Palm Islands 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who helped me through the project. I especially thank my project advisor Mr. Chandra Pal gautam, and our Head of Department, Dr. A.K. Gupta for their collective guidance and for showing us a cleaner path when i needed one.

_______________________ Neeraj Thakur

Teachers's Sign:- ________________ Date: _________________

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Abstract

PALM ISLAND-DUBAI Key words: artificial island, dredging, district cooling system, monorail, tunnel.

The palm island, one of the largest man-made islands in the world is located in Dubai, U.A.E. Its concept and design is marvelous and has major three parts- the trunk, the fronts and the crescent. There are three palm islands under construction in Dubai Palm Jumairah, Palm Jabal Ali and Palm Deira. Only the Palm Jumairah has been discussed in this report. The palm Jumairah has thousands of villas in its fronts and apartments in its trunck adding 72Km coastline to Dubai. General features of the Palm Jumairah are presented in this report.

Neeraj Thakur

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Contents:
No. Description Page

1. Introduction . 4 2. The shape .. 6 3. Construction of the island 8 5. Tunnel.. 11 6. District Cooling System .. 7. Photos. Summary .. References ..

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1. Introduction :
The Palm Islands (Atlantis) are an artificial archipelago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructures will be constructed. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates. They hired Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractor Jan De Nul and Van Oord, some of the world's specialists inland reclamation. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira. Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers.

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PALM JUMEIRAH
It is one of three islands called the Palm Islands. The Palm Jumeirah is the smallest amongst the original three Palm Islands.

Just five years in the making, The Palm Jumeirah is a stunning feat of design, engineering and creativity. Located between The Palm Jebel Ali and The World; two other spectacular landmarks in the lines of Palm Jumeirah, it is an icon of Dubai and the worlds newest landmark. The project is being developed by the Nakheel Corporation, which is held by the government of Dubai. The Palm Jumeirah measures 5km, has created 560ha of land and has added 78.6km to the country's 72km coastline.

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The Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, envisioned the creation of such islands because of the business and tourism potential of such waterfront areas. It was the realization that the country cannot depend on its oil reserves forever to drive its economy. World over it is seen that waterfront properties command premium price. The Palm was conceived as a natural progression in a succession of extraordinary tourism initiatives in Dubai.

Construction in-progress
It was also an answer to a practical challenge, which was how to create more beachfront when the emirate possessed only 72km of coastline. So, was born the ingenious idea of building artificial waterfronts that are accessible to the coast by roads and boats. The essence of the project is its design its palm shape, which dictated every step of its development. The choice was both personal and professional. It symbolizes

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Dubai's heritage (the palm is known as the 'bride of the orchard' in Dubai) as well as putting water, the most important source of sustenance, shelter and trade, Centre stage. Its shape also provides the perfect geometry to create the longest stretch of new beachfront. With these simple decisions made, the next step was to commission a vast wealth of expertise from a host of disciplines in order to reclaim the land and turn it into a safe and habitable environment. The project took four years of methodical planning and exhaustive feasibility studies in Dubai, ensuring that the islands would not disrupt the environment. The first stage of the development of The Palm Islands includes the construction of the land foundations, which involves sand transfer and rock placement. Following this, the next stage will involve the building of infrastructure and services, as well as the 300 meter (990 feet) bridges linking the islands to the mainland. The final stage consists of the construction of homes, townhouses, and apartments. At the peak of construction, 40,000 employees were working on the project each day, turning 94 million cubic meters of sand and seven million tons of rock into a leisure and lifestyle resort fit for the 21st century and beyond. When fully completed, it will become home to 32 five-star hotels with 25,000 guests, 20,000 day visitors and about 60,000 residents in apartments and villas. Its population will have five beach resorts, four marinas, a monorail and vast expanse of retail and commercial units at their disposal, comprised of a two-kilometer long trunk. A crown made of 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent, the island boasts more than 4000 luxury villas and apartments, over 30 of the worlds top hotels including The TAJ and over 75 kilometers of pristine beaches.

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2. Why Palm Tree Islands were built?

Dubai is a perfect place for the idea, having sunny days throughout the year. It has numerous beaches with hotels and resorts and a number of shopping malls. 5 Million Tourists visited Dubai each year, which the Sheikh wanted to triple to 15 million. But the problem was that the coastline of Dubai is just 72 Km, not enough for 15 million tourists that were to come. There is always a solution to a problem, build a massive island, shaped Palm Tree, up to the year 2006. The island was supposed to be 5.5 Km in diameter, thus increasing the coastline by 56 Km. The extra ordinary plan was to build a city in that island. Shopping, malls, restaurants, hotels, apartments and homes. The island was to host 22 luxurious hotels. Island could also be built from concrete, but to blend it with the surroundings, it was to be made from sand and gravels. 94 million cubic meters of sand was required for its construction. To protect from sea, breakwater was to be built of 5.5 million cubic meters of rock. Together they constitute to be able to build a 2.5 m high wall encircling the entire world.

