Burj Dubai

Concept, Design & Construction

Introduction
• Burj Khalifa (formally Dubai) is the new tallest
tower in the world.
• Construction began on 21 September 2004 &
completed on 1 October 2009.
• The building was officially opened on 4 January
2010
• Height of the Tower is 828m .
• It’s Owner is EMAAR Properties with total
investments of US$ 1.5 billion.
• The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill (SOM)
• Adrian smith was chief architect.
World’s Tallest Building
• From the head start , it has been intended that the
Burj Dubai be the Worlds’ Tallest Building.
• The official arbiter of height is the Council on
Tall Buildings and Urban the illinois Institute of
Technology in Chicago, Illinois.
• The CTBUH measures the height of buildings
(measured from sidewalk at the main entrance).
• Burj Dubai is the tallest skyscraper to top of
spire: 828 m
• Building with highest occupied floor in the
world163rd floor
World’s Tallest Building
• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world (124th
floor) at 452 m
• World's highest elevator installation, situated inside a
rod at the very top of the building
• World's fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph)
or 18 m/s
• Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building):
606 m
• World's highest installation of an aluminum and glass
facade, at a height of 512 m
• World's highest New Year fireworks display
Architectural Concept
The context of the Burj Dubai
being located in the city of
Dubai, UAE, drove the
inspiration for the building form
to incorporate cultural and
historical particular to the region.
The influences of the Middle
Eastern domes and pointed
arches in traditional buildings,
spiral imagery in Middle Eastern
architecture, resulted in the tri-
axial shape of the building
Architecture
Pinnacle

Spire

Burj Dubai includes163 habitable floors Communication

(L160)
plus 46 maintenance levels in the Office (L153)
spire and 9 parking levels in the basement.
Floor Area 309,473 m2 Observator
y (L123)
The Residences
Residence
900 residence from floor (L108)

Armani Residences

Armani Residences Dubai has been

designed personally by Giorgio Armani.
144 suites. Hotel (L39)
Architecture Pinnacle

Spire

The observatory Communication

(L160)
On level 123, At the Top, Burj Dubai, is a must-
Office (L153)
see attraction and offers breathtaking views of the
city and the surrounding emirate.
Observatory
Connected to the tower are The Offices, a 12- (L123)

storey annex of prime office space

Residence
(L108)

The Corporate Suites:

Are located on the highest levels of the tower.
They occupy 37 floors, with the top three floors
merged into a single office. Express lifts take
Hotel (L39)
office visitors directly to a lounge lobby at Level
123
Architecture
Mechanical Floors
Seven double-storey mechanical floors house the
equipment that bring Burj Dubai to life. Located
every 30 storeys, the mechanical floors house the
electrical sub-stations, water tanks and pumps, air-
handling units etc, that are essential for the operation
of the tower and the comfort of its occupants.
Broadcast and Communications Floors

