1
Site Investigation for
Kingdom Tower
Naeem O. Abdulhadi & Emad Y. Sharif
Arab Center for Engineering Studies (ACES)
Presentation for the 6th Jordanian International
Civil Engineering Conference
10 March 2015
2
Presentation Outline
Introduction & Project Details
Tall Buildings - Challenges
Geotechnical Investigation & Testing
Geology
Field Testing Program- SPT & Permeability Packer
- Pressuremeter Testing
- Down-hole Geophysics
Laboratory Testing Program- Compressive Strength Testing
- Consolidated-Drained Triaxial Compression Testing
Conclusions & Comparison of Field & Laboratory
Measurements
Location:
Jeddah – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Developer:
Jeddah Economic Company (Kingdom
Holding) – Emaar was client at time of study
Architect:
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
Dar Al Handasa (Architect of Record)
Geotechnical consultant:
Langan International
Structural Engineer:
Thornton Tomasetti
Contractor:
Saudi Bin Laden
Project description
Ultra-Tall Tower +1000m (167 floors)
Podium +4 levels of basements+ services
To Be the World’s Tallest BuildingKingdom Tower
Tall Buildings-Geotechnical Challenges Remarkable increase in the rate of construction of tall buildings.
Structural and geotechnical design challenges.
Sophisticated and state-of-the art methods instead of traditional empirical methods.
Rigorous process of foundation design.
Weight
Differential settlement
Lateral forces and moments
(cyclic & dynamic loading)
Characteristics that influence foundation design:
Nature of soil and rock deposits (Middle East).
Piled raft system: effective and relatively
economical foundation solution.
3 phases: 81 boreholes (~20m - 200m).
Rotary drilling using mud/water flush.
Disturbed, undisturbed & split spoon
samples.
SPT in soil; continuous coring in rock.
Conventional\wireline & double\triple
core barrels.
Coring systems: PWF, PQ/PQ3,
HQ/HQ3 & T2-76.
Drilling & Sampling
Field Testing & Instrumentation
Standard penetration test (SPT).
Permeability (packer) testing (total 40 test).
Pressuremeter testing (total 232 test).
Geophysical Survey Down-hole test (total 3
tests down to 180m).
Installation of standpipe piezometers (total 16).
6
Laboratory Testing
Classification & index testing.
Strength testing (instrumented USC;
point load).
Advanced tests (CD triaxial with
volume change measurements and
repetitive cyclic tests) – Surrey Lab.
Chemical testing.
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(Sc) Topsoil
LEGEND
(Cr) Coral Reef
(G1) Poorly consolidated Conglomerate/Gravel
(SS1) Poorly consolidated Sandstone/Sand
(G2) Poorly consolidated Conglomerate/Gravel
(SS2) Poorly consolidated Sandstone/Sand
(G3) Poorly consolidated Conglomerate/Gravel
(SS3) Dark grey, compact, gritty Sandstone
(SS4) Dark grey, poorly consolidated Sandstone/Sand
BH403
Borehole
Geology and Site ConditionsHorizontally stratified profile of marine sediments which are complex
and highly variable.
Generalized Subsurface Profile
Stratigraphy:
- Soil Cover.
- Coral.
- Conglomerate/Gravel.
- Sandstone/Sand.
- Conglomerate/Gravel.
- Sandstone.
voids/cavities in S.st (~173m).
9??
Coral
Reef
~50m
(G.1) ~4m
(SS.1)
~13m
(G.2) ~7m
(SS.2)
~31-44m
(G.3)
~13.0m
(SS.3)
~60.5m
(SS.4)
Very weak to weak, buff white, unweathered
to partly weathered, intermittently fractured,
porous and vuggy Coral.
Fossiliferous silty sand with many fragments
of broken shells, corals.
Gravel in fine to medium sand matrix with
local inter-layers of reddish brown siltstone.
Poorly consolidated Sands with gravel and
local patches/pockets of consolidated sand.
Gravel to sand with gravel; with thin (10-
30cm) interlayers of poorly consolidated sand.
Poorly consolidated, Sandstone/Sand with
interlayers of Gravels/Conglomerates of ~
1m thickness.
Gravel/Conglomerate with interbeds of hard,
slightly weathered gritty Sandstone of 1-4m
thickness.
Greenish grey coarse, gritty Sandstone with
Coral fragments.
Dark grey to greenish grey, poorly
consolidated, fine grained Sandstones/Sand.