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3. How the land was curved - How Palm Island was curved?
To insure that the island is in its required place and shape, 676 Km up in the space a Private satellite was used. The shape of island is nearly curved everywhere and it required pin point accuracy to shape it as a palm tree, hence, GPS (Global Positioning System) was used while pouring sand into the sea.Mobile receivers were used as a grid reference for the island and the satellite gave coordinates of the point where sand was to be put. The dredgers would then fill the area of sea which they were commanded by the satellite.

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4. Construction of the island

1200 foreign engineers were put to work. These engineers had previously experience of Hong Kong's International Airport, Singapore's Industrial center, Holland's North Road and other renowned mega structures. But no one had reclaimed a structure this size or shape before. By Nov, 2001 9 barges, 15 dumpers, 4 dredgers, 30 heavy land base machines and 10 cranes beside other construction machinery, were put to work. Its challenge was to put sand into the sea bed. Dredgers would collect sand from the sea and dump it where break water was to be constructed. All this was done when sea was at its calmest. Finding the right sand was an enormous job in itself. Dubai has a lot of sand, as there are vast areas there. But desert sand was too fine and sand at sea was more coarser and resistant to waves. To keep that sand in place, bare loaded rubble was dropped on to it. This was to raise breakwater to a height of 4 m above sea level. This was beginning of the sea defense, without which island couldn't exist. The sloping layers take out the force of the waves as they hit it. But sand and rubble is at the base. What really protects them both is another layer of rock. Each piece of rock weighed up to 6 tons. Sourcing huge amount of rocks forced builders to excavate rocks from 16 quarries across UAE. 11.5 Km breakwater needed 5.5 million cubic meters of rocks, enough to build two Egyptian Pyramids. Now, when breakwater had been built for half of its length, construction for the island began. Sand dredgers collected sand from the Arabian Gulf and dumped it to form the extreme island.

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i. Dredging:

Dredger pumps sand to form a palm-shaped island

Construction on the palm islands began in 2001. Divers surveyed the seabed and workers constructed a crescent-shaped breakwater from blasted mountain rock. The Crescent of Palm Jumeirah stands a little more than 13 feet above low tide sea level and sits in 34 feet of water at its deepest point. Sand, covered by an erosionpreventing water-permeable geo-textile, makes up the breakwater's lowest layer. One-ton rocks cover the sand, and two layers of large rocks weighing up to six tons each cap the structure. A "toe" placed by a floating crane sits inside the Crescent. The breakwater also has two 328-foot openings on each side to eliminate stagnation in the 16 narrow, deep channels. These gaps allow water to completely

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circulate every 13 days. Although five workers were swept away- by a wave and one drowned, the designers at Nakheel believe the breakwater will protect the palm island from average gulf weather and even an enormous storm. They even suggest that villas barely 10 feet above sea level will be safe from the rising seas of global warming. The palm islands themselves are constructed from sand dredged from the sea floor. Palm Jumeirah is made from 3,257,212,970.389 cubic feet of ocean sand vibro-compacted into place. Vibro-compaction increases the density of loose sand by saturating it with jets of water and vibrating it with probes.

Channel dredging 12

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ii. Side protection works:

Protection works view from the crescent road Side (72 Km Long)

The Jan De Nul Group started working on the Palm Jebel Ali in 2002 and had finished by the end of 2006. The reclamation project for the Palm Jebel Ali includes the creation of a four-kilometer-long peninsula, protected by a 200-metrewide, seventeen-kilometer long circular breakwater. 210,000,000 m3 of rock, sand and limestone were reclaimed (partly originating from the Jebel Ali Entrance Channel dredging works). There are approximately 10,000,000 cubic meters of rocks in the slope protection works.

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Transporting rocks from a quarry site

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iii. Problem of water stagnation in the island:

As the construction of the Mega structure island had started before the research was finished, 29 June 2010 engineers realized that fresh water was not circulating properly inside the island branches of the palm shaped area. Tides were not flushing the system properly. Water was in danger of becoming stagnant. Engineers of the Palm Island in Dubai came up with the solution that to cut the outer ring of island at two places, so that water enters and flushes the system. By August 2003 breakwater construction for the fragile island was completed. After two month from that, the island was also completed in the given time span.