The top four floors have been reserved for

communications and broadcasting. These floors
occupy the levels just below the spire.
Main Structure & Design
The tower superstructure of Burj Dubai is designed as an
all reinforced concrete building with high performance
concrete from the foundation level to level 156, and is
topped with a structural steel braced frame from level 156
to the pinnacle.
Designers purposely shaped the structural concrete Burj
Dubai – “Y” shaped in plan – to reduce the wind forces on
the tower, as well as to keep the structure simple and
foster constructability.
The structural system can be described as a “buttressed”
core. Each wing, with its own high performance concrete
corridor walls and perimeter columns, buttresses the
others via a six-sided central core, or hexagonal hub
Main Structure & Design
Structural Analysis & Design
The top section of the Tower consists of a
structural steel spire utilizing a diagonally
braced lateral system.
The structural steel spire was designed for
gravity, wind, seismic and fatigue in accordance
with the requirements of AISC Load and
Resistance Factor Design Specification for
Structural Steel Buildings (1999). The exterior
exposed steel is protected with a flame applied
aluminum finish
Main Structure & Design
The result is a tower that is extremely stiff
laterally and torsionally similar to a closed
tube.
Each tier of the building sets back in a spiral
stepping pattern up the building. The setbacks
are organized with the tower’s grid, such that
the building stepping is accomplished by
aligning columns above with walls below to
provide a smooth load path.
The advantage of the stepping and shaping is
to “confuse the wind”. The wind vortices
never get organized because at each new tier
the wind encounters a different building
shape.
Main Structure
Structural Analysis & Design
The center hexagonal walls are buttressed by the
wing walls and hammer head walls which
behave as the webs and flanges of a beam to
resist the wind shears and moments.
Structural Analysis & Design
Outriggers at the mechanical floors allow the
columns to participate in the lateral load
resistance of the structure; hence, all of the
vertical concrete is utilized to support both
gravity and lateral loads.
Structural Analysis & Design
Concrete Dimensions
 The core walls vary in thickness from 1300mm
to 500mm. The core walls are typically linked
through a series of 800mm to 1100mm deep
reinforced concrete or composite link beams at
every level.
The residential and hotel floor framing system
of the Tower consists of 200mm to 300mm two-
way reinforced concrete flat plate slabs spanning
approximately 9 meters between the exterior
columns and the interior core wall.
Structural Analysis & Design
Link Beams
The demands on the link beams vary greatly.
The typical link beams used in the Burj Dubai
are quite stocky with a shear-span ratio (l/2h) of
0.85, a width of 650 mm and a height of 825
mm.
Structural Analysis & Design
Link Beams
For the design of reinforced concrete link beams:
1. The conventional deep beam design method in the
ACI 318-992
2. Strut-and-tie method in ACI 318-023 were used,
with Appendix A enabling the design of link beams
somewhat beyond the conventionally designed
maximum deep beam stress limit.
3. In the case of members subjected to very large shear
forces, embedded built-up structural steel sections
were provided within the core of the concrete link
beams to carry the entire shear and flexure demand.
Strut and Tie model for the
Link Beam
 Design Details of Link Beams
The geometry, factored loads, and design
methods of four Burj Dubai link beams, LB1 to
LB4, are shown in Table 1.
Design Details of Link Beams
Structural Analysis & Design
Clear Heights
The tower is being constructed utilizing a
horizontal compensation program. Each story is
being constructed incorporating a modest
increase in the typical floor-to-floor height.

This vertical compensation was selected to

ensure the actual height of the structure, after the
time-dependant shortening effects of creep and
shrinkage, will be greater than the as-designed
final height.
Structural Analysis & Design
The structure was analyzed for gravity
(including P-Delta analysis), wind,
and seismic loadings by ETABS
version 8.4 .
The three-dimensional analysis model
consisted of the reinforced concrete
walls, link beams, slabs, raft, piles,
and the spire structural steel system.
The full 3D analysis model consisted
of over73,500 shells and 75,000 nodes
Structural Analysis & Design
Design Code
The reinforced concrete structure was designed in accordance with the
requirements of ACI 318-02 Building Code Requirements for Structural
Concrete.
Structural Analysis & Design
Seismic Loads
• Dubai is situated towards the eastern edge of the
geologically stable Arabian Plate and separated from
the unstable Iranian Fold Belt to the north by the
Arabian Gulf. The site is therefore considered to be
located within a seismically active area.

• The Dubai Municipality (DM) specifies Dubai as a

UBC97 Zone 2a seismic region with a seismic zone
factor Z = 0.15 and soil profile Sc.
Structural Analysis & Design
Seismic Analysis

• The seismic analysis consisted of a site-specific

response spectra analysis.

• Seismic loading typically did not govern the design of

the reinforced concrete tower structure. But did govern
the design of the steel spire.

