Project: Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) Architects: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Structural

engineers: William F. Baker, SOM Partner in Charge of Structural and Civil Engineering, Chicago, IL D. Stanton Korista, SOM Director of Structural Engineering, Chicago, IL Lawrence C. Novak, SOM Associate Partner, Chicago, IL Contractor: Samsung C&T, Besix + Arabtec Developer: Emaar Properties

Construction started: January 2004. (First IGU installed August 2007) Construction ended: 2010. (October 2009 Faade) Site area: 454.249 m2 Project area: 104.210 m2 Building height: 828 m Floors: 160 Cost: 1,5 billon US Dolar Fondation surface: 50 football pitches

INTRODUCTION The Burj Dubai project in Dubai comprises the construction of an approximately 160 storey high rise tower, with a podium development around the base of the tower, including a 4-6 storey garage. The client for the project is Emaar, a leading developer based in Dubai. Burj Dubai Tower is the worlds tallest building. It is founded on a 3.7m thick raft supported on bored piles, 1.5 m in diameter, extending approximately 50m below the base of the raft. The site is generally level and site levels are related to Dubai Municipality Datum (DMD). The Architects and Structural Engineers for the project were Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM) in Chicago. Hyder Consulting (UK) Ltd (HCL) were appointed geotechnical consultant for the works by Emaar and carried out the design of the foundation system and an independent peer review has been undertaken by Coffey Geosciences (Coffey). This paper describes the foundation design and verification processes, and the results of the pile load testing programs. It also compares the predicted settlements with those measured during construction. GEOLOGY

The geology of the Arabian Gulf area has been substantially influenced by the deposition of marine sediments resulting from a number of changes in sea level during relatively recent

geological time. The country is generally relatively low-lying(with the exception of the mountainous regions in the northeast of the country), with near-surface geology dominated by deposits of Quaternary to late Pleistocene age, including mobile Aeolian dune sands, evaporite deposits and marine sands. 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 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.

The soil/rock 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.

Vari fi it element soft are packages were used in t e anal sis of t e foundation system for t e 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 M (units?). The static load test program was conducted to a maximum load of 64 M . 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 1.2in) by March 18, 2007 when approximately 75% of the dead load had been applied.