Current Issues and Questionnaire Survey of Cold Weather Concreting in Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is the coldest capital city in the world with limited available time for executing concrete works due to the cold climate. The cold season raises not only technical issues, but also socio-economic issues, for example, loss of production stability, and unemployment during the winter. Along with the development of modern concrete technology, the properties and advantages of concrete have been studied in many ways depending on cold climatic conditions. However, while inappropriate construction works during the winter season can be frequently observed in Mongolia, the background has not been fully investigated. In this study, the current situation of concrete works during winter in Mongolia and the standard specifications were investigated. In addition, a questionnaire survey of construction personnel was conducted. A questionnaire survey on cold weather concreting in Mongolia revealed that the current norms do not cover the requirements for planning, preparation, curing, and preventing methods from early age freezing; and quality control during the cold season. In total, 71% of respondents answered that they execute concrete works during the winter season, even ambient air temperature is between −10 and −20 °C. However, 53% of them thought that current Mongolian norms are not sufficient for the cold weather concreting.