• Dr Max Irvine developed site-specific seismic reports

for the project, including a seismic hazard analysis.
Structural Analysis & Design
Dynamic Analysis
• The dynamic analysis indicated the first mode is lateral sidesway with a
period of 11.3 seconds .
• The second mode is a perpendicular lateral sidesway with a period of 10.2
seconds.
• Torsion is the fifth mode with a period of 4.3 seconds
Types of wind
Winds that are of interest in the design of
buildings can be classified into three
major types
◦ Prevailing Winds (Trade winds)
◦ seasonal winds
◦ local winds
Types of wind
The characteristics of the prevailing and
seasonal winds are analytically studied
together, whereas those of local winds are
studied separately.
The variations in the speed of prevailing
and seasonal winds are referred to as
fluctuations in mean velocity. The
variations in the local winds are referred
to as gusts.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
WIND
• Variation of wind velocity with height.
• Wind turbulence.
• Statistical probability.
• Vortex shedding phenomenon.
• Dynamic nature of wind–structure
interaction.
Variation of Wind Velocity with Height

The viscosity of
air reduces its
velocity

adjacent to the
earth’s surface to
almost zero.
Wind Turbulence
 For structural engineering purposes, velocity of wind
can be considered as having two components:
◦ Mean velocity component that increases with height,
◦ Turbulent velocity that remains the same over height.
Probabilistic Approach
In wind engineering the speed of wind is
considered to vary with return periods.
For example, the fastest-mile wind 33 ft
(10 m) above ground in Dallas, TX,
corresponding to a 50-year return period,
(30 m/s), compared to the value of (31.7
m/s) for a 100-year recurrence interval.
Vortex Shedding
The flow of wind is simplified and
considered two-dimensional
◦ Along wind
◦ transverse wind
 Vortex Shedding
At low wind speeds, shedding
occurs at the same instant on either
side of the building, It is therefore
subject to along-wind oscillations
parallel to the wind direction
At higher speeds, the vortices are
shed alternately, first from one and
then from the other side. there is an
impulse in the along-wind direction
as before, but in addition, there is
an impulse in the transverse
direction.
Wind behavior
Dynamic Nature of Wind
Wind loads associated with gustiness or
turbulence creating effects much larger
than if the same loads were applied
gradually.
Wind loads, therefore, need to be studied
as if they were dynamic in nature.
The intensity of a wind load depends on
how fast it varies and also on the
response of the structure.
WIND CLIMATE STUDIES
In the course of the Burj Dubai studies local ground based
data from several weather stations in the region were
used, including most importantly the data from Dubai
International Airport.

Gust data from all stations were merged into the

equivalent a super-station to obtain an enlarged database

The 50 year 3 second gust from this analysis was

estimated to be 37.7 m/s in standard open terrain at the 10
m level.
WIND CLIMATE STUDIES

In addition the mean hourly data from Dubai were used
to obtain a model of the parent distribution of hourly
winds

This yielded a 50 year mean hourly speed of 23.5 m/s,

again in standard open terrain conditions at 10 m.

Depending on exactly which method one used to

estimate the relationship between mean and gust speeds
the corresponding gust was estimated to be in the range
35.7 m/s to 37.6 m/s.
WIND CLIMATE STUDIES
An important question when designing a tower of over 600 m
height is the nature of the wind velocity profile and wind
turbulence in the upper levels.

Itis a large extrapolation to go from ground-based data at the

10 m height to heights of over 600 m using standard
assumptions

Therefore for Burj Dubai more direct measurements of upper

level winds were sought. The closest station with balloon
records was Abu Dhabi, where about 16 years of data were
available taken on average about twice per day.
WIND CLIMATE STUDIES
The Wind Engineering of the Burj
Dubai Tower
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.
The local wind pressures on the building
envelope and the wind speeds around the
base of the building and on terraces at
various levels were of concern.
WIND-TUNNEL ENGINEERING
Therefore, an extensive program of wind tunnel tests and
other studies were undertaken

◦ Rigid pressure model

◦ High-frequency force-balance technique
◦ Full multi-degree of freedom aeroelastic model study
◦ Measurements of local pressures
◦ Pedestrian wind environment studies