Coral Reef (15.2m-20.0m)
Sandstone (148.25m-153.25m)
Fine grained Sandstone (196.25m-200m)
Gravel (53.13m-56.92m)
Conglomerate
(63.0m-67.0m)
Soft Sandstone/Sand (92.7m-98.0m)
Soil Cover
~1.7m
-200
-180
-160
-140
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
Subsurface Stratigraphy
Permeability Packer Tests - BS 5930-1999
40 double packer tests.
Various depths (~3.0-18.5m)
Tests carried out in Coral Layer.
Permeability 1.23×10-5 to 8.38×10-5 m/s.
Pressuremeter Tests - ASTM D 4719
High Pressure Dilatometer (HPD) tests in Coral and Sandstone/Sand.
Total 232 tests at various depths ~3.0m-149m below ground level.
Calibration ~ pressure & volume.
Test section drilled/prepared using T2-76 core barrel.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000
Re-Loading Modulus of Deformation (MPa)
2st cycle-Reloading 3nd cycle-Reloading
Cycle-2First Re-loading
Cycle-3Re-loading
Key to Deformation Modulus
Dep
th (
m)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000Un-Loading Modulus of Deformation (MPa)
1st cycle-Un-loading 2nd cycle-Un-loading 3rd cycle-Un-loading
Cycle-1First Un-loading
Cycle-2Un-loading
Cycle-3Un-loading
Key to Deformation Modulus
Co
ral
Sa
nd
sto
ne/
Sa
nd
-Gra
vel
Sa
nd
sto
ne
Mainly to obtain modulus: G = ½ x (dp/dεc); E = 2G (1+ν)
Res
ult
s o
f D
ow
n-H
ole
PS
Su
sp
en
sio
n
Down-Hole Geophysics PS suspension carried out to acquire P-S wave
velocities to derive dynamic soil properties (E, G, ν).
Density estimated from lab tests.
Borehole cased, grouted & filled w/ water.
𝐺 = 𝜌𝑉𝑠2 , 𝐺 =
𝐸
2(1 + 𝑣), 𝑣 =
𝑉𝑝/𝑉𝑠2
2 𝑉𝑝/𝑉𝑠2− 1
Co
ral
Sa
nd
sto
ne/
Sa
nd
-Gra
vel
Sa
nd
sto
ne
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50Poissons Ratio
PR - BH001 PR - BH102
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Velocity (m/s)
Vs-BH001 Vp-BH001
Vs-BH102 Vp-BH102
Vs Vp
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0 5000 10000 15000Modulus (MPa)
G - BH001 E - BH001
G - BH102 E - BH102
G E
Dep
th (
m)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
1 10 100 1000 10000
Dep
th (
m)
Young's Modulus, E (MPa)
UCS (Hoek & Brown) Instrumented UCS. CD Triaxial
Co
ral
Sa
nd
sto
ne/
Sa
nd
-Gra
vel
Sa
nd
sto
ne
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0.1 1 10 100
Dep
th (
m)
Uniaxial Compressive Strength (MPa)
UCS UCS-Instrumented
Results of Uniaxial Compressive Strength Results of Deformation Modulus from UCS and Triaxial
Empirical relationships to estimate deformation modulus from
uniaxial compressive strength.
Hoek & Brown (1997)
Direct measurements of the intact Young’s Modulus from the
instrumented UCS.
Consolidated-Drained Triaxial Compression Test (Surrey Lab)
Compressive
Strength𝐸𝑚 𝐺𝑃𝑎 =
𝑈𝐶𝑆 (𝑀𝑃𝑎)
10010
𝐺𝑆𝐼−1040
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
1 10 100 1000 10000 100000
Young's Modulus, E (MPa)
PS suspension-BH001 PS Suspension-BH102
UCS-Hoek & Brown Instrumented UCS
CD Triaxial Pressuremeter (Reloading)
Cora
lS
an
dst
on
e/S
an
d-G
ravel
San
dst
on
e
Stiffness from the pressuremeter
(reload cycle) compared relatively
well with those obtained from the
UCS and triaxial tests.
The stiffness from the seismic testing
were about 6-10 times those of the
pressuremeter and UCS tests.
The subsurface conditions at the
Kingdom Tower site are quite
complex and highly variable.
The sound rock line is estimated
in the underlying Sandstone
layer at depth of 122m below
ground level.
Conclusions & Comparison
Factors affecting stiffness include
strain level, joint structure,
disturbance, etc.
15
Site Investigation for
Kingdom Tower
Naeem O. Abdulhadi & Emad Y. Sharif
Arab Center for Engineering Studies (ACES)
Presentation for the 6th Jordanian International
Civil Engineering Conference
10 March 2015