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 Structural Concrete Properties and Practice (2013) 1-4

Structural Concrete Properties and Practice

Research Paper Assignment

Concrete for high-rise buildings: Performance requirements, mix

CrossMark
design and construction considerations
Nicholas Bester *
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: A higher demand for high-rise buildings worldwide, relatively recent advances in concrete
Received 30 September 2013 technology and developments in construction methods has led to an increasing number of
reinforced concrete supertall and megatall high-rise buildings being constructed. Special
Keywords: attention is required when making use of concrete in these buildings. Stringent performance
Concrete requirements, careful design of mixes required and numerous construction considerations
High-rise buildings that must be taken account of. In an effort to better understand the use of concrete in high-
High-performance rise buildings, research into these requirements and considerations was investigated. An
High-strength international case study on the Burj Khalifa (Dubai), the worlds tallest building, was
Self-compacting conducted. Findings from the case studies relating to compressive strength, pumping,
Mix design pumpability, workability, congested cages, lateral pressure on formwork, elastic modulus,
Construction shrinkage, creep, mass foundations and heat of hydration are presented and discussed.
Burj Khalifa Reference is made to literature in an attempt to provide fundamental understanding and
insight. Special attention is paid to pumpable, self-compacting, high-performance concrete.

1. Introduction in strength, stiffness, pumpability and high early-age strength of

As the worlds population continually rises and urbanisation
continues to prevail, urban density at city centres increases (when
urban development is laterally constrained). This leads to what is
known as urban verticalisation and is the predominant driver
towards taller buildings in congested and pricey urban locations [1].
Just before the start of the 21st century, the tallest building in the
world was the Petronas Tower (Kuala Lumpur) standing at 452 m
high. Twelve years later in 2010, this record was almost doubled as
the construction of the Burj Khalifa (Dubai) was completed, standing
828 m tall [2]. It is likely that the Burj Khalifa will not hold the record
for more than five years as the construction of the 1007 m Kingdom
Tower (Jeddah) commenced in January 2012 [1]. Furthermore, it is
predicted that by the year 2020, the Burj Khalifa will be one of only
three currently complete buildings in the top 20 tallest buildings in
the world [2].
Not only are high-rise buildings becoming increasingly taller but
the number of high-rise buildings is also increasing rapidly. This year
alone, 13 supertall buildings (300 m 600 m) are projected to be
completed; a significant increase from the three that were completed
in 2009. Moreover, a continuous increase in the number of supertall
buildings is predicted until the year 2020 which will see 18 supertall
buildings and 3 megatall (600 m +) being completed [2].
High-performance concrete is a crucial part of the viability of
high-rise buildings, even more so for supertall and megatall
buildings, not only structurally but economically too. The advances
_______
*Corresponding author. Cell: +27 78 361 7392.
E-mail address: bstnic005@myuct.ac.za
high-performance concrete coupled with prefabricated
reinforcement cages and the significant development of slip- and
climb-formwork technology allow the construction of complex
reinforced concrete (RC) structures to progress at 2 to 3 floors per
week [1,3]. Properly designed RC is therefore becoming more viable
in terms of construction speed than structural steel [3].
However, special attention is required when making use of
concrete in these supertall and megatall buildings. There are
stringent performance requirements, careful design of mixes
required and numerous construction considerations that must be
taken account of [1,3-5]. This paper attempts to highlight and discuss
these requirements and considerations by conducting a case study
on the use of pumpable, self-compacting, high-performance concrete
for the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest high-rise building. The
observations made from the case study are referenced to concrete
technology literature in order to provide fundamental reasoning and
understanding. Concluding remarks are then made from the
discussion of the observations.
2. Case Study: Burj Khalifa (Dubai)
The Burj Khalifa (Fig. 1a), completed in early 2010, is currently
the worlds tallest building. It is located in Dubai where it stands 828
m tall and has 160 floors [2]. The building contains a Y-shaped RC
core which extends up to a height of 586m above which a structural
steel spire was constructed.
2 N. Bester / Structural Concrete Properties and Practice (2013) 1-4

