've done one, for cheese, in Wisconsin. Standard, industrial steel frame on shallow foundations. The only atypical considerations were:

1) Lots of double columns where one space needed to be thermally separated from an adjacent space.

2) They made us place hardwood insulation pad things below our column baseplates. Not much fun at braced columns. I'd have to thing that there would be better ways to do this now with Fabreeka pads etc.

 

[dik]

To OP and pham... I've done a few of these. Several questions:
How cold is cold?
Is this a permanent cold storage?
Is this SOG construction or structured slab?
Is the soil frost heave susceptable?

If it is below freezing and long term, you likely have to re-cycle the heat from the cooling compressor under the slab and provide insulation between the heating pipes and the slab. You need to coordinate this with your mechanical guy. This prevents the frost from continuing 'downwards'.

...and Fabreeka is a really good product. Often used it for pipe racks and electrical cable tray supports to keep cold from transferring to the interior of the structure.

Other conditions are less than this.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

 

[dold]

I did a tilt up warehouse for something like this and they wanted an isolated and chilled slab. Essentially it was (if I remember correctly...) a 4" SOG, then a 8" thick sand bed, then a 6" thick 'floating' slab on top with glycol coolant system - like the opposite of radiant heat tubing. I could have that backwards - the coolant loops could have been in the sand and not in the slab? Either way, this changed up some of our tilt wall foundation detailing and design. And caused headaches for the tilt contractor trying to lay out his panels on the site.

Surely there are different types of facilities but the ones I worked on was pretty much just a plain Jane warehouse (with special slab) and then a bunch of prefab 'cooler rooms' throughout the building. Clearance to bottom of structure was a huge sticking point because the cooler designer kept adjusting his heights, etc.

It was a very indecisive client. Meetings were very amusing. The architect was trying to explain - with examples - of what reveals, rustication, etc. on a tilt wall panel is and what it looks like, and kept asking the client what sort of design they liked. The client either had no idea what arch was talking about, or didn't care at all. They settled on literally a blank grey concrete box with 10 dock doors and a hand full of man doors. I don't think there were any windows... Odd. Granted, it was an addition to another blank grey concrete box. MATCHPROP.

I don't recall having any other issues in terms of the low temperatures affecting material properties. I wouldn't expect any issues from just having a 'cold building'. But if it's more like a 'blast freezer building' or something I'd keep an eye on stuff becoming brittle maybe? I.e., I wouldnt want my Special Moment Frame to be at -50 degrees F during an earthquake... Not really sure how I would address that though.

 

[MegaStructures]

Thanks for the response KootK, some questions:

You didn't consider the contraction/expansion of the concrete slab? What about the strength of steel, is it not affected at 10º C? Did you design the roof system?

“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” Robert Kiyosaki

 

[MegaStructures]

@Dik:

How cold is cold? Profound question . In this case it should be around 10ºC; however, there could be more projects in the future where temperatures could be more severe
Is this a permanent cold storage? Yes, permanent.
Is this SOG construction or structured slab? That's up to me
Is the soil frost heave susceptable? This is a great question! Let's say yes!

“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” Robert Kiyosaki

 

[KootK]

You didn't consider the contraction/expansion of the concrete slab? What about the strength of steel, is it not affected at 10º C?

Nope, that's just not very cold in the grand scheme of things.

Did you design the roof system?

I designed the roof structural system. I didn't design the roofing assembly etc.

I do recall do something a bit special at the SOG. Definitely insulation, maybe glycol loops. It's weird. When I was doing this project, it consumed a few months of my life and it seemed as though the entire thing would be etched into my memory forever. 20yrs later, I can barely bring to mind some of the interesting details...

 

[dik]

You're laughing...

10C is not cold and normal underslab insulation to minimise 'cold loss' is adequate.

You don't need to concern yourself with deep frost penetration. Likewise, frost susceptable soil is not an issue, only the bearing capacity of it and the foundations. There should be no special considerations about isolating the steel for cold transfer. Your biggest issue will the thermal movement, and building envelope treatment of the cold storage area and condensation issues to/from the rest of the building if this is an issue.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Enable]

To put this in perspective it's around -2 Celsius here at night these days, and I'm wearing t-shirts when I go out to dinner. 10 degrees is the freaking Bahamas!

 

[MegaStructures]

I'm sorry I missed a negative sign. The facility is blast-freeze capable, so -10º

“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” Robert Kiyosaki

 

[dik]

Not laughing...

Then you need to route your 'waste heat' from compression underneath the slab and provide insulation between the pipes and the slab. Frost heave should not be an issue. You have to prevent the frost from going down... and without added heat, you cannot stop it, only delay it... added... Your heating pipes could dry out and shrink the subgrade; does that pose a problem? Do you have a geotekkie on board? You need to coordinate stuff with mechanical engineer. You also have to address the building envelope and thermal movement... Fabreeka pads between 'warm' beam to 'cold' columns, or vice versa...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik