of the reinforced concrete walls, link beams, slabs,
largest magnitude pile load test performed to date
raft, piles, and the spire structural steel system.
within the region. The piles utilized C60 cube strength
Under lateral wind loading, the building deflections
(8.7-ksi) SCC concrete, placed by the tremie method
are well below commonly used criteria. The dynamic
utilizing polymer slurry. The friction piles are
analysis indicated the first mode is lateral sideways
supported in the naturally cemented
with a period of 11.3 seconds. The second mode is a
calcisiltite/conglomeritic calcisiltite formations,
perpendicular lateral sideways with a period of 10.2
developing an ultimate pile skin friction of 250 to 350
seconds. Torsion is the fifth mode with a period of
kPa (5.2 to 7.3 ksf).
4.3 seconds.
The Burj Dubai Tower pushes the limits on
construction techniques and material technology,
including self-climbing formwork system,
prefabricated wall reinforcement, specially modified
cranes, high-speed high-capacity construction hoists,
and GPS monitoring systems.
Tower foundations
The tower foundations consist of a solid, 3.7-meter
(12.1-foot) thick pile supported raft poured utilizing
12,500 cubic meters (m3) (16,350 cubic yards, yd3)
of C50 cube strength (7.25-ksi) self-consolidating
concrete (SCC). The raft was constructed in four
separate pours (three wings and the center core).
Each raft pour occurred during at least a 24-hour
period. Reinforcement was typically spaced at 300
mm (12 inches) on center in the raft, and arranged
such that every tenth bar in each direction was
omitted, resulting in a series of “pour enhancement
strips” throughout the raft; the intersections of these
strips created 600-mm by 600-mm (24-inch by 24inch) openings at regular intervals, facilitating access
and concrete placement. The tower raft is supported
by 194 bored cast-in-place piles. The piles are 1.5 m
(5 feet) in diameter and approximately 43 m (141
feet) long, with a capacity of 3,000 metric tonnes
(3,300 tons) each. Each was pile load tested to 6,000
metric tonnes (6,600 tons). The diameter and length
of the piles represent the largest and longest piles
conventionally available in the region. Additionally, the
6,000-metric-tonne pile load test represented the
Wind engineering
For a building of this height and slenderness, wind
forces and the resulting motions in the upper levels
become dominant factors in the structural design. An
extensive program of wind tunnel tests and other
studies were undertaken by the wind tunnel
con