• These studies used models mostly at 1:500 scale but for

the pedestrian wind studies a larger scale of 1:250 was
utilized
Rigid Pressure Model (PM)
The primary purpose of the rigid-model
test is for obtaining cladding design
pressures, get the floor-by-floor shear
forces for the design of the overall main
wind-force-resisting frame.
The wind-tunnel test is run for a
duration of about 60 sec which
corresponds to approximately 1 hr in
real time.
Cladding Pressure Testing
Cladding Pressure Testing
High-Frequency Base Force Balance
Model
The effect of wind load on a flexible
building can be considered as an integrated
action resulting from three distinct sources
◦ The mean wind load, that bends and twists a
building,
◦ The fluctuating load from the unsteady nature of
the wind that results in oscillation of the building
◦ Inertia forces similar to the lateral forces induced
in a building during earthquakes
High-Frequency Base Force Balance
Model
A rigid model is convenient for measuring
local wind pressures consisting of positive
and negative pressures distributed
uniquely around a building.
These local pressures are integrated to
derive net lateral forces in two
perpendicular directions and a torsional
moment about a vertical axis, at each
level
High-Frequency Base Force Balance
Model
These values have been sufficient for the
design of buildings bracing system.

HFBFB ignore the influence of gust

factor.

Itis necessary to assume a conservative

gust factor to increase the mean values.
WIND LOADING ON THE MAIN
STRUCTURE
To determine the wind loading on the main
structure wind tunnel tests were undertaken
early in the design using the high-frequency-
force-balance technique.
The model itself is rigid and is mounted on a
fast response force balance
The technique is that it is relatively quick to
undertake and provides the complete spectra
of the wind generated modal forces acting on
the tower.
WIND LOADING ON THE MAIN
STRUCTURE

The results of the force balance tests were used as

early input for the structural design and allowed
parametric studies to be undertaken on the effects of
varying the tower’s stiffness and mass distribution.

The wind tunnel data were then combined with the

dynamic properties of the tower in order to compute
the tower’s dynamic response and the overall
effective wind force distributions at full scale using
aeroelastic model analysis
The building has essentially six
important wind directions
Orientation of the tower
It was noticed that the force spectra for
different wind directions showed less
excitation in the important frequency
range for winds impacting the pointed or
nose end of a wing, than from the
opposite direction (tail).
most frequent strong wind directions for
Dubai: northwest, south and east.
High-Frequency Base Force Balance
Model
Several rounds of force balance tests were
undertaken as the geometry of the tower evolved
and was refined architecturally
After each round of wind tunnel testing, the data
was analyzed and the building was reshaped to
minimize wind effects and accommodate
unrelated changes in the Client’s program.
Original Configuration
Aeroelastic model study
Aeroelastic model study attempts to take
the guesswork out of the gust factor
computation by measuring directly the
magnitude of dynamic loads.
The aeroelastic studies require similarity
of the inertia, stiffness, and damping
characteristics of the building.
Aeroelastic model study
Aeroelastic study basically examines the wind-induced
sway response, in addition to providing information on
the overall wind-induced mean and dynamic loads.

Factors may be used as a guide in making a decision

aeroelastic model study

◦ The building height-to-width ratio is greater than about 5;

i.e., the building is slender.

◦ Approximate calculations show that there is a likelihood of

vortex shedding phenomenon.
Aeroelastic model study
◦ The structure is light in density on the order of
8 to 10 lb/ft3 (1.25 to 1.57 kN/m3).

◦ The structural stiffness is concentrated in the

interior of the building, making it torsionally
flexible. A building with a braced central core
is one such example.

◦ The calculated period of oscillation of the

building is long, in excess of 4 or 5 sec.
Aeroelastic model study
It is more accurate than a force balance
study since the aeroelastic interaction
between the structure and wind is fully
simulated.
Accurate determination of the relationship
between peak response and RMS
response.
Aeroelastic model study
For the Burj Dubai the modal deflection
shapes were similar to those of a tapered
cantilevered column.
Therefore it was possible to obtain
excellent agreement between frequencies
and mode shapes on the model with those
predicted at full scale by using a single
machined metal spine in the model with
outer shell segments attached to it.
Aeroelastic model study
The aeroelastic model was able to model
the first six sway modes. Bending
moments were measured at the base as
well as at several higher levels.
Accelerations were also measured in the
upper levels.
Comparing aeroelastic model test results
force balance results
It was found that the base moment and
the accelerations in the upper levels were
significantly lower in the aeroelastic
model results.
Part of this was identified as a Reynolds
number effect because the force balance
tests had been run at lower Reynolds
number.
Comparing aeroelastic model test results
force balance results

Differences between the force balance method and the

aeroelastic method on Burj Dubai

◦ Due to approximations in the force balance procedure as

applied to a highly tapered towered.

