Upfile 211115144423218
Upfile 211115144423218
Upfile 211115144423218
Speaker
Ahmad Abdelrazaq, SE, MASCE, FCtbuh Executive
(Vice President at Samsung C & T Corporation)
Standing Tall and rising above the historic site of Malaysia’s independence, the Merdeka 118 Tower
is an iconic landmark address and its futuristic and symbolic design will not only embody the culture
and legacy of Malaysia independence, but to harmonize with the adjacent heritage building, including
Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara, and serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of a historic
district into the future while redefining and weaving into the fabric of Kuala Lumpur Skyline. The
iconic tower is designed with a mixture of diamond shaped facets derived from a traditional Malay
“songket” pattern outline to signify the diversity of Malaysians (Fender et al., 2016). The silhouette
of the tower's spire symbolizes the iconic image of the outstretched hand of Malaysia’s first prime
minister Almarhum Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj when he proclaimed independence at
Stadium Merdeka in 1957 (Chin, 2019).
The Merdeka 118 Tower is a Mega-tall building with 118 floors and five basements. Within 292,000
m2 of GFA, the tower consists of 83 floors of office space, 17 floors of luxury hotel by the Hyatt
Group, retail, observation deck floors, and a spire rising to more than 160 m to bring Merdeka 118 to
more than 640m tall, thus becoming the tallest building in Malaysia, and the second tallest building
in the world. The purpose of this presentation is to address the structural engineering, construction
innovations and panning, and the key challenges in the design and construction of Malaysia’s new
landmark including:
Structural System Optimization: The primary structural system components of the tower
comprised of 8 Mega Columns, central core walls, intermediate steel columns, 6 sets of belt
trusses and 3 sets of outriggers. The central core wall is connected to the exterior mega columns
through the outriggers at 3 levels to form the lateral load resisting system and stability mega frame
structure. High Performance Concrete up to C105 has been applied to the mega column and
core walls to optimize the size of the elements and improve the gravity and lateral load resisting
capability of the elements.
Application and Delivery of High Performance Concrete: The effective use and application of
High Performance Concrete, up to C105, resulted in optimizing the size of structural elements
and improve the economics of the building by maximizing premium floor space. To ensure
delivery of HPC to the highest standard, extensive testing program and QA/QC program has been
developed. The successful development and application of HPC in Merdeka 118 Tower has push
the boundary of HPC utilization in Malaysia since the Petronas Twin Tower and will serve as a
reference to the efficient utilization of HPC for future tall buildings. Concrete planning works
included the application of elastic, creep and shrinkage testing program for all concrete grades,
concrete pumping test, mockup to verify concrete temperature for the massive concrete elements,
etc.
Construction Planning & Construction Sequence of the Tower: Due to the complexity of
the structural system, consisting of centralized concrete core wall, 3-mega steel outriggers trusses
that are connected to 8 mega concrete columns, and 6 belt/transfer trusses that transfer
intermediate structural steel column to 8 mega-concrete columns at the perimeter of the tower,
careful planning and construction sequence analysis was required to confirm the behavior of the
interconnectivity and behavior between the major building elements, including compensation
program, floor levelness, and the timing of connecting the outriggers to the center concrete core
wall, etc.. Application of modular construction to mega columns tom improve constructability
will be also addressed.
Application of Real-time Structural Health Monitoring and Survey Programs: An extensive
Structural Health Monitoring Program, with IoT and other smart devices, was implemented to
feedback of the structural behavior response and behavior of the tower.
Wind Engineering: While variation in the building shape in general is beneficial in taming the
building wind effects, however, the sharp edges of the Tower presented wind engineering
challenges.
Impact of Merdeka 118 on future generation of Mega-Tall and Slender Towers.
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