(a) (b) C80-20 3.2 Pumping and Pumpability

C80-14
C50-xx Without the ability of concrete to be pumped, it would not be a
C60-xx viable construction material as large quantities of material would
need to be lifted by cranes resulting in highly inefficient construction
due to slowed casting rates. Pumping concrete, especially in supertall
and megatall, can result in pumping blockages due to aggregate plug,
hot weather, casting delays and problematic concrete mixes which
can cause delays and prove to be costly [1,3]. For this reason, careful
mix design, sufficient trial mixes and full-scale pumping tests prior
to construction and systematic on-site monitoring of rheology and

600 m
350 m
Raft
foundation
Piles
Fig. 1. An (a) auxiliary view of the Burj Khalifa [6] and (b) an elevation of the
Burj Khalifa showing the concrete strengths and maximum coarse aggregate
sizes used (Notation: characteristic cube compressive strength in MPa
maximum aggregate size in millimetres) [5].
Approximately 250,000 m3 of virtually self-compacting, high-
performance concrete with strengths varying from 50 to 80 MPa was
used as shown in Fig. 1b. The 80 MPa concrete mix consisted of a
77/13/10 ternary blend of fly ash (FA) and condensed silica fume
(CSF) with a water/binder (w/b) ratio of 0.34, resulting in an average
slump flow around 600 mm [1]. All of concrete was delivered by
readymix trucks and was pumped from the ground up. A maximum
pumping height, and a new world record, of 601 m was achieved [3].
3. Requirements and Considerations
3.1 Compressive Strength
The great height to which modern high-rise buildings are
constructed intuitively results in very high loads which must be
carried by vertical load-bearing structural members such as columns,
core walls and piles. In order to carry these loads, without having
columns and piles of excessively large cross-sections, high-strength
concrete (HSC) must be used along with heavily reinforced steel
cages. This is evident from the high strengths required for the Burj
Khalifa (Fig. 1b).
For HSC concrete, the increased packing density achieved due to
a lower w/b ratio and the use of superplasticers coupled with high
fineness extenders (FA and CSF) results in reduced porosity of the
cement paste and interfacial transition zone (ITZ). This
microstructure refinement provides the higher compressive strength
but renders the aggregate as the weak link in terms of compressive
strength with the failure plane in compression usually through the
aggregates [7]. Since the aggregate becomes the critical component,
high-quality and high-strength aggregates should be used.
Additionally, to achieve a sufficiently low w/b ratio an aggregate
with a low water requirement should be used [7]. The applicability of
the aggregate for pumping should also be considered when choosing
an aggregate to ensure economical pumping (see Section 3.2). The
use of crushed local dolomitic limestone for the Burj Khalifa provided
sufficient strength, had a low water requirement and proved to be
economical for pumping (see Section 3.2) [3].
pipe pressures are crucial to minimise the potential for blockages
[1,3]. Pumping concrete for the Burj Khalifa proved to be the most
difficult concrete design issue [5].
Concrete to be pumped should have a sufficiently high fine
aggregate content, as is the case for HSC. This increases the
cohesiveness and reduces segregation of the mix which reduces the
potential for aggregate plug whereby the mix water in the concrete
is forced through ahead of the mix (shown in Fig. 2) [8]. When this
occurs, the coarse aggregate particles interlock, the internal friction
increases and the concrete stops moving. It should however be noted
that a fine aggregate content that is too high, causing the mix to be
excessively cohesive, will require increased pumping pressures due
to increased friction between the concrete and the inner lining of the
pipeline [8]. The use of CSF at 10% replacement and fine aggregate
percentage of 50% for the concrete mix for the Burj Khalifa helped to
prevent aggregate plug and at the same time did cause the mix to be
overly cohesive [3].
Blockages due to early setting of the concrete in pipeline can also
be a problem due to the length of time (can be around 30 min [3])
required to pump the concrete to high altitudes [1,3]. In the case of
the Burj Khalifa, this was exacerbated by the hot summer weather
