Introduction Geotechnical Investigation of the proposed Queen Tower project was carried out by the Group Engineering Laboratories

(PVT) Ltd. in order to commence the geotechnical design for the project. Investigation was started by drilling 20 boreholes in different locations of the site to identify the properties of underlying soil strata. All the design parameters which are required for the design of substructure are based on the soil investigation report of the Queen Tower project. Idealization of subsurface Borehole investigations indicated that the underlying soil strata consist of many soil layers such as uncontrolled fill, clay, fine sand, muck, peat and moderately weathered rock. However, depending on the geotechnical requirements, three boreholes (BH05, BH19 and BH29) were selected as shown in figure 1.

BH 19

BH 05

Tower Shaft
BH 29

Tower Base

Figure 1: Locations of selected boreholes Due to the varying soil strata observed in above mentioned three boreholes, three idealized subsurface profiles were considered for the design of sub structure as shown below.

Depth to bed rock = 13.4 m

Figure 2: Idealized subsurface for shaft area

Depth to bed rock = 15.3 m

Figure 3: Idealized subsurface for tower base area (1)

Depth to bed rock = 20.4 m

Figure 4: Idealized subsurface for tower base area (2) Note: - 1 & 2 stand for inner and outer column rings. Soil parameters which are to be used in the analysis are given in table 1. Table 1: Summary of soil strength parameters Soil type Clay Fine sand Muck Peat HWR MWR Rock Quality Bed rock profile of this particular site varies significantly from 13.4 m to 20.4 m depth below the existing ground level according to the borehole investigation data. However, fresh rock could be found at lower depths in the middle section (shaft area) of the tower. From there it was considered that the depth to the bed rock is increased according to the idealized Density(kN/m3) Dry Saturate 18 19 20 21 15 16 11 12 21 22 24 25 Shear strength parameters C (kN/m2) 15 3 0 20 15 2 53 7 0 35 0 40 Material properties E (MPa) 2 .45 10 .25 2.5 0.3 2.13 0.2 35 0.2 2000 0.3

subsurface profile as shown in figure 3 and figure 4 in the inner ring and outer ring sections. (i.e. 13.4 m => 15.3m => 20.4 m) Table 2 gives the CR, RQD and UCS (Uni-axial Compressive Strength) values of the fresh rock observed in the above mentioned three boreholes. Table 2: Rock quality parameters Borehole BH05 BH19 BH29 Depth (m) 13.40 - 15.80 15.80 - 16.80 16.80 - 18.90 15.30 17.30 17.30 19.30 20.3 22.00 22.00 - 23.80 CR (%) 91 90 100 70 100 85 94 RQD (%) 51 63 80 40 82 71 85 UCS (N/mm2)

28.00 33.28 43.07

Geotechnical Design Requirements

Shaft area

Inner column rings Outer column ring

Figure 5: General arrangement of ground floor of tower base

As shown in the figure 5 above, tower base consists of three column rings which are carrying the load from the tower base. There are 24 columns in each ring which carries service loads as given in table 3. Table 3: Axial loads carried by columns Location Inner ring Middle ring Outer ring Axial load(SLS) [kN] 6309 6091 4025

And there is a basement in the tower base to facilitate service equipment, which has a height of 4 m. Therefore, it should be noted that an excavation should be carried out to a depth of 4.2 m from the existing ground level to construct the basement. Tower shaft produce a total weight of 441312 kN (service load) including the weight of tower house and tower mast. Alternative foundation types for tower base and tower shaft are to be considered separately in the foundation design. However, ultimately these two will be connected to each other therefore; possibility of differential settlement should be considered in foundation design. Design of foundation for tower base A preliminary calculation was done to check the possibility of a shallow foundation to support the loads from tower base as shown below. Inner ring area

Figure 6: Proposed shallow foundation

As shown in figure 6, a 3 m x 3 m square footing is checked as a preliminary design to check the bearing capacity of soil. Bearing capacity of fine sand layer was found using Terzaghi method as shown below. For square footing, qult = 1.3 CNc + qNq + 0.4 BN -------------------------------equation 1

= 20 => Nc = 17.7, Nq = 7.4, N = 5.0

Over burden pressure (q) = 1.1x18 + 0.3x19 + 1.6 x (19-9.81) + 2.2 x (21-9.81) = 65 kPa Therefore bearing capacity at the formation level, (from equation 1) qult = 1.3 x 0 + 65 x 7.4 + 0.4 x (21-9.81) x 3 x 5 = 548 kPa Assuming a FOS of 3, allowable bearing pressure (net) = (548 11) / 3 q allowable Applied pressure = 6309/ (3x3) q applied Therefore, q allowable < q applied Hence, a shallow foundation will not be suitable under the conditions considered in preliminary calculations. And the presence of muck layer under the find sand layer would cause consolidation settlement which eliminates the possibility of shallow foundation even if the bearing capacity is sufficient enough. = 700 kPa = 180 kPa