Choose the most suitable method for your tank construction

Tank construction method plays an important role in production and daily life

The storage tanks play an unmatched role in the national life, not only petrochemical, national defense, transportation, but also our daily life, we cannot do something without various of storage tanks, especially petrochemical enterprises will be unable to produce regularly if without storage tanks. Steel tanks, which account for the largest area and the highest proportion of investment in oil depot construction projects, are the most widely used containers that are applicable to oil storage and transportation. Thus, the technology and economic performance of tank construction directly affects the total cost, operating cost and capital cost of project. Generally, there are two the most common methods for aboveground vertical tank construction, the traditional method (from bottom to top) and the jacking method (from top to bottom). So there is a question: how to choose a more suitable one between the two completely different methods, which one is better for your tank construction? The two methods will be described briefly in the following article.

The traditional tank construction method

The traditional method is a tank construction method which is based on the bottom of tank as the reference plane, assemble each sheet of the tank wall starting from the bottom ring of tank, then assemble the sheet one by one from bottom to top until the whole tank constructed.

The traditional tank construction method procedure

Install the bottom of tank——install the first ring (the lowest) of tank wall、second ring of tank wall……tank wall——install the reinforcing ring——install the floating roof——install the accessories.

Advantages of the traditional tank construction method

• Can make full use of large hoisting equipment, increase the depth of prefabrication, easy to master.                        
• It is convenient for the extension of automatic welding technology for tank construction.

Disadvantages of the traditional tank construction method

• It is required for a larger tank construction site and scaffoldings.
• It is difficult to construction because of the difficult technical, lots of high altitude work and the potential insecurity.

The jacking method for tank construction

The jacking method is a tank construction method which is based on the bottom of tank as the reference plane, assemble the sheet of top ring firstly, then lift the assembled wall in order to left construction position to assemble the lower wall, after the lower wall is assembled, lift the tank again until all of the tank wall is assembled.

There are various of jacking method for tank construction, but the most popular method for tank construction nowadays in the world is by using the hydraulic jacking system, and we will talk about this method here.

Tank construction procedure of Jacking method by using hydraulic system

Install the bottom of tank——install the hydraulic jacking system——Install the roof of tank——assemble the first ring (top) of tank wall——lift the first ring of tank wall——assemble the second ring of tank wall——lift the second ring of tank wall……——install the accessories.

Advantages of jacking method for tank construction

• The period of tank construction is short, high efficiency, and the tank quality can be controlled.
• Instead of high altitude work, the whole installation process of the tank wall by using jacking method is on the ground without scaffoldings
• The activities range of tank construction is larger, and the security of tank construction can be more ensured.
• All the required hoisting equipments and construction tools are more relatively simple.

Disadvantage of jacking method for tank construction

As it needs a great power to lift the tank, especially the higher the tank is assembled, the more lifting power it will be needed, thus jacking method is just suitable for the relatively small scale tank construction.

How to choose the method for your tank construction?

The traditional method is easy to learn, without the limitation of lifting capacity, and the automatic welding technical is mature, but there are also some potential unsafe factors because of the high altitude work. Jacking method is a more convenient method that needn’t to work at high altitude, but the lifting capacity for large storage tank is not easy to achieve to some extent. Thus, limited by the ability of the whole tank lifting and tank rigidity, jacking method is suitable for relatively small scale tank construction with capacity within 50,000m³; as for the tank with capacity more than 50,000m³, traditional method is the most suitable method for tank construction to improve efficiency and reduce the risk coefficient of tank construction.