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Structural Systems of Petronas Twin Towers

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 Petronas Twin Towers
Once considered the The Twin Tower
1.Introduction tallest building in the was designed by 3.Architectural Concept
world from 1998 to an architect,
Country : Malaysia 2004 ,the Petronas Cesar Pelly but The Argentine architect Cesar Pelli
Towers are a the designed was was chosen for his postmodern
City: Kuala Lumpur reflection and characteristic of
homage to the Malaysia inspired
design that was deemed to suitably
Started :1992 express the ‘culture and heritage
dominant Islamic through Tun Dr
Completed: 1998 culture of Malaysia. Mahathir that of Malaysia.’ The design was
wanted to have inspired by characteristics of
A double- and consist of Islamic architecture such as
deck bridge Islamic elements . repetitive geometries and
spanning arabesques.
58.4 m The designs
connects the and patterns Each of the towers’ floor plates is
two towers at entrance halls based on the simple geometric
the sky lobby reflect forms of two interlocking squares
elevator traditional
The Petronas Towers are twin skyscrapers in Kuala craftsmanship
(Rub-el-Hizb ) which creates an 8-
Lumpur, Malaysia. Standing at 451.9 m ,when they transfer pointed star shape. This represents
stations on with numerous
were completed in 1998 they became the tallest “songket” the Islamic principles of ‘unity
floors 41 and
buildings in the world, a title they held until Taipei 42, 170 m (tapestry) within unity, harmony, stability and
101 was constructed in 2004. above grade. traditional in rationality’. The resulting curved
Main decor. . and pointed bays create a façade
Contractor: reminiscent of temple towers, and
2.Architectural System Tower 1: the bridge at the 41st floor that
Hazama links the two towers is intended to
Height : To Tip 451.9 m Corporation evoke the idea of a
from Japan dramatic gateway to the city.
Roof 378.6 m Tower 2:
Samsung
Height (Occupied) 375 m engineer-
#11 Tallest
ing & con-
Floor count 88 struction in the World
from South
#8 Tallest
Floors below 5 Korea
in Asia
Floor area 395,000 m2 #1 Tallest The Rub el Hizb is characterized by two
in Malaysia overlapping squares, one rotated 45 de-
Elevator count 78 grees, with a circle inscribed in the center.
 4.Structural Design of Petronas Twin Towers
Cast-in-situ concrete is used in deep Superstructure:
friction barrette foundations and the Each tower is supported by a ring of
continuous cap/mat under each tower. sixteen cylindrical columns of high-
Structural steel is used for long-span strength reinforced concrete, placed
typical floor beams, supporting concrete- on the inner corners of the star-
filled metal deck slabs. Structural concrete shaped plan.The columns are nearly
is used in foundations, in the central core, 2.4 meters in diameter at the base of
in sixteen tower perimeter columns and the building, but taper as they rise
variable-depth perimeter ring beams, and through the floors.At the center of
in twelve smaller perimeter columns and each tower is an approximately 23-
ring beams around the by-23-metre concrete core.
`bustle' (half-height mini The typical floor
-tower attached to the system consists of
main tower). Outrigger wide-flange beams
beams link core and spanning from the
perimeter at levels 38 to core to the ring beams.
40 for additional A 2 in. deep
efficiency. composite metal deck
system with a 4¼ in.
Foundation: (110mm) concrete
Soil tests showed that the bedrock topping completes the
under both towers started shallow, floor system.
15m down, but sloped sharply to The floor corners of
more than 180m. alternating right angles
Installing concrete-filled piers at the deep The size of columns in the tower and bustle and arcs are
end would be difficult, slow and changes as the height of the tower increases cantilevered from the
expensive, exceeding normal construction as shown in the figure below. These size perimeter ring beams.
practices. The piers' shortening over time increments minimized the time and cost Hunched ring beams
would also produce unacceptable tower associated with formwork changes. varying from (1.17 m)
tilting. The developer of KLCC, finally deep at columns to
decided to move the location 60m Tower (0.78 m) at midspan
southeast of the initial site to achieve Steel
are used to allow for
84m+
better support. And instead of piers, it was ductwork in office
decided an entirely different foundation space outside of the
system was needed. Friction piles GR.40 ring beams. A similar
(structures narrower than piers), 70 1200Ø
approach with a
reinforced by grout (a sand and cement 61
midspan depth of
mixture), were used. (0.78 m) is used in the
The foundation system of the 50 1500Ø bustles.
Bustle
towers consists of a 4.5 metre The lateral system
thick piled raft supported on rec- 1000Ø 38 38 1800Ø
GR.60
for the towers is of
tangular friction piles (barrettes) GR.
40
reinforced concrete
varying in depth from 40 metres 27 consisting of a central
to 105 metres, to control predict- GR. 23 2100Ø core, perimeter
ed settlement under different 60 1200Ø
17 columns, and ring
thicknesses of Kenny Hill for- GR. beams using concrete
mation underlain by lime- 90 7 2400Ø GR.80 strength up to (80
stone. Each foundation consists 4
25.5m MPa). The bustle is
1400Ø
of 104 barrettes (rectangular in- supported by 12
situ piles up to 1.2 by 2.8 metres). columns.
 Cladding The pinnacle Construction Progress
A total of 83,500sq m of stainless The crowning glory to the twin The construction of the
steel extrusions and 55,000sq m of towers were the pair of 73.5m- superstructure commenced on
laminated glass were used to clad high steel pinnacles that would 1 April 1994. Interiors with
the walls and realise architect propel the towers to fame as the furniture were completed on
Cesar Pelli's vision, which was world's tallest building. 1 January 1996, the spires of

that of a "multi-faceted diamond Each pinnacle comprised a mast, Tower 1 and Tower 2 were
sparkling in the sun." a spire ball and a ring ball; all completed on 1 March 1996 .
Designed as a curtain wall were lifted piece by piece in
exterior, the cladding comprised The Skybridge
33,000 panels in all; each panel is
The bridge is 170 m above the ground and 58.4 m long, weighing 750
as high as one floor and spans
tons. A 'two-hinge arch' springing from supports at level 29 and rising
ledge to ledge.
at 63 degrees to support a pair of parallel two-span continuous bridge
Laminated glass was preferred for
girders at Level 41.
its safety, sound insulation,
durability and solar energy
control. It also screens out most
ultra-violet rays, hence protecting
the interior from sun damage. Like
the typical floors, cladding was
constructed using the four-day
cycle system. All panels were
interlocked and placed in a down-
upwards position
References: The two-hinge arch supporting the bridge has rotational pins (spherical
 Charles H. Thornton et al, Design of
The World’s Tallest Buildings-Petronas
bearings) at the end of each leg or 'spring point' and at the top or
Twin Towers at Kuala Lumpur ,The 'crown' of the arch (bearings). The main bridge girders have a rotational
Structural Design of Tall Buildings, (centering) pin directly over the arch crown to permit the crown to rise
Vol. 6, 245-262 (1997). and fall as the Towers move closer or further apart.
 Bunglale S. Taranath, Structural Anal-
ysis and Design of Tall Buildings, page
472
Skybridge isometric and leg plan
 http://skyscrapercenter.com/building/
petronas-twin-tower-1/149
 http://mcleon.tripod.com/KLCC/klcc-
vision.htm
 http://www.archdaily.com/105895/ad-
classics-petronas-towers-cesar-pelli
Prepared by: Mohammad Numan Aloko
No:2016425808
Subject Tall Building Engineering
Lecture: Dr.Hazrina Mansoor
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