◦ Force balance method keep model resonance frequencies

high enough to avoid them interfering with the frequency
range of interest and one solution is to run at lower tunnel
wind speeds, which entails reducing the Reynolds
number.
BUILDING MOTIONS
Based on the High-Frequency-Force-Balance test
results combined with local wind statistics the
building motions in terms of peak accelerations
were predicted for various return periods in the 1 to
10 year range.

Initialpredictions obtained in May 2003, at over 37

milli-g for the 5 year return period

By the end of 2004 November 2003 they had come

down to about 19 milli-g for the same return period
BUILDING MOTIONS
Half of this improvement came about as a result
of improved knowledge of the wind statistics
and the rest through re-orientation, structural
improvements and shape adjustments.

Several variations of tower height were tested

using aeroelastic models.

The accelerations were reduced to the range of

12 milli-g.
Human Response to Building Motions

Building motion under the action of wind

is a serviceability issue.

A commonly used criterion is to limit the

acceleration of a building’s upper floors to
no more than 2.0% of gravity (20 mg) for
a 10-year return period.
 PEDESTRIAN WIND STUDIES

A sheet of air moving over the earth’s surface is

reluctant to rise when it meets an obstacle such
as a tall building. it prefers to flow around the
building rather than over it

Wind is driven in two directions. Some of it will

be deflected upward, but most of it will spiral to
the ground, creating a so-called standing vortex
or mini tornado at sidewalk level.
PEDESTRIAN WIND STUDIES
Smooth-skinned skyscrapers may be
subjected to what is called the Mary
Poppins syndrome, referring to the tendency
of the wind to lift the pedestrian literally off
his or her feet.
Another effect, known as the Marilyn
Monroe effect, refers to the billowing action
of women’s skirts in the turbulence of wind
around and in the vicinity of a building.
 PEDESTRIAN WIND STUDIES
The comfort of pedestrians at ground level and
on the numerous terrace levels was evaluated
by combining wind speed measurements on
wind tunnel models with the local wind
statistics and other climatic information.

Two aspects of pedestrian comfort were

considered:
◦ the effect of the mechanical force of the wind
◦ thermal comfort
 PEDESTRIAN WIND STUDIES
Initialwind tunnel tests used 1:500 scale
models.
Subsequently three 1:250 scale partial
models were employed to examine ground
level areas,
Foundations
Soil Investigation
Hyder Consulting (UK) Ltd (HCL) were appointed geotechnical
consultant for the works by Emaar and carried out the design of the
foundation system

Soil Investigation in 4 stages included:

• 23 boreholes
• in situ SPT’s
• 40 pressuremeter tests in 3 boreholes,
• installation of 4 standpipe piezometers,
• laboratory testing, specialist laboratory testing and contamination
testing
• 3 geophysical boreholes with cross-hole
• tomography geophysical surveys
Soil Investigation
• The quality of core recovered in some of the earlier
boreholes was somewhat poorer than that recovered in
later boreholes.

• therefore the defects noted in the earlier rock cores

may not have been representative of the actual defects
present in the rock mass.