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iv. Breakwater Crescent Palm Island Jumeirah:

The breakwater crescent of Palm Jumeirah is about 11 km long and 200 m wide in cross section. It stands over 13 feet above low tide sea level and sits in 34 feet of water at the deepest point. The crest of the breakwater is 3-4m above mean sea

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level. The seaward slope is one in two. The composition of the breakwater consists of coarse sand, quarry run, and 5-6 tons of sand. The seaside breakwater is protected by rubble mound armor. The lowest layer of the breakwater is filled with sand. Rocks weighing one ton were placed on top of the sand followed by two more layers of rocks. In addition, there are two 328-foot openings on each side of the breakwater to enhance water circulation. According to the Case Study No.1 Design of Palm Island, water renewal time is approximately 13 days, slightly different than the estimated average renewal times in another article, which stated 10.1 days. The fact that the latter estimate was derived during the construction period can explain the different results. Water circulation around the fronds and open sea is critical for marine life, supply of oxygen and the removal of pollution. Furthermore, there is a retaining wall between the Crescent and fronds. Another layer of rock is placed in front of the wall to reduce overtopping quantity.

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v. District Cooling System:

A district cooling plant in the palm island

District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating and water heating. The heat is often obtained from a cogeneration plant burning fossil fuels but increasingly biomass, although heat-only boiler stations, geothermal heating and central solar heating are also used, as well as nuclear power. District heating plants can provide higher efficiencies and better pollution control than localized boilers. According to some research, District Heating with Combined Heat and Power - CHPDH is the cheapest method of cutting carbon, and has one of the lowest carbon footprints of all fossil generation plants.

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vi. Tunnel:

The outer ring with its hotel facilities and a gigantic water park is connected to the trunk by a 996 m long tunnel. Including the entry and exit ramps, the tunnel construction has an overall length of 1.4 km of which around 600 m runs underwater up to depths of 25 m. The triple-tubed rectangular cross-section with three lanes in each individual tunnel along with a central supply tunnel were constructed using the cut-and-cover method. Just pumping out the excavation pit took one month. The cross-section is 38.00 m wide and 9.16 m high, the reinforced concrete bottom plate has a thickness ranging from 1.54 m to 2.08 m whilst the slab thickness varied between 1.50 m and 2.00 m. The outer walls are 1.50 m thick. Forming, reinforcement work and concreting were carried out using the separate casting method. In 25 m long concreting steps and four cycle sequences, the tunnel bottom plate, two wall sections respectively and then the slab could be concreted one after the other. PERI

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system components from the VARIO girder wall formwork system provided the ideal basis for all areas. Then the load-bearing GT 24 formwork girders as well as SRZ steel walkers could be used very flexibly as slab formwork as well. The concrete loads during construction of the tunnel slab were safely transferred into the bottom plate via PD 8 shoring tower.

VEHICLE TUNNEL:

One of the underground project on the Jumeirah Palm Island became the vehicle tunnel connecting the main Palm Island with the framing Crescent Island (Fig. 4). This tunnel was designed by Halcrow International Company and awarded for

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construction to JV Taisai and Al Naboodah. The length of this tunnel is approximately 1400 m. The tunnel has a rectangular shape and is supposed to provide vehicle and service access from the main Palm Island to the Crescent. To satisfy the Clients requirements, the tunnel was designed with three lanes of traffic in each direction while the central cell was reserved for services and an emergency evacuation (See Fig. 4). The cross-section of the tunnel forms a rectangular threecell shape with an external width of 37 m and an external height of 9.6 m. The left and right side cells of the tunnel have an internal width of 16.7 m and an internal height of 5.5 m. The central service cell of the tunnel is built to be 2.5 m in width and also 5.5 m in height. The base slab of the tunnel has a thickness from 2 to 2.6 m while the walls and the roof slab have a thickness of 1.5 m. The tunnel was constructed from concrete of grade B40/20 about 2m below the seabed or around 20 m below the sea level. To withstand against the high water pressure, over 2 bars, a geomembrane has been installed all around the tunnel. The membrane is made from High Density Polythene (HDPE). Furthermore all the joints of the tunnel are supplied with PVC Water stop and have special re-injectable horses manufactured by Sika A.G.

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vii. Impact on ecology:

At first the environmentalists were confirmed that the project would ruin the local marine life but when study was carried out, it showed that marine life was not disturbed and that the breakwater had turned into largest artificial reef for the marine life out there. Thus, the environmentalist had no objection to the project. Even before finishing this island, the Prince was inspired by the success and wanted to build two more islands, each bigger than the previous one.... Whole of the Project was completed in 2006.

viii. Summary:
There are three palm islands under construction in Dubai Palm Jumairah, Palm Jabel Ali and Palm Deira. Only the Palm Jumairah has been discussed in this report. The palm Jumairah is a man-made wonder referred as the eighth wonder of the world is brilliant in its designs and concepts. General features of the palm island are presented in this report.

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ix. REFRENCES:
1. Google 2. Wikipedia 3. Information from official web sites.

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