DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTIO

N OF BURJ AL ARAB

العرب برج

Presented by Muhamed Munjee

In General

• The tallest and most luxurious hotel on earth with 321m in height.

• Stands in the sea 280m away from the beach on an artificial island

• Described as the world's only 7-Star hotel

In General

• It has access by land sea and air

• Cost $650 million to build

• Taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Idea of design• It stand unique and became an iconic symbol for

Dubai

• Similar to Sydney with its Opera House, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower, or New York with Statue of

Liberty

• It resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel

Developers• The architect and engineering consultant for the

project was Atkins, UK’s largest multidisciplinary consultancy

• Built by South African construction contractor Murray & Roberts

• Chief concept Architect and designer of the project: Tom Wills-Wright (Head of Architecture, Atkins HQ, Epsom, London)

Island design

• Took 3Yrs to reclaim the land from the sea, but less than 3yrs to construct the building.

• Considering the design point of view Island lies low, close to the sea, rises 7 and a half meter above the waves

• Created surface layer of large rocks, circled with concrete honeycomb pattern, which serves to protect foundation from erosion

Island Construction Process

• Temporary tube piles driven into sea bed • Temporary sheet piles and tie rods driven into sea bed to

support boundary rocks

Island Construction Process

• Permanent boundary rock bunds deposited either side of sheet piles

• Hydraulic fill layers deposited between bunds to displace sea water and form island (fill layers partially complete in figure)

Island Construction Process

• Permanent concrete armor units placed around island to protect it from the waves

• 1.5 m diameter 45m deep piles driven through island and sea bed below to stabilize structure

Island Construction Process

• Island interior excavated and temporary sheet pile coffer dam inserted

• 2m thick concrete plug slab laid at base of island • Reinforced concrete retaining wall built • Basement floors created

Concrete Armor Units

• Designed to reduce the impact of waves

• No one in the gulf had ever used these blocks before

Concrete Armor Units

• As the wave hits the water passes inside the space and turns around inside. Thus the force is largely dissipated

Foundation• The building is built on sand• It is supported on 250 numbers of 1.5 meter

diameter columns that drilled deep into the sea• Each column is a steel reinforced concrete

foundation pile with 45 meter in length

Foundation

• It works on skin friction. • Once the friction between the post and the sand around it

equals the load coming on it, the post comes to a stop.• Longer the pile the greater the effect of skin friction is• Foundations has the capacity to resists failure due to

Liquefaction which is caused during earthquakes

Construction of HotelConstruction of hotel began in 1996

The building is a hybrid ‘V’ shape structure constructed in concrete and blended with structural steel

The V shape steel frame wraps around the V reinforced concrete tower containing the hotel rooms and lobbies

The 2 wings spread in V enclose the space in between them to form the largest atrium lobby in the world standing at 180M

Various Stages of Construction

Structural Expressionism• Structural Expressionism basically means that the structural

components of the building are visible on the inside as well as outside

• Burj al Arab has the structural expressionism

• This includes features such as exposed truss work and complex shapes

• Other buildings that have the same style include: The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, Erie on the Park in Chicago, and Edificio Dr. Alfredo L. Palacios in Buenos Aires

Concrete Works

• The roofs and walls of the building are made of prefabricated concrete

• There is a concrete core at the back of the building which forms the base of the V shape and the trusses are connected to it

Concrete Core

• Burj al Arab is made up of 28 storey’s of split levels (56 storey’s) with 10,000 m2 floor area, 60,000 m2 of concrete and 9,000 ton of reinforced steel

90% of the steel structures constructed were outside the building

Burj al Arab building is made of 12,000 ton of structural steelworks

Total steel works are phased into Exoskeleton rear leg, Horizontals, Diagonals, Rear brace frame, Helipad, Sky restaurant, Atrium and Mast

Steel Works

Exoskeleton rear leg erection

Exoskeleton rear leg erection

• Made of two build up H sections 1.8 m by 4.5 m deep plate girders & connected by lattice braced members

• Creates a gentle curve concurrence with the building edge developing the shape of a sail

• Lifted and erected in position using tower cranes

Rear Brace Frame• ‘X’ Shape rear bracings are cross bracings of fabricated box sections

• They tie two cores of the building to give stability to the structure

• Assembled and welded at ground and then lifted to position

Diagonals• Huge tubular triangular truss

• Connect core wall and rear leg structure

• Length varies from 76 m to 90 m

• Weigh 160 to 180 ton

• Six diagonals erected at different levels on both sides of building

Diagonals

Diagonal Transportation Lifting

Fixing to rear leg After connected in position

Horizontals

Horizontals

• Connect the core wall to the exoskeleton rear leg.

• Weigh about 200 tons

• Erected by strand jacking method similar to diagonals

Helipad Structure

Helipad Structure

• Structure is at 212m level at the rear side of the building

• Weigh about 330 tons

• 2 props of 1m diameter circular steel pipes forming an inverted V shape, tapered at 30o to the vertical and tied back to the central core by a long spine truss support the total helipad structure

Sky Restaurant structure

Sky Restaurant structure

• Most complex and potentially dangerous structure• 30m long 8 box girder cantilevers from the main

core wall radiates as support and are not visible• Floor size of 70 x 25m• 200 m above the ground level• Weigh 350ton• Restaurant over looks the sea• Entire structure is enclosed in aluminuim and glass• An engineering triumph

Mast • 140meters long• 54m braced in between exoskeleton

support legs• Oval shape of 2.5m x 5m• All segments are bolted inside by ring

plate flange connections• Segments has inside arrangements of

permanent ladders and interval platforms to facilitate access

• Manholes at periodic intervals through which workers have access

The Mast

Vibration may cause due to vortex shedding

Installed 11 invisible hanging weight called the tune mass stamper at vulnerable points inside the exoskeleton

When wind blows and the vortex shedding starts to create dangerous vibrations the 5tone weight will swing inside of the structure and bring down the vibrations well within safety limits.

Effect of Wind

Dubai is not in earthquake intensive zone

However Burj al Arab is designed to resist earthquake of MM VII intensity

Tune mass stamper also helps to resist the effect of earthquake

Seismic zone factor of 0.20g is considered for the detailed design phase

Seismic Effects

Stability comes from the shear forces along concrete piles erected deep into the sea

Burj Al Arab withstands gravity loads through the stability of the two intertwined V’s of steel and concrete

Gravity loads are transferred down from the core and wings to the foundation

Gravity loads

Building is built to withstand a fifty year wind of 100 miles per hour and a seismic ground acceleration of 0.2 times gravity

The translucent fabric wall of the atrium helps to transfer lateral load. Due to the rigidity, lateral loads are transferred to the fabric wall which acts similar to a diaphragm

The shape of Burj Al Arab lowers wind forces more effectively then a square building because of the streamlined V and curved fabric atrium wall.

Lateral Loads

Fiber Glass Teflon

Fiber Glass Teflon• The largest Teflon coated fiber

fabric wall available is used to cover the atrium

• It resembles a huge sail• During the day it acts by

filtering sunlight and diffusing it into atrium to allow natural lighting

• During night it functions as a projection screen for different patterns of high intensity lights which cab impress guests

Interior Design• Decorated by world class designer Khuan Chew, of KCA

International• Robust and vibrant color palette was derived from the

elements; earth, air, fire, water and approximately 1,590m of 24-carat gold leaf were used to embellish the interior

• The world’s tallest atrium , flanked by golden columns, with a central fountain where arches of water dance can burst over 42m into the air

• Custom made carpets and rugs from South Africa and India, marble from Brazil and Italy; wooden doors from Dubai and chandeliers from the UK were amongst the fine items brought in to create the magical interiors

Engineers Behind

Conclusion

• Burj al Arab opened its doors for the guests in December 1999, Just before the new millennium

• Burj Al Arab is currently recognized as one of spectacular structure in the history of structural engineering

• Situated in the Arabian Gulf, it is exposed to one of the most hostile environments across the globe

• Every part of this iconic structure is extra ordinary

Thank you