experienced in the Dubai where temperatures can occasionally reach
50C and so a specifically designed superplasticing admixture which
provided adequate retardation was necessary to ensure sufficient
time for pumping of the concrete before setting commenced [3,5].
The dosage of the admixture had to be varied for the different
seasons of the year as Dubai experiences relatively cool winters [5].
The choice of coarse aggregate for the concrete mix can have a
significant influence on the cost of pumping. Two important
properties of coarse aggregates that must be considered when
selecting a coarse aggregate are the abrasiveness and maximum size
[1,3]. An abrasive aggregate can cause excessive wear on the lining of
the pipeline, especially at high pumping pressures required for
supertall and megatall buildings, so much so that the lifespan of the
pipeline can be reduced to around 10 000 m3 [3]. For the Burj
Khalifa, a pipeline lifespan of approximately 40 000m3 was achieved
by using a less abrasive dolomitic limestone [3]. The maximum
aggregate size affects the size of the pipeline. Generally, the pipe
diameter should be at least four times the maximum aggregate size
to reduce the potential for blockages [8]. However, a larger pipe
diameter requires a greater pressure head. A 150 mm diameter
pipeline was used for the Burj Khalifa for the 20 mm aggregate up to
around a height of 350 m. At altitudes higher than this the aggregate
size was reduced, as well as the pipe diameter, to reduce pumping
pressures (see Fig. 3) [3].
The increased altitude and time that the concrete must be
pumped for supertall and megatall buildings must be carefully
considered too as it can have significant changes on the rheology on
the concrete. For every 100 m of vertical pumping of concrete for the
Burj Khalifa, a flow loss of between 25 and 30 mm (10%),
temperature increase of 0.8-1.0C and an increase in early-age
strength of approximately 30% was experienced [3]. Pumping was
found to roughly halve the plastic viscosity of the mix and double the
 N. Bester / Structural Concrete Properties and Practice (2013) 1-4
Fig. 2: An illustration of aggregate plug caused by mix water forcing out ahead
of the mix [8].
Fig. 3: Graph showing how pumping pressure increased with height for the
Burj Khalifa and the influence of the reduction in compressive strength and
maximum coarse aggregate size had on the pumping pressure [3].
dynamic yield stress. This was attributed to the temperature rise of
the concrete during pumping and should be taken into account when
designing the concrete mix [3].
3.3 Workability - Congested Cages and Lateral Pressure on Formwork
Vertical load-bearing members such as columns, core walls and
piles carry significantly high loads and so are often heavily
reinforced, resulting in dense rebar cages (shown in Fig. 4). Concrete
to be poured in these cages must be sufficiently workable and should
have a maximum coarse aggregate size that allows it to easily flow
through the reduced spacing of the rebars without causing blockages.
Concrete used in supertall and megatall buildings is usually
pumped (as discussed in Section 3.2) and so sufficient workability
must be provided for pumping the workability requirement for
pumping being more critical than that of placement [1]. This is
evident in the virtually self-compacting concrete which recorded a
slump flow of 600 mm in order to successfully pump concrete to
heights of 600m for the Burj Khalifa. Similarly, the maximum coarse
aggregate size is also governed by pumping requirements [1].
Sufficient workability and an appropriate setting time should
however be ensured so that the pumped concrete can be placed with
sufficient time before it sets. The effect of pumping on the rheology
of the concrete (as discussed in Section 3.2) should be considered as
it can have a large influence, especially when pumping to heights of
600 m as in the case of the Burj Khalifa [1,3].
The use of a highly workable, virtually self-compacting concrete
results in lateral pressures on formwork due to the decreased yield
stress of the mix [1]. This pressure must be catered for by using
sufficiently strong formwork. Usually, it is assumed that self-
compacting concrete exerts a full hydrostatic pressure on the
formwork as test results have shown the exerted pressure to be 20%
