Malaviya National Institute of Technology

Department of Civil Engineering

REPORT ON Construction of Burj Khalifa,Dubai

Overview of the project

Burj Khalifa ("Khalifa Tower"), known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is currently the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010 and is part of the new 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Dubai at the 'First Interchange' along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district.

The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith (now at his own firm) as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer.The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea

The total cost for the project was about US $1.5 billion; and for the entire "Downtown Dubai" development, US $20 billion. In March 2009, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the project's developer, Emaar Properties, said office space pricing at Burj Khalifa reached US $4,000 per sq ft (over US $43,000 per m2) and the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, sold for US $3,500 per sq ft (over US $37,500 per m2).

The project's completion coincided with the global financial crisis of 20072010, and with vast overbuilding in the country, led to high vacancies and foreclosures. With Dubai mired in debt from its huge ambitions, the government was forced to seek multibillion dollar bailouts from its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, in a surprise move at its opening ceremony, the tower was renamed Burj Khalifa, said to honour the UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his crucial support.

Due to the slumping demand in Dubai's property market, the rents in the Burj Khalifa plummeted 40% some ten months after its opening. Out of 900 apartments in the tower around 825 were still empty at that time. The Burj Dubai is the pinnacle of skyscraper engineering. It owes its success to six key inventions.

Tower Wills Tower Nanjing Greenland Financial Center Petronas Tower International Commerce Centre Shanghai World Financial Center Taipei 101

Height 442m 450m

City Chicago China

452m 484m 492m 508m

Kualalampur Hong Kong Shanghai Taipei

Conception
Burj Khalifa has been designed to be the centrepiece of a large-scale, mixed-use development that would include 30,000 homes, nine hotels such as The Address Downtown Dubai, 3 hectares (7.4 acres) of parkland, at least 19 residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and the 12-hectare (30-acre) man-made Burj Khalifa Lake.

The building has returned the location of Earth's tallest freestanding structure to the Middle East where the Great Pyramid of Giza claimed this achievement for almost four millennia before being surpassed in 1311 by Lincoln Cathedral in England.

The decision to build Burj Khalifa is reportedly based on the government's decision to diversify from an oil based economy to one that is service and tourism oriented. According to officials, it is necessary for projects like Burj Khalifa to be built in the city to garner more international recognition, and hence investment. "He (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum) wanted to put Dubai on the map with something really sensational," said Jacqui Josephson, a tourism and VIP delegations executive at

Nakheel Properties. Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world. An army of cranes and labourers worked round the clock to turn the city into a place of whole world to look after.

Architecture and design:

The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which also designed the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago and the new One World Trade Center in New York City among numerous other famous high-rises. The building resembles the bundled tube form of the Willis Tower, but is not a bundle tube structure. Its design is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's vision for The Illinois, a mile high skyscraper designed for Chicago. According to Marshall Strabala, an SOM architect who worked on the building's design team, Burj Khalifa was designed based on the 73 floor Tower Palace Three, an all residential building in Seoul. In its early planning, Burj Khalifa was intended to be entirely residential.

Subsequent to the original design by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Emaar Properties chose Hyder Consulting to be the supervising engineer.Hyder was selected for its expertise in structural and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineering.Hyder Consulting's role was to supervise construction, certify SOM's design, and be the engineer and architect of record to the UAE authorities. Emaar Properties also engaged GHD an international multidisciplinary consulting firm, to act as an independent verification and testing authority for concrete and steelwork.

The design of Burj Khalifa is derived from patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture. According to the structural engineer, Bill Baker of SOM, the building's design incorporates cultural and historical elements particular to the region. The Y-shaped plan is ideal for residential and hotel usage, with the wings allowing maximum outward views and inward natural light.[22] The design architect, Adrian Smith, has said the triple lobed footprint of the building was inspired by the flower Hymenocallis. The tower is composed of three elements arranged around a central core. As the tower rises from the flat desert base, setbacks occur at each element in an upward spiralling pattern, decreasing the cross section of the tower as it reaches toward the sky. There are 27 terraces in Burj Khalifa. At the top, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a finishing spire. A Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of the Persian Gulf. Viewed from above or from the base, the form also evokes the onion domes of Islamic architecture. During the design process, engineers rotated the building 120 degrees from its original layout to reduce stress from prevailing winds.[citation needed] At its tallest point, the tower sways a total of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).

