At 829.8 meters tall, the Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merill of Chicago, who also designed the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) in Chicago, and New York's new One World Trade Center. The skyscraper took six years to construct, was officially opened on January 4, 2010, and certified as the world's tallest structure on March 10, 2010.
Over forty wind tunnel tests were conducted to learn the effects of the strong Arab winds. The building's shape is modeled after the Hymeocallis, a desert flower indiginous to the region, as well as incorporating patterns found within Islamic architecture. Burj Khalifa's 'Y' shaped cross section and it's stepped-back profile reduce drag and wind resistance across its surface, which is vital for such a tall structure, avoiding stresses that could potentially cause it to topple over.
The tower has fifteen tiers, or groups of commonly-shaped floors, over 100 storey increments. Each is staggered back in a spiral-stepping pattern as you rise up the building, causing the tower's width to decrease at each setback, and diffusing wind flow and pressure across its surface.
Burj Khalifa Official Site
Journal Article: Structural Behavior of Burj Khalifa
Howdy Sam!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about including a section in your research paper about high-rise buildings that can use the wind power to its advantage and have turbines that manage to harness the energy in the wind? This energy could be used to help power the building, in turn reducing the buildings need for power from the grid?
I heard about a project in Dubai similar to this idea, here's a link to it!
http://inhabitat.com/anara-tower-by-atkins-design-studio/
I've definitely thought about it. I think we talked about this in class earlier... One of the posts I made a few weeks ago was about the World Trade Center in Bahrain. It has three turbines that use wind traveling over the building's surface to generate about 15% of its electricity. I'm not sure if I could find enough other examples to include it in my paper, but I'll check out the link. Thanks Harry!
DeleteHi Sam. An Austrian architecture firm 'Soma' was runner-up in the open international taiwan tower complex competition. 'Multiple Natures - Fibrous Tower' was their submission and the design of the structure results in an aerodynamic waved silhouette that maximizes the wind load resistance. I thought you might find this interesting. The design can be found at: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/soma-multiple-natures-fibrous-tower-for-taiwan-tower-competition/
ReplyDeleteThat sounds wicked Kateri, thank you! I will definitely check it out.
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