• Phase 4 of the investigation was targeted to assess the

difference in core quality and this indicated that the
differences were probably related to the drilling fluid
used and the overall quality of drilling
Soil Investigation & Ground Water
• The groundwater in which the Burj Dubai substructure
is constructed is particularly severe.
• The chloride and sulfate concentrations found in the
groundwater are even higher than the concentrations in
sea water.
• Measures implemented include specialized
waterproofing systems:
1. Increased concrete cover
2. Addition of corrosion inhibitors to the concrete
mix
3. Stringent crack control design criteria and
4. Impressed current cathodic protection system
utilizing titanium mesh .
5. A controlled permeability formwork liner
Ground Water & Concrete Mix
• A specially designed concrete mix was formulated to
resist attack from the ground water.
• The concrete mix for the piles was a 60 MPa mix
based on a triple blend with 25% fly ash, 7% silica
fume, and a water to cement ratio of 0.32.
• The concrete was also designed as a fully self
consolidating concrete, A robust cathodic protection
system for both the bored piles and the raft
foundation
Piles
The Tower raft is supported by 194 boredcast-in-
place piles
1.5m diameter and 47.45m long with the tower raft
founded at -7.55m
The C60 (cube strength) SCC concrete was placed
by the tremie method utilizing polymer slurry. When
the rebar cage was placed in the piles, special
attention was paid to orient the rebar cage such that
the raft bottom rebar could be threaded through the
numerous pile rebar cages without interruption,
which greatly simplified the raft construction.
Pile Testing
1. Static load tests on seven trial piles prior to
foundation construction.
2. Static load tests on eight works piles, carried out
during the foundation construction phase (i.e. on
about 1% of the total number of piles constructed).
3. In addition, dynamic pile testing was carried out on
10 of the works piles for the tower and 31 piles for
the podium, i.e. on about 5% of the total works
piles.
4. Sonic integrity testing was also carried out on a
number of the works piles.
Static Testing on trial piles
The main purpose of the tests was to assess the general
load-settlement behaviour of piles of the anticipated
length below the tower, and to verify the design
assumptions. Each of the test piles was different,
allowing various factors to be investigated, as follows:
1. The effects of increasing the pile shaft length
2. The effects of shaft grouting
3. The effects of reducing the shaft diameter
4. The effects of uplift (tension) loading
5. The effects of lateral loading
6. The effect of cyclic loading
Static Working Pile Test
The Tower raft is supported by 194 bored cast-
in-place piles. The piles are 1.5 meter in
diameter and approximately 43 meters long
with a design capacity of 3,000 ton each.
The Tower pile load test supported over 6,000
ton.
Settlement
Itwas determined the maximum long-term
settlement over time would be about a
maximum of 80mm .

This settlement would be a gradual curvature

of the top of grade over the entire large site.
When the construction was at Level 135, the
average foundation settlement was 30mm
Construction
Achieve
 a three (3) day-cycle for structural works.
Develop optimum transportation systems with large

capacity high speed equipment.
Utilize optimum formwork system to accommodate

various building shapes along the building height.
Develop organized logistic plans throughout the

construction period.
Apply all high-rise construction technologies

available at the time of construction.
Planning for the concrete work
• Prior to the construction of the tower,
extensive concrete testing and quality control
programs were put in place to ensure that all
concrete works are done in agreement with all
parties involved.
• Tests are needed to confirm the construction
sequence of these large elements and to
develop curing plans that are appropriate for
the project, considering major daily and
seasonal temperature fluctuations
Testing Regimes for Concrete
• Trial mix designs for all concrete types needed for the project.
• Mechanical properties, including compressive strength,
modulus of elasticity, and split tensile strength.
• Durability tests which included initial surface absorption test
and 30 minute absorption test.
• Creep and shrinkage test program for all concrete mix design.
• Water penetration tests and rapid chloride permeability test.
• Shrinkage test program for all concrete mix designs.
• Pump simulation test for all concrete mix design grades up to
at least 600 meters.
• Heat of hydration analysis and tests.
Testing Regimes for Concrete
• Creep Test
 Testing Regimes for Concrete
• Pump Simulation Test :using over 600m of pipe length
to confirm the pump capacity and evaluate the overall
pressure losses in the pipes due to friction
/connections /concrete type
Testing Regimes for Concrete
• Pump Simulation
Testing Regimes for Concrete
• Heat of Hydration Make-op Test
Technologies used to achieve 3-day cycles

• Auto Climbing formwork system (ACS)