To support the unprecedented height of the building, the engineers developed a new structural system called the buttressed core, which consists of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form the Y' shape. This structural system enables the building to support itself laterally and keeps it from twisting.[22]

The spire of Burj Khalifa is composed of more than 4,000 tonnes (4,400 ST; 3,900 LT) of structural
steel. The central pinnacle pipe weighing 350 tonnes (390 ST; 340 LT) was constructed from inside the building and jacked to its full height of over 200 m (660 ft) using a strand jack system. The spire also houses communications equipment.

More than 1,000 pieces of art will adorn the interiors of Burj Khalifa, while the residential lobby of Burj Khalifa will display the work of Jaume Plensa, featuring 196 bronze and brass alloy cymbals representing the 196 countries of the world.The visitors in this lobby will be able to hear a distinct timbre as the cymbals, plated with 18-carat gold, are struck by dripping water, intended to mimic the sound of water falling on leaves.

The exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa consists of 142,000 m2 (1,528,000 sq ft) of reflective glazing, and aluminium and textured stainless steel spandrel panels with vertical tubular fins. The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures. Additionally, the exterior temperature at the top of the building is thought to be 6C (11F) cooler than at its base.Over 26,000 glass panels were used in the exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa. Over 300 cladding specialists from China were brought in for the cladding work on the tower.

A 304 room Armani Hotel, the first of four by Armani, occupies 15 of the lower 39 floors. The hotel was supposed to open on 18 March 2010[51][52] but after several delays the hotel finally opened the public on 27 April 2010.[53] The corporate suites and offices were also supposed to open from March onwards but the hotel and observation deck remain the only parts of the building which are open.

The sky lobbies on the 43rd and 76th floors will house swimming pools. Floors through to 108 will have 900 private residential apartments (which, according to the developer, sold out within eight hours of being on the market). An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool will be located on the 76th floor of the tower. Corporate offices and suites fill most of the remaining floors, except for a 122nd, 123rd and 124th floor where the At.mosphere restaurant, sky lobby and an indoor and outdoor observation deck is located respectively. Burj Khalifa will receive its first residents from February 2010. They will be among the first of 25,000 people who will live there.

Burj Khalifa is expected to hold up to 35,000 people at any one time. A total of 57 elevators and 8 escalators are installed. The elevators have a capacity of 12 to 14 people per cabin, the fastest rising and descending at up to 18 m/s (59 ft/s). Engineers had considered installing the world's first triple-deck elevators, but the final design calls for double-deck elevators. The double-deck elevators are equipped with entertainment features such as LCD displays to serve visitors during their travel to the observation deck. The building has 2,909 stairs from the ground floor to the 160th floor.

The graphic design identity work for Burj Khalifa is the responsibility of Brash Brands, who are based in Dubai. Design of the global launch events, communications, and visitors centersfor Burj Khalifa have also been created by Brash Brands as well as the roadshow exhibition for the Armani Residences, which are part of the Armani Hotel within Burj Khalifa, which toured Milan, London, Jeddah, Moscow and Delhi.

Water supply system:

The Burj Khalifa's water system supplies an average of 946,000 l (250,000 USgal) of water per day. At the peak cooling times, the tower requires cooling equivalent to that provided by 10,000 t (22,000,000 lb) of melting ice in one day. The building has a condensate collection system, which uses the hot and humid outside air, combined with the cooling requirements of the building and results in a significant amount of condensation of moisture from the air. The condensed water is collected and drained into a holding tank located in the basement car park, this water is then pumped into the site irrigation system for use on the Burj Khalifa park.

Maintenance:
To wash the 24,348 windows, a horizontal track has been installed on the exterior of Burj Khalifa at levels 40, 73 and 109. Each track holds a 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) bucket machine which moves horizontally and then vertically using heavy cables. Above level 109, up to tier 27 traditional cradles from davits are used. The top of the spire, however, is reserved for specialist window cleaners, who brave the heights and high winds dangling by ropes to clean and inspect the top of the pinnacle. Under normal conditions, when all building maintenance units will be operational, it will take 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior facade.

Unmanned machines will clean the top 27 additional tiers and the glass spire. The cleaning system was developed in Melbourne, Australia at a cost of A$8 million.

Leap1: Mobility:
The first big obstacle to skyscraper was distance.The obvious solution to the problem was elevator.The Burj Dubai takes the idea of the elevator to the extreme.It streches elevator technology to its ultimate limit.Burj Dubai is able to accommodate 35,000 people.Burj Dubai has 53 different elevators.Some move at an speed of 35km/hr and climb 120 floors within 50 secs.The biggest lifts carry more than 46 passengers. As soon as elevator in Burj Dubai exceeds its safety limit emergency break makes an action and stops it within few metres.

