Palm Jumeirah
Palm Jumeirah is one of the most interesting and mind-blowing attraction Dubai has ever built. The Palm Jumeirah is an artificial archipelago located nearby Logo Islands and has a total area of 5.72 square km which is equivalent to 600 football pitches! It is to be said that to determine the possibility of this project, