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occasionally phyllite (known locally as Kenny Hill formation), followed by Kuala Lumpur limestone
formation which can vary dramatically with regard to surface elevation and solution activity leaving huge
cavities. (Rock elevations were found varying by 140 m over a distance of less than 50 m.) The interface
is always overlain by erratic slump zones where Kenny Hill material has softened and eroded into
limestone cavities.
Because of the high slenderness ratio of the structure, the developer and the designer set an ambitious
theoretical goal of zero differential settlement, practically limiting it to less than 12.7 mm across the
base of the towers. The geologic conditions at the site described above indeed made the job technically
very challenging.
Among the different types of foundations considered for the project, the final choice, as dictated by
techno-economic considerations, fell on a piled raft consisting of friction piles located in the Kenny Hill
formation well above limestone, but with the cavities and slump zones grout-filled, with the pile lengths
varied to minimize differential settlement.
An elaborate program of testing was undertaken, which among others included more than 260 pressure
meter tests.
At the tower locations, the depth of limestone varied from 80 to 180 m, making it feasible for friction
piles in the Kenny Hill above to support tower load of 2680 MN. Adopting a design value of 110 kN/m 2
for skin fiction, the final design worked out as 1.3 m dia. piles at 4.7 m spacing extending to a depth of
33 m below a mat (raft) of dia. 53.7 m.
The 3-D finite element analyses gave a differential settlement of 11 mm edge to edge under the tower
proper, satisfying the design goal in this respect.
Extensive grouting was undertaken to fill the cavities in the limestone falling within the zone of influence
of the towers and to improve the slump zones found immediately above the limestone which were
formed by the erosion of Kenny Hill into the cavities and solution channels in the limestone.
evenly distributed over the raft area, or increasing the raft thickness. The performance of the piled raft
can be optimised by selecting suitable locations for the piles below the raft. (This, however, assumes no
or limited raft-pile interaction.) In general, the piles should be concentrated in the most heavily loaded
areas, while the number of piles can be reduced, or even eliminated, in less heavily loaded areas.
The Burj Dubai site is characterised by a horizontally stratified subsurface profile, which is complex and
highly variable, due to the nature of deposition and the prevalent hot arid climatic conditions. Medium
dense to very loose granular silty sands (marine deposits) are underlain by successions of very weak to
weak sandstone, interbedded with vey weakly cemented sand, gypsiferous fine-grained
sandstone/siltstone and weak to moderately weak conglomerate/calcisiltite. Ground water levels were
at 0.0 DMD (Dubai Municipality Datum) which corresponded approximately to 2.5 m below ground
level.
The bored piles socketed into weak rock were of 1.5 m dia. and 47.45 m length with the tower raft
founded at (-) 7.5 m DMD. The podium piles were of 0.9 m dia. and 30 m length with the podium raft
founded at (-) 4.85 m DMD. The thickness of the raft was 3.7 m. FE analyses gave maximum loads of
the order of 35 MN at the corners of the wings and minimum loads of the order of 12-13 MN within the
centre. The minimum centre-to-centre spacing of the piles for the tower was 2.5 times the pile
diameter. In all 926 piles were used. The bored piles were constructed using polymer drilling fluid, in
place of the more conventional bentonite drilling mud. Settlements predicted by FE analysis were of the
order of 70-75 mm in the tower area, reducing drastically to 10-12 mm in the podium area. The final
measured settlements were found to be comfortably below the predicted range.
Article written by
Dr. Nainan P. Kurian