Given that the sand of sand dunes are much finer and smoother than beach sand, how does Dubai/the UAE have so many things that seem to be built on them?
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It’s just impressive, given that whenever I try to stand on top of one, I sink and slide to the bottom and find it hard to balance. I can’t imagine what building on one is like, and I can’t find any videos or information on it—either beaches or flat desert, but not on sand dunes!
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Basically, I’m curious about the challenge and process for building on sand dunes, and would appreciate an explanation.
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Thanks in advance!
In: 1603
The Burj Khalifa is an example of desert sand building: Nearly 200 concrete columns (piles) driven into the sand 50 meters deep, and then a raft foundation 15 meters thick was built on top of that. It depends on the nature of the building what challenges there are to overcome (like desert sand not being suitable to use in concrete).
Here’s a PDF of different types of building piles: https://bauerfoundations.com/export/shared/documents/pdf/bst/print/905_015_2_Bored_cast_in_place_concrete_piles.pdf
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