Celes Lecture 2014

Abstract

Kingdom Tower is currently in the early stages of construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It will be the world’s first manmade structure to reach one kilometer in height. The presentation will focus on the significant technical engineering challenges of designing the next world’s tallest building. A brief overview of the architectural and master planning scheme for the tower and the surrounding developments will be presented as an introduction to this unique project. Important aspects of the geotechnical site exploration program, piled raft foundation design and significant foundation-tower interaction studies will be presented; along with long term settlement predictions, the completed pile load testing program, and ground seismicity studies. The superstructure is composed almost entirely of reinforced concrete walls and coupling beams. The presentation will focus on the development of the tower structural system including historical precedents, the wind tunnel testing program and other unique aspects of the tower structural engineering design and construction planning. Particularly critical technical issues such as the prediction of vertical shortening due to the long-term creep and shrinkage of the concrete frame, and behavioral characteristics of the tower under lateral and gravity loadings will also be highlighted.