Leap 2: Materials:
As soon as a building reaches a height of 80m traditional building materials will no longer strong enough.The skeleton of the Burj Dubai combines best of the steel .More than 30,000 tonnes of steel has been used very cleverly.The steel is embedded in artificial stone, concrete.The curtain wall of the burj dubai costed more than a 100 millionUSD.So before it was built on engineers took prototype sections for testing.

Leap 3:Heat:
A glass wall would not only allow a lot of solar radiation into the building but also lot of heat.This would be absorbed by the objects inside which inturn would radiate heat into the surrounding and heat it up. And sealed glass window wouldnt let hot air to go outside.So things would become uncomfortable very quickly.Air Conditioning allows skyscrapers like Burj Dubai to rise up even in the hottest climate and there is hardly a place in the earth air conditioning matters more than Dubai. Temperature easily reaches

40 degree even in the shed and average humidity is 90 percent. A truly extreme enviroment for a skyscraper.The key to shielding the Burj Dubai from brutual desert sun is built into its class skin. The outside plane is coated with thin layer of metal. Like sunscreen outerplate deflects the ultraviolet radiation which would otherwise heat up the building. But the sunscreen is useless against infrared that is radiated from hot desert sand. So the inner layer is coated with thin layer of silver that keeps the heat rays out. Over 30,000 glass panels enough to cover 17 football fields protect Burj Dubai from scrotching heat.

Leap 4:Speed:
The solution they came up with was the use of pre -fabricated sections of towers and assemble them.They built the sections off site and shifted them to the tower construction site whenever needed.The only problem was how to lift super heavy 50 tonnes sections and put place quickly enough.The team found a revolutionary crane in Australia which could lift 5o tonn and four of them could reach at every corner of building. This type of cranes are called kangaroo cranes. The kangaroo crane slift the steel cages up and place them into special forms called jump forms . In those the concrete is put 12 hrs later when the concrete gains strength the form gets ready for the jump. Hydraulic piston pushes the form up and leaves the concrete block behind. It takes only two hrs for form to reach next level. This way Burj Dubai casted and placed layer by layer like a giant building.

A pre-fabricated section

Kangaroo Crane

Jump Forms

Kangaroo Form work Leap 5: Wind:

The taller a steel skeleton gets the more it susceptible it is to bending in high winds. High speed winds could cause upper floor to sway affecting the workers insidAt this extreme height fighting the wind with rigid axis skeleton(as done in sears tower) is not good enough.To get wind resistence architects designed a highly advanced aerodynamics.At high speed wind could be extremely dangerous for a skyscraper. Air rushing around the building form miny tornados . This area of low pressure suck the building sideways.Each section of the tower is designed to deflect the wind in a different direction. This disrupts the power of the high speed winds.

Wind passing through a skyscraper. Leap6:EarthQauake:

The Burj Duabai can withstand a massive earthquake upto 6 richter scale because it has massive reinforced concrete skeleton. Making a super tall building stand up in desert is requires special measures.The rock under Burj Dubai is frangible and saturated with ground water. Any big hole will cave in immediately .To stop this from happening engineers filled the pore with viscous polymer slurry which pushes the ground water through the edge.The concrete displaces the slurry and eventually hardens to form the foundation pile. Two hundreds of these piles work together to stop half a million ton of real estate giant to sink into the ground .

Viscous Polymer slurry

Official launch ceremony:

The opening of Burj Khalifa was held on 4 January 2010.[95] The ceremony featured a display of 10,000 fireworks, light beams projected on and around the tower, and further sound, light and water effects.[96] The celebratory lighting was designed by UK lighting designers Speirs and Major.[97] Using the 868 powerful stroboscope lights that are integrated into the facade and spire of the tower, different lighting sequences were choreographed, together with more than 50 different combinations of the other effects.

The event began with a short film which depicted the story of Dubai and the evolution of Burj Khalifa. The displays of sound, light, water and fireworks followed. The portion of the show consisting of the various pyrotechnic, lighting, water and sound effects was divided into three. The first part was primarily a light and sound show, which took as its theme the link between desert flowers and the new tower, and was co-ordinated with the Dubai Fountain and pyrotechnics. The second portion, called 'Heart Beat', represented the construction of the tower in a dynamic light show with the help of 300 projectors which generated a shadow-like image of the tower. In the third act, sky tracers and space cannons enveloped the tower in a halo of white light, which expanded as the lighting rig on the spire activated.

The ceremony was relayed live on a giant screen on Burj Park Island, as well as several television screens placed across the Downtown Dubai development. Hundreds of media outlets from around the world reported live from the scene. In addition to the media presence, 6,000 guests were expected.