• Rebar pre-fabrication
• High performance concrete suitable for
providing high strength, high durability
requirement, high modulus, and pumping
• Advanced concrete pumping technology
• Simple drop head formwork system that can be
dismantled and assembled quickly with
minimum labor requirements
• Column/Wall proceeding method, part of ACS
formwork system
Technologies used to achieve 3-day cycles
Sequence of Construction and ACS
The ACS form work is divided into four sections
consisting of the center core wall that is followed by the
wing wall construction along each of the three tower
wings.
Sequence of Construction and ACS
Rebar Pre-fabrication
• Most of the reinforcing bars
for the core walls, wing
walls, and the nose columns
were prefabricated at the
ground level.
• This rebar fabrication and
pre-assembly method resulted
in man quality control
advantages and reduced the
number of workers going up
and down the tower.
• The rebar was assembled in
double story modules to
speed up the vertical element
construction time.
Slab Formwork System
Drop head system (also known as slab support
system is specially designed to sustain a large
combination of grid sizes, resulting in maximum
reusability of formwork & economy) used for the
slab construction
Slab Formwork System
The slab shoring system consists of four levels of shores and one level of
re-shore to control the maximum loads in the slabs at the lowest level.
However,
Day 0 the shoring props
Day 1
at the upper-most
Dayslab
2 were left undisturbed
Day 3
: Slab formwork : Con’c Pouring
: Con’c Pouring : Slab formwork
: Rebar Installation
: MEP
N+1

N+0

Form Form
Additional Form
N-1 Raking Shore

Form
N-2
1/2 of
1/2 of Raking 1/2 of Raking Raking
Shore Shore Shore
N-3

2/3 of
2/3 of Prop
N-4 Prop

1/3 of
2/3 of Prop
Prop
N-5
Concrete Pumping
Level Height Pouring Method Remarks

Target Height
Ground ~ L145 531 m Direct Pumping
(RC Structure)
Secondary Pump on
L146 ~ L160M 624 m Re-pumping
L124 (East wing 442m)

L160M ~ Spire1 681.7 m Hopper by T/C From Ground Level

Concrete Pump
Pumping Area
Engin (Ground Level)
Level Pressure Output Remarks
e Pipe Lines
2 nos. of
Pump#1~ 185 / 320 71 / 36 470 Main
#3 bar m3/hr kw 1 no. of Stand
by
220 / 260 200 Secondary
Pump#4 110 m3/hr
bar kw Pumping CPB#4

Concrete Placing Boom CPB#1

CPB#3
- 32m boom for Center Core
- 3nos. of 28m boom for Wing Core

. Pipe Lines

- D150mm, THK 11mm CPB#2

- 5 Lines (1 for back up)
Concrete Pumping
T.O.F Pinnacle
TIER 24 FINIAL HIGH
TIER 23 FINIAL MID
Line#1. (L160) TIER 22 FINIAL LOW

for Center Core TIER 21 SPIRE L5

TIER 20 SPIRE L4
Top of Finial : Spire
TIER 19 SPIRE L3
TIER 18 SPIRE L2
TIER 17 LEVEL 161
Line#5. (L160) L160Mezzanine : Steel Structure
TIER 16 LEVEL 158

for Back up TIER 15 LEVEL 155

TIER 14 LEVEL 151

L154 : RC Structure
TIER 13 LEVEL 147

TIER 12 LEVEL 142

Pump#4. TIER 11 LEVEL 126

(Secondary Pump on L124) Line#3. (L124)
for East Wing
TIER 10 LEVEL 112

Line#4. (L112)
Line#2. (L139) for West Wing
for South Wing TIER 9 LEVEL 99

TIER 8 LEVEL 87

TIER 7 LEVEL 76

TIER 6 LEVEL 64

. Pipe Lines TIER 5 LEVEL 53

- D150mm, THK 11mm TIER 4 LEVEL 43

- 5 Lines (1 for back up) TIER 3 LEVEL 34

TIER 2 LEVEL 26

Pumping Area TIER 1 LEVEL 19

Pump#1~#3
TIER 0 LEVEL 7
Concrete Pumping
Concrete Pumping
Spire Erection and Pinnacle Assembly
• At Level 156, the reinforced concrete core wall will
reach its highest point and serves as the foundation for
the spire’s structural steel works.
• The central pinnacle structure, which consists of
1200mm-2100mm diameter structural steel pipe, varies
in thickness from 60mm at the lowest level to 30mm at
the top.

