Freezer Floor Slab Design

Protective layers of insulation vapor barriers mud slabs and sub slab glycol heating prevent the soil from freezing and swelling below your.

Freezer floor slab design.

If the temperature of the subfloor approaches freezing usually plus 4 degrees c is taken as the danger point then any water moisture in the subfloor will freeze. Floor classifications table 1 describes the nine classes of concrete floors according to aci 302 guide to concrete floor and slab construction. Floors 18 8 1 base slab 18 8 2 frost heave prevention 18 8 3 vapour seal 18 8 4 floor insulation 18 drawing. List of reference documents 22.

The difficulties in repairing slabs and floor systems in refrigerated buildings highlight the need for more thorough design to avoid these problems. Typical floor construction 20 9. Freezer floor heave occurs when the moisture in the soil freezes and expands below your slab. If the soil then begins to thaw it will also sink and settle causing massive damage to the concrete above.

Freezer store concrete floors or wearing slabs must incorporate all the requirements of normal warehouse floors with a few extras for freezing. What are the key design elements of a freezer floor. Finished floor in freezer applications this surface is typi cally concrete. Type and thickness of insulation this design guide is based on industry standards with a thermal conductivity of.

Mix joint design and performance and the slab thickness. O brien specializes in building science and building envelope performance. The major problem with concrete freezer floors is frost buildup under the floor which will cause the floor to lift or heave often destroying the floor and the walls of the freezer as well. Moisture from the ground below the box is drawn toward the cold freezes expands and so on.

The cable is designed to heat the ground not the floor of the freezer. Sean o brien is a senior project manager in the new york city office of boston based simpson gumpertz heger inc. Usually a new floor starts with base or hard pack the 3 4 rigid conduit is usually laid onto the base minimum of 1 from below insulation and filled with aggregate. As this surface does not generally affect the overall heat load this design guide assumes a 4 10 cm layer of concrete.

Freezers pull the heat from the floor and the cable replaces it. Performance 20 9 1 commissioning 20 9 2 maintenance 20 10.