to 100% of hydrostatic pressure [1]. This highly conservative
assumption results in overly strong formwork which increases the
cost significantly [9].
3
Fig. 4. A photograph of concrete being cast at night and the use of heavily
reinforced rebar cages in the Burj Khalifa [3].
3.4 Elastic Modulus, Shrinkage and Creep
The use of smaller vertical load-bearing member cross-sections
in supertall and megatall buildings, made possible by the use of HSC
(Section 3.1), means that greater loads must be carried by cross-
sections of reduced size. In order to reduce the elastic shortening of
these members, a higher elastic modulus is required. This is evident
in the C80 concrete used for Burj Khalifa which had a specified elastic
modulus of approximately 44 GPa [1,5].
Concrete to be pumped is often designed with a reduced coarse
aggregate content to prevent blockages and reduce pipe wear which
is not conducive to obtaining a higher elastic modulus [1]. Another
option is the use of harder aggregates, however these aggregates are
more abrasive and so increase pipe wear. Achieving an increased
elastic modulus therefore entails a compromise between a
sufficiently high elastic modulus and sufficient pumpability [1]. A
dolomitic limestone as coarse aggregate for the Burj Khalifa, which
usually exhibits a high elastic modulus with a relatively low
abrasiveness, was found to be optimal and so was used [10].
The majority of shrinkage of HSC is due to autogenous shrinkage
which occurs due to self-desiccation [7]. Together with the high
hydration temperatures of HSC and high ambient temperatures of
Dubai (up to 50C), HSC can experience severe early-age cracking [7].
To reduce the risk of cracking and ensure the serviceability and
durability requirements of the concrete are maintained, special
attention should be paid to curing and appropriate curing procedures
should be employed. Extensive curing tests on full-scale specimens,
as shown in Fig. 6, were conducted to determine optimal curing
procedures [5]. Sprayed on curing compounds were determined to
be the most efficient and practical curing method for vertical
members [3].
Differential shortening of the vertical load-bearing members in
supertall and megatall as a result of shrinkage and creep can result in
increased stresses which should be accounted for in rebar of vertical
members that shorten less [1]. Additionally, differential shortening
should be minimised to ensure proper functioning and minimal
damage of elevators, pipelines, curtain walls, etc. [1]. Prediction of
vertical shortening due to elastic, shrinkage and creep deformations
should therefore be conducted on the structure, as shown in Fig. 5
[1].
3.5 Mass Foundations and Heat of Hydration
The rate of heat evolution of HSC is significantly greater than that
of normal strength concrete however the total heat of hydration is
lower [7]. As a result, large temperature gradients may develop
4 N. Bester / Structural Concrete Properties and Practice (2013) 1-4
which can result in early-age thermal cracking, particularly in large
members such as mass foundations. Full-scale testing to monitor the
concrete temperature was conducted for the Burj Khalifas 3.7 m
thick raft foundation when designing the concrete mix, as shown in
Fig. 6 [1,5].
The concrete for the raft foundation of the Burj Khalifa had a
characteristic cube compressive strength of 50 MPa from a mix
containing 40% FA and a w/b ratio of 0.34 [1]. The high replacement
of FA helped to reduce the heat of hydration due to its somewhat
latent pozzolanic reaction [3]. No CSF was used in the mix as it is
highly reactive due to its high fineness and hence would increase the
rate of heat evolution.
Due to the extreme ambient temperatures experienced in Dubai,
the risk of thermal cracking is even higher. In order to reduce
concrete placing temperatures in the summer months, the majority
of casting was done during the night, as shown in Fig. 4 when the
temperature was relatively lower [11]. Additionally, appropriate
water curing and partial replacement of the mix water with flaked
ice was used to lower the heat of concrete temperature [11].
Fig. 5. Contribution to the predicted vertical shortening (excluding foundation
settlement) of elastic, shrinkage and creep deformations [5].
Fig. 6. Raft concrete test cubes and column test cylinders to verify placement
and curing procedures as well as to monitor the heat of hydration [5].
