RAMMING WORK IN PERMAFROST

RAMMING OPERATIONS IN PERMAFROST.

There are huge deposits of natural gas on the Yamal Peninsula and in the Ob Bay area. For the economic exploitation of this energy source, the Russian Federation decided to build the port of Sabetta here in the extreme north of the country. According to the plan, large quantities of natural gas will be cooled down to liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly on site and transported to Europe, Asia and America by special ships.

A special challenge in the realization of the project was the work under permafrost conditions: From a depth of half a meter, the ground was frozen. Here we were able to score against the competition with a clear advantage. For all of the competition's vibratory units, a device had to be built in which the units were preheated to working temperature. Special diesel guns were used for heating, which consumed a lot of fuel and heated the air. Our equipment did not require any preheating, as it was already designed ex works for the extreme conditions.

MÜLLER MS-200 HFV vibrators with MÜLLER MS-A 1050V power packs were used. The work was carried out from the water side - our machines stood directly on the ice surface, which was more than two meters thick there. The quay wall piles were driven directly into the frozen harbor water. Before the actual pile driving work, the workers drilled through the ice to a depth of 1.5 meters and melted it with steam. The entire project was completed on schedule despite the extreme conditions. In December 2017, a gas tanker reached the new port for the first time.