Dubai creek tower

[MIStructE_IRE]

Possibly the most impressive structure on the planet! If you haven’t seen the dubai creek tower online check out google images. Its currently under construction.

Over 1Km high, its essentially a large compression tower stayed by cables.

No doubt these guys have it all figured out but i’m not fully convinced on how such long cables react to vortex shedding, extreme dubai heat or earthquake.

We have a famous Calatrava bridge here which had to be hosed down to tighten the cables after they expanded during a slightly warm day in Dublin. The bridge was open at the time and couldn’t close again since the deck dropped when the cables stretched! How do 1km long cables perform in the desert heat?!

 

[rb1957]

maybe they have idler tensioners …

 

[BUGGAR]

They put the Alaska hot oil pipeline on thermo-transmitting piles in the perma frost to keep the heat from melting the ground. I suppose they could have done something similar with the cables for the heat?

 

[KootK]

Yeah, that's so amazing that it's almost hard to believe that it's real. I wonder about the approach taken to address potential terrorism threats. If I had a cessna and a death wish, I feel as though I'd know just how to turn that thing into a limp noodle. At least about one axis.

 

[MIStructE_IRE]

Yeah, cutting those cables with a cessna would do some damage.. I almost took my eye out when I broke a guitar string!!

There’s a lot about this building I just can’t believe! But these guys, a lot braver and no doubt smarter than me, are doing it!

 

[Agent666]

Already looks like a limp noodle without removing any cables, architecturally it's inspired by a lily, not the whaling harpoon or sewing awl that first came to mind.

I guess if you can do suspension bridges with nearly 2km clear spans, turning it on the side and saying it can cantilever half this distance isn't entirely out of the question. Given only 3/4 planes of cables they must be working pretty hard as hardly very efficient, bit hard to tell from the many variations of renders exactly what is going on though with the cables, some renders show some pretty crazy cable nets like below (which for certain directions wouldn't seem like they actually do too much). I guess like the height they are keeping the exact form under wraps.

Seems like pretty good value for the $1 billion USD noted on Wikipedia though. $1 billion doesn't get you as much around these parts by comparison based on a few large scale developments going on in the city I'm in.

EDIT Heres a video of a 'scale' model of the tower, cable net looks pretty intricate!

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

I've heard of planes cutting TV antenna guy wires but nothing bigger like these cables must be. I'd suspect you'd have to get really lucky hitting the cable with the prop of the plane; otherwise you'll probably not do much more than scratch the paint. Still, even if it didn't take out anything serious the financial cost of inspecting and replacing a bunch of cables if damaged would likely be extreme.

I just gotta say; I'm honestly more impressed by that model Agent666 posted than the building. The model does a great job of showing the pattern in the cables.

Ian Riley, PE, SE
Professional Engineer (ME, NH, VT, CT, MA, FL) Structural Engineer (IL, HI)