Burj Khalifa

A new high for high performance SCC

James Aldred PhD, CPEng, LEED AP, FIEAust, FACI, FICT

Technical Director AECOM

Adjunct Associate Professor - School of Civil &
Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales
Why build supertall buildings?
Isnt it unsustainable?
Holders of the Title of Worlds Tallest Building
Burj Khalifa
Piling:

60 MPa SCC

Raft:

50 MPa SCC

Tower:

80 MPa to 440 metres

60 MPa to 581 metres
80 MPa to 585 metres
60 MPa to 605 metres
Burj Khalifa Tower Foundations
 Mix Design for raft
(Temperature and durability considerations)

Cement (MSRPC) 252 kg/m3

Fly Ash 168 kg/m3
Silica fume 30 kg/m3
Aggregate (20 mm) 368 kg/m3
Aggregate (10 mm) 368 kg/m3
Washed crushed sand (0-5 mm) 552 kg/m3
Dune Sand (0 0.6 mm) 552 kg/m3
Fine Aggregate Component 60%
Polycarboxylate SP 4 - 6 L/m3
VMA 1 - 1.5 L/m3
w/cm 0.32
Slumpflow during production (Approx 5000 m)
 Burj Khalifa
Temperature rise in centre of tower raft
THE BURJ DUBAI TOWER RAFT FOUNDATION WORKS
Automated Concrete Temperature Monitoring
COLUMN H
80
Ambient
TC_H1
TC_H2
TC_H3
70
TC_H4
TC_H5
TC_H6

60
Temperature (Degree C)

50

40

30

20

10
13-Oct 18-Oct 23-Oct 28-Oct 2-Nov 7-Nov 12-Nov 17-Nov 22-Nov 27-Nov 2-Dec 7-Dec 12-Dec 17-Dec 22-Dec 27-Dec 1-Jan
Date : Time
 Compressive strength of cores (ASTM C39)

ASTM Core tests

0-400 (6)

4-800 (3)
Depth into raft (No of results)

8-1200 (1)

12-1600 (4)

16-2000 (0)

20-2400 (1)

24-2800 (2)

28-3000 (2)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Strength MPa
 Modulus of cores (ASTM C469)
Modulus
0-400 (2)
Depth into raft (no of results)

4-800 (3)

8-1200 (5)

12-1600 (0)

16-2000 (5)

20-2400 (0)

24-2800 (1)

28-3000 (1)

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000

Modulus N/mm2
 Coulomb values (ASTM C 1202)
Rapid Chloride Permeability Test

0-400 (3)
Depth into raft (no of results)

4-800 (1)

8-1200 (1)
12-1600 (1)

16-2000 (0)
20-2400 (0)

24-2800 (0)
28-3000 (1)

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Permeability - coulomb
Burj Khalifa - Structural System Description

Steel Braced Frame

spire, communication

Reinforced Concrete Core Wall System

hotel / residential / office

Pile Supported Raft Foundation

Mixture proportions

Code C80-20 C80-14 C80-10 C60-10 C50-20 C50-14

Max.Agg 20 14 10 10 20 14

w/cm 0.27 0.30 0.29 0.35 0.36 0.36

OPC 380 384 400 376 328 338

FA 60 96 100 94 82 112

SF 44 48 50 25 25 25

F.Agg % 50 49 49 51 49 50
Pumping Trial
 Reductions in slumpflow during pumping trials

Pipe Length(m) Concrete Slumpflow(mm)

grade
At plant Before After Loss
pumping pumping /100m

250 C80-20 600 580 495 34

C80-14 600 545 475 16
450
C80-10 630 560 415 32
C80-20 600 540 420 27
C50-14 630 580 480 17
600
C60-10 620 560 395 28
C80-14 600 410 32
Concrete pressure during trials

Pipe Concrete Output Friction Concrete pressure (bars)

Length(m) grade (m3/hr) factor
Hopper 250m 450m 600m

250 C80-20 29 5.3 119 21 - -

C80-14 29 2.3 88 43 10 -
450
C80-10 33 2.0 90 47 11 -

C50-14 30 1.6 88 51 27 8
600
C60-10 27 1.9 99 63 34 11
Increases in temperature during pumping trials

Pipe Length(m) Concrete Temperature (0C)

grade At plant Before After pumping Increase
pumping /100m

250 C80-20 26 27 30 1.2

C80-14 25 25 29 0.9
450 C80-10 28 27 32 1.1
C80-20 27 28 37 2.0
C50-14 26 27 33 1.0
600 C60-10 27 28 35 1.2
C80-14 29 35 1.0
Pump Station at ground level
 C80A - Slumpflow and temperature data

700 40

35
600

30
500

Concrete temperature (0C)

25
Slumpflow (mm)

400

20

300
15

200
10

100
5

0 0
17-Jun-06 24-Jun-06 1-Jul-06 8-Jul-06 15-Jul-06 22-Jul-06 29-Jul-06 5-Aug-06 12-Aug-06 19-Aug-06 26-Aug-06
Date poured
 100 8.0

7.0

75 6.0

Std Deviation (MPa)

5.0
Strength (MPa)

50 4.0

3.0

25 2.0

1.0

0 0.0
29/11/06 18/1/07 09/3/07 28/4/07 17/6/07 06/8/07 25/9/07 14/11/07
Measuring Pressure
 Pumping pressure vs height

200

180
C80-20
160
C80-14
140 C60-14

120 Linear
Pressure (bar)

(C60-14)
100 Linear
(C80-20)
80
Linear
(C80-14)
60

40

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Height (m)
Concrete Rheology Key to High Pressure Pumping
 Effect of pumping on fresh concrete properties

Grade of concrete C60/14 C80/14 C80/20 (5inch)

Level L126 L129 L115-1 L115-2 L125 L102

before after before after before after before after before after before after
Sampling
pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping pumping

Slump Flow (mm) 640 545 620 570 710 635 640 620 570 550 690 600

T-500 (sec) 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.0 3.5 3.1 4.7 3.9 9.2 4.1 4.3 6.9

Temperature (C ) 25.0 29.0 25.0 28.0 25.0 27.0 25.0 26.5 28.0 31.0 24.0 26.0

P lastic viscosity (P a.s) 24.0 12.7 24.7 13.0 39.8 29.7 40.9 16.0 51.4 26.9 93.4 45.8

Dynamic Yield Stress (Pa) 56.8 116.8 61.5 125.4 12.1 37.1 62.6 92.4 85.4 116.0 18.5 48.3
Kingdom Tower
Tower Height: 1,000+ meters

Number of floors: 240 +

Estimated Concrete: 250,000 m3

85 MPa to L98 170,000 m3

75 MPa to L168 70,000 m3
65 MPa to 975m 10,000 m3
Conclusions
Concrete has now replaced steel as the material of
choice for supertall building construction.

Self consolidating concrete provides for rapid and

high quality construction which can be pumped great
distances.

Good quality control to maintain consistent concrete

properties is important to ensuring continuous
uninterrupted concrete pumping at high pressure.

Ensuring a cohesive slurry to prime the pipeline is

important to prevent segregation and blockage,
especially in pumping highly workable concrete.
Thank You

James.Aldred@aecom.com