The Urban Developer
AdvertiseEventsWebinarsUrbanity
Industry Excellence
Urban Leader
Sign In
Membership
Latest
Menu
Location
Sector
Category
Content
Type
Newsletters
Urban Leader Awards Logos RGB White
EARLY BIRD ENDING THIS THURSDAY START YOUR NOMINATIONS TODAY
EARLY BIRD ENDING THIS THURSDAY URBAN LEADER AWARDS
LEARN MOREDETAILS
TheUrbanDeveloper
Follow
About
About Us
Membership
Awards
Events
Webinars
Listings
Resources
Terms & Conditions
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Republishing Guidelines
Editorial Charter
Complaints Handling Policy
Contact
General Enquiries
Advertise
Contribution Enquiry
Project Submission
Membership Enquiry
Newsletter
Stay up to date and with the latest news, projects, deals and features.
Subscribe
OtherStaff WriterThu 07 Jul 16

How Water Works In The Burj Khalifa

TUD+ MEMBER CONTENT
i
SHARE
print
Print

The Burj Khalifa is a marvel of modern engineering and a generally huge building.  So huge, in fact, the Burj Khalifa rises thirty-five stories higher than the world’s second tallest building, the Shanghai Tower. Naturally, when limits get pushed in any direction, they get pushed in every direction—as engineers set out to reach new heights with this construction, they also had to come up with novel solutions for many of the systems, including plumbing.

Sloan is proud to supply its world-class water efficient products and systems to the Burj Khalifa. In honour of this contribution, we’d like to give readers an inside look at how water is managed in this giant structure.
Scale
First, a bit about scale:  Burj Khalifa sits on a massive foundation made up of more than 58,900 cubic yards of concrete, including 192 piles that burrow more than 164 feet into the building’s home plot in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The above-ground structure itself is made of 431,600 cubic yards of concrete and 39,000 tons of steel rebar.  Not surprisingly, it took more than twenty-two million man hours to assemble all this material (and you can rest assured it took more than a few men to get that job done).

If you set out to build the tallest building on Earth, you’ll rightfully want to put a lot of people in it. Perhaps more than anything, people need water. A lot of it. The average daily supply of water, pumped through 62 miles worth of pipe, is just shy of a quarter million gallons. And that’s using a water system that is cutting-edge and focused on pursuing the highest standards of water efficiency for structures of this scale.

The Burj Khalifa boasts an additional 132 miles of pipe for its fire emergency system and 21 miles of chilled water piping to support the air conditioning system. With an average high temperature of 106° F during long Dubai summers, these piping systems are under significant pressure to perform for building tenants and visitors. In performing as they do, these systems produce as much as 15 million gallons of condensation water per year.
Gravity
Considering gravity is one of the most unrelenting forces known to man, the task of pumping water skyward through The Burj Khalifa is a formidable one. Engineers knew having one giant water pump do all the work would be dangerous, considering the pressure it would need to generate. So they created a system that pumps water to a series of tanks at different levels throughout the building. These tanks are housed on seven two-story mechanical floors, staggered throughout the structure. The floors also house electrical sub-stations and air handling units.

The Burj Khalifa, in addition to being the tallest building in the world, holds six other World Records. While none are water-related, Sloan believes the building’s water management system is no less astonishing and the company is proud to be a part of it.

Source: sloan.com

Used with permission from Hannah Marks. 

OtherInternationalTechnologyArchitectureOther
AUTHOR
Staff Writer
"TheUrbanDeveloper.com is committed to delivering the latest news, reviews, opinions and insights into the best of urban development from Australia and around the world. "
More articles by this author
ADVERTISEMENT
TOP STORIES
North Sydney TUD Plus HERO
Exclusive

NSW Housing Fix Tips North Sydney into New Era

Vanessa Croll
7 Min
 GemLife site Currumbin Waters EDM
Exclusive

Pop-Out Apartments Power GemLife’s $450m Vertical Experiment

Clare Burnett
6 Min
Scape's Gurrowa place artist impression
Exclusive

Red Tape Blocking PBSA Housing Crisis Help, says Sector Pioneer

Leon Della Bosca
5 Min
Rob Stokes on Faith Land Housing Opportunities across australia
Exclusive

Salvation at Hand: Why Ex-MP is Championing Faith-Based Land Development

Renee McKeown
6 Min
Childcare shortfall EDM
Exclusive

Childcare Crunch: $4bn Shortfall Opens Door for Developers

Vanessa Croll
7 Min
View All >
North Sydney TUD Plus HERO
Exclusive

NSW Housing Fix Tips North Sydney into New Era

Vanessa Croll
Thirteen Commercial has gained the green light to build a hotel at the back carpark of the Alexandra Terrace and former backpackers building.
Hotel

Hotel Tower to Rise Above Historic Glenelg Terrace Site

Renee McKeown
Harbour and Pace development sites in Frankston
Development

Pace’s $91m Tower Approved as Frankston Pipeline Swells

Leon Della Bosca
Pace Development’s mixed-use residential project adds to a $506-million private investment pipeline reshaping Frankston’…
LATEST
North Sydney TUD Plus HERO
Exclusive

NSW Housing Fix Tips North Sydney into New Era

Vanessa Croll
7 Min
Thirteen Commercial has gained the green light to build a hotel at the back carpark of the Alexandra Terrace and former backpackers building.
Hotel

Hotel Tower to Rise Above Historic Glenelg Terrace Site

Renee McKeown
2 Min
Harbour and Pace development sites in Frankston
Development

Pace’s $91m Tower Approved as Frankston Pipeline Swells

Leon Della Bosca
3 Min
McIntyre St Gordon Ku-ring-gai EDM
Residential

Ku-Ring-Gai Floodgates Open as Planning Certainty Emerges

Clare Burnett
4 Min
View All >
ADVERTISEMENT
Article originally posted at: https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/how-water-works-worlds-tallest-skyscraper