Geotechnical and Geological Engineering for the Nakheel Tower, Dubai

Dr Chris Haberfield

Golder Associates is the geotechnical engineer for the Nakheel Tower in Dubai. The tower was to form the centre piece of the Nakheel Harbour and Tower development in the heart of “new Dubai”. With a planned height of over 1 km and a dead weight in excess of 2,000,000 tonnes, the tower was set to become not only the worldÕs tallest building but also one of the heaviest. The bearing pressures applied to the ground coupled with the soft rock ground conditions present at the site provided a significant challenge to the design of the footing system. Chris Haberfield led the geotechnical design team for the design of the foundations of the tower. Chris will present an overview of the tower and provide details of the ground investigation and geotechnical engineering undertaken which led to the development of the footing solution finally adopted.

Due to the economic down turn the construction of tall tower has been put on hold with the foundations two thirds completed.

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