4. Concluding Remarks
It is evident from the numerous performance requirements, mix
design and construction considerations for the concrete used on the
Burj Khalifa that special attention is required when making use of
concrete in supertall and megatall buildings. The key requirements
and considerations observed from the Burj Khalifa are summarized in
the following:
High compressive strengths are required to reduce vertical load-
bearing member cross-sections and therefore the coarse aggregate
used needs to be of a high-strength and high-quality so it doesnt
limit the compressive strength. Additionally, it should have a low
water requirement and should be economical for pumping.
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Pumpability of the concrete is essential to make RC construction
viable but can be difficult when pumping to high altitudes.
Sufficiently high fine aggregate contents are essential to increase
cohesion and reduce segregation. However, a fine aggregate
content that is too high will result in an overly cohesive mix which
will be difficult to pump. For economical pumping, coarse
aggregates should not be abrasive and too large. Pumping can
significantly change the rheology of the concrete which must be
accounted for in the mix design.
Workability for adequate flow through congested rebar cages is
largely met by the requirements for pumping of the concrete. The
change in rheology after pumping should however be accounted
for. The use of virtually self-compacting pumpable concrete results
in lateral pressure on formwork and so formwork should be
sufficiently strong.
The reduced cross-sections of vertical load-bearing members with
higher loads results in the need for a higher elastic modulus.
Achieving a higher elastic modulus results in a trade-off with
economical pumpability requirements where reduced aggregate
contents and softer, less abrasive aggregates are used. High early-
age shrinkage strains, which may cause cracking, can develop if
HSC concrete is not appropriately cured. Differential shortening of
vertical load-bearing members due to shrinkage and creep should
be predicted to ensure appropriate functioning of vertical services
such as lifts and pipelines.
High rates of heat evolution associated with HSC can result in large
temperature gradients leading to early thermal cracking, especially
in large members. The use of a high FA replacement can aid in
reducing the heat of hydration. The use of CSF is not recommended.
In the case of extreme ambient temperatures, casting should be
conducted at night when the temperature is cooler. Additionally,
water curing and partial replacement of flaked ice for mix water
can help to reduce concrete temperatures.
References
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research needs of self-consolidating concrete in super-tall buildings, Constr.
Build Mater. 48 (2013) 80-90.
[2] Tallest 20 in 2020: Entering the Era of the Megatall, Council on Tall
Buildings and Urban Habitat, December 2011.
[3] J. Aldred, Burj Khalifa a new high for high-performance concrete,
Proceedings of ICE Civil Engineering 163 (2) (2010), 66-73 (May).
[4] Concrete for High-Rise Buildings, Concrete Construction Magazine,
November 1961.
[5] W.F. Baker, D. Stanton Korista, L.C. Novak, Burj Dubai: Engineering the
Worlds Tallest Building, Struc. Design Tall Spec. Build. 16 (2007) 361-375.
[6] Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, The Skyscraper Database,
<http://www.skyscrapercenter.com> [06 September 2013].
[7] H. Beushausen, F. Dehn, High-performance concrete, in: G. Owens (Ed.),
Fultons Concrete Technology, Ninth Ed., 297-304, Cement & Concrete Institute,
South Africa, 2009.
[8] Concrete Construction, What Makes Concrete Pumpable?,
<http://www.concreteconstruction.net/Images/What%20Makes%20Concrete%2
0Pumpable__tcm45-348701.pdf> [15 September 2013].
[9] D. Lange How tall, how fast, how safe? New insights into form-work
pressure of self-consolidating concrete, Concr. Construct. 53 (2008) (11) 335.
[10] G. Grieve, Aggregates for concrete, in: G. Owens (Ed.), Fultons Concrete
Technology, Ninth Ed., 25-62, Cement & Concrete Institute, South Africa, 2009.
[11] N. Subramanian, Burj Dubai: Worlds Tallest Structure, NBMCW,
<http://www.nbmcw.com/articles/green-construction/18618-burj-dubai-
worlds-tallest-structure.html> [16 September 2013].