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Geotechnical foundation design for some of the world's tallest buildings

2016; Volume: 2; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3208/jgssp.esd-kl-2

2188-8027

Frances Badelow, H G Poulos,

Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures

This paper describes the foundation design process that has been adopted for some of the world’s tallest buildings, including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the Incheon 151 Tower in Korea. The foundation system for these super tall towers is a piled raft, founded on deep deposits of soils and rocks. The foundation systems are required to support the large building vertical and lateral loads and to restrain the horizontal displacement due to wind and seismic forces. The behavior of the foundation system due to these loads together with the foundation stiffness influences the design of the superstructure, displacement of the tower, as well as the raft foundation. Therefore, the design takes into account the interactions between soil, foundation and superstructure, so as to achieve a safe and efficient building performance. An outline will be given of the geotechnical investigations completed, the field and laboratory testing programs, and the design process. Of particular concern for the Burj Khalifa was a potential issue of cyclic degradation of skin friction. The measured and predicted building settlements will be presented. For the Incheon 151 Tower, complex ground conditions were present under the site which resulted in significant challenges for pile design and construction.