• The erection of the spire and the pinnacle starts from

level 156, and the erection of the spire was done in
traditional steel construction method. However, the
pinnacle pipe sections are stacked from level 156 and
lifted to the final position from within the spire
Spire Erection and Pinnacle Assembly
The sequence of the pinnacle installation is shown in Figure
below and as follows:
• Erection of the spire structure
• Installation of the support beam
• Installation of the lifting block and assemblies
• Installation of the lifting equipment and assemblies
• Lifting the pinnacle in a three step process
• Installing cladding after each lift
• Completing lift of the pinnacle and all connection
connections (gravity and lateral)
• Completion of the cladding installation
Spire Erection and Pinnacle Assembly
Survey & Monitoring
• Low Level Tower Control (Classical Control
Method )

XYZ

XYZ

XYZ

XYZ
Survey & Monitoring
• Hight Level Tower Control (GPS Real Time
Kinematic)
Evacuation
Burj Dubai has built in fire protection as its concrete back
bone is naturally fire resistant
But how will people go out in an emergency?
The answer they don’t
• The burj dubai contains 9 special rooms build throw
layers of reinforced concrete and fire proof sheeting
• The walls of these rooms will stand the heat of a fire
for 2 hours
• Each room has special supply of air pumped throw fire
resistant pipes, sealed fire proofed doors stop smoke
from leaking in
Evacuation
• There is 1 of these rooms in about every 30 floors
 How they prevent the smoke from blocking the access route to
the rooms?
• Early warning system:
• Fire activate a smoke detector
• Heat sensor
• Water sprinklers
• Net work of high power fans kick in
• Fans force new clean cool air throw fire resistant ducts
into the building
• The fresh air pushes the smoke out of the stair way
keeping the evacuation route clear.
Evacuation
Cladding
• 30000 glass panels of high quality European glass
enough to cover 17 football fields
• The glass is thicker at the top to resist the high wind
• Its designed to let the maximum light in and to keep
heat out

Sun screen (inside face) is Outside coat reflects the daily

useless against infrared solar heat comes direct from the
from the hot desert sun so sun.
the inner plan is coated
with a thin layer of silver The metal coating deflects U.V.
that keeps the heat rays Radiation that will otherwise heat
out. up the building
Cladding
Test 1 : Air infiltration test
To measure how much air gets in through the joints

Test 2 : static water test

• Water is spread evenly
for 15 minutes from
nozles attached to the
glass
• Transducers measures
how much water gets
in
• The data is transferred
to computer for
analysis
Cladding
Test 3 : Dynamic water Test
• It’s a simulation for a desert – Storm
• The wind is Generated by a giant Fan and its Spread
water against the glass for 15 minutes
Cladding
Test 4 : Earthquake Test
• Earthquake Simulation which move the mock-up floor
of curtain walls 10 mm in two directions
• With this test the know that curtain wall won’t break
Façade Maintenance
• The tower's primary window washing and facade maintenance system
consists of three permanently-installed, track-mounted, telescopic
building maintenance machines located in internal "garage" positions
on uppermost levels.
• it will take 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior
facade
 Elevators
• With an ‘intelligent
elevator installation’
mechanism, builders of
Burj Dubai ensure a
speedy journey from the
ground to the 160th floor.
• 57 elevators and eight
escalators to streamline
the needs of the residents
and visitors to commute
within the tower. These
elevators mark the
highest installation in
any building and have
been developed by Otis.
 Elevators
• The main service
elevator that is
positioned in the central
core of Burj Dubai has
the world’s highest
elevator rise at 504
metres
• It moves at a speed of 9
metres per second and
also has the world’s
longest travelling
distance for an elevator.
The lift to the spire has
the world’s highest
landing at 636.9 meters.
 Elevators
• Elevators are placed into
different zones. Each
elevator zone serves
different audiences,
maximizing the efficiency
and saving time.
• The sky lobby is an
intermediate floor where
residents, guests, office staff
will change from an express
elevator to a local elevator
which stops at each floor
within a certain segment of
the building. The sky
lobbies are located on level
43, 76 and 123 and will
include a lounge area.
Thank You
Mosatafa atteya
Ahmed Essam
Ramez Nazir
Mohamed Salah