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Foundations and Geotechnical Engineering for the Burj Dubai Worlds Tallest Building | GeoPrac.
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CONTENT
Foundations and Geotechnical Engineering Our Sponsors
for the Burj Dubai Worlds Tallest Building
Project Related
Written by Randy Post
Monday, 04 January 2010 19:51
Like 38 Tweet 1 Share 0 Share
The Burj Dubai Tower has recently reached its
final height of 818m (2,684-ft or almost exactly 1/2
a mile!). The foundation system for the Burj Dubai
is comprised of 192 bored piles (drilled shafts in
my practice) 1.5-m (approximately 5-ft) in diameter
and approximately 50-m deep (164-ft). A 3.7-m
(12-ft) thick raft foundation sits on top of the piles
from BurjDubaiSkyscraper.com)
under the full footprint of the structure. (Image Data.
OnPurpoe.
The geotechnical investigation for the Burj Dubai
(now to be known as Burj Khalifa after the UAE
President) is described in detail in a paper by the
geotechnical engineer of record, Grahame Bunce
of Hyder Consulting (UK) and the independent
technical reviewer for the geotechnical design,
Harry G. Poulos of Coffey Geotechnics. Click
through for the link to the paper and more details.
Poulos, Harry G. and Bunce, Grahame (2008).
Foundation Design for the Burj Dubai The Worlds Tallest Building. Proceedings of the
6th International conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical engineering, Arlington,
VA, August 11-16, 2008.
The soil/rock
Height: 800 conditions were generally loose to medium dense sands overlying weak to very
week sandstone and siltstone with interbeds of gypsiferous and carbonate cemented layers (still
relatively weak). Geotechnical investigations consisted of approximately 33 boreholes drilled with
several techniques. In addition to SPT sampling, double-tube rock coring and approximately 60
pressuremeter tests were performed as well as cross-hole seismic surveys (both P and S-wave).
Static load testing was performed on 7 test piles prior to construction and 8 production piles
(approximately 1% of the piles) were tested as well. One lateral load test was performed. (Photo
from BurjDubaiSkyscraper.com)
1/5
21/9/2015 Foundations and Geotechnical Engineering for the Burj Dubai Worlds Tallest Building | GeoPrac.net
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Various finite element software packages were used in the analysis of the foundation system for
the structure. The figure above from Poulos & Bunce (2008) shows the interesting layout of the
piles as well as contours of the maximum axial load. It indicates that the maximum axial load
was in the neighborhood of 37 MN (units?). The static load test program was conducted to a
maximum load of 64 MN.

The estimated settlement from the design phase was approximately 75-mm (almost 3-in) but
monitoring performed during construction showed only approximately 30-mm (roughly 1.2-in) by
March 18, 2007 when approximately 75% of the dead load had been applied.

Other Info
On a side note, the New Civil Engineer has an interesting article on the Burj Dubai
Skyscraper from November 2007 describing some of the construction techniques and
some of the challenges faced in building such a massive structure.
Check out this cool video from the Burj Dubai inauguration showing an elevator ride up to
the 124th floor and some spectacular views of Dubai. I like the modern version of the
telescope viewer (the ones you have to put a quarter in). It has a digital camera and a
LCD screen with some kind of augmented reality showing the Dubai landmarks. Pretty
cool! The touch screen globe thing is pretty cool too.
Some additional info on the construction aspects of the Burj Dubai at the RitchieWiki.com
website

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Comments (15)
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Binderiya said:

...
hi i m in Mongolia
i'm civil engineer
i studying 2008 bacheilor diplom
now master studying but my diplom name is TALL BUILDING'S FOUNDATION AND
GROUND. i CAN'T this diplom because im english language is very bad please please
please
vote up vote down report abuse

January 18, 2010

Votes: -1

engineer said:

...
Great work,i have translated the article.

if provide some geologic information will be better. :-]

vote up vote down report abuse

February 08, 2010 | url

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21/9/2015 Foundations and Geotechnical Engineering for the Burj Dubai Worlds Tallest Building | GeoPrac.net
Votes: +3

amol shirsikar said:

...
it's very good work

vote up vote down report abuse

April 14, 2010

Votes: +0

Aditi Kumawat said:

...
what material is used in constructing the piles of burj khalifa? how softwares are used for
checking foundations?

vote up vote down report abuse

December 28, 2010

Votes: +12

khadim raza khan said:

...
what material is used in constructing the piles of burj khalifa? how softwares are used for
checking foundations?

vote up vote down report abuse

July 19, 2011

Votes: +1

piyush parik said:

...
why Y shape is choosen for the founhation of burj khalifa??????

vote up vote down report abuse

August 08, 2011

Votes: +2

Karthik said:

...
This Y shape along with the upward spiraling pattern of setbacks in the wings,
helped to reduce the wind forces on the tower.

vote up vote down report abuse

February 10, 2012

Votes: +1

lochan said:

...
it's a good job for the engineers.......
But i wanna know that how does the tower's upper story balance in high velocity wind
??????????????
vote up vote down report abuse

March 24, 2012

Votes: -1

Patel Hitendra said:

...
it is incredible building as point of view construction.please tell me that who is the
structural designer?

vote up vote down report abuse

July 04, 2012

Votes: +0

http://www.geoprac.net/geonews-mainmenu-63/geologycom-news/634-foundations-for-the-burj-dubai-worlds-tallest-building 3/5
21/9/2015 Foundations and Geotechnical Engineering for the Burj Dubai Worlds Tallest Building | GeoPrac.net
Geo-Environmental Engineering and Materials Testing Center said:

...
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Analyais and Design (i.e.Seismic Hazard Zonation,
development of Earthquake Design Parmaters, Local Site Effect Analysis, development of
design response spectrum, liquefaction hazard analysis, and other related geo-hazard and
risk assessment studies)were conducted for Burj Khalifa by Professor Dr Azm Al-Homoud.
These fundamental elaborate Studies conducted by Prof Dr Azm Al-Homoud in his
capacity as UAE Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Epxert, were considered
milestones for the foundation and structural design of Burj Kahlifa. The conference paper
published here by Eng. Poulus fall too short in documenting these important
contributations of Professor Dr. Azm Al-Homoud. Similalry, other important studies (e.g
Geophysical investigations by Kevin Seyer and Geotechnical Site Investigations of ACES)
were not documented by Eng. Poulos too.
vote up vote down report abuse

August 24, 2012

Votes: +3

joebob said:

...
to answer lochan, the y shape was chosen so the wind curves around the structure, there
is a slight spike at the end of each tower so it cuts through the air. The wind just goes
around the burj.
vote up vote down report abuse

November 13, 2012

Votes: +1

joebob said:

...
does any body know every single material used in the construction of the burj?

vote up vote down report abuse

November 14, 2012

Votes: +0

Siraj Ali Aamir said:

...
My name is Siraj Ali Aamir; I supervised all the 193 +4 = 197 Tower Piles and 629 Podium
Piles construction for this astonishing man made structure in 2004. I was under the
supervision of Grane Bunce (Resident Engineer) for the said Burj Khalifa. I am feely
proudy by working in such a prestigeous project.
vote up vote down report abuse

May 01, 2013

Votes: +1

Prathip said:

...
shall i know the foundation details of burg khalifa

vote up vote down report abuse

August 03, 2013

Votes: +0

Imran Hussain Syed said:

...
Hi,

I'm basically civil engg graduate now pursuing the masters in Engg. management, I have
read this article which empowers my technical background I would like to know more
about the geotechnical background related to the tower which helps to design the system
in my course study kindly please provide the same.
vote up vote down report abuse

August 25, 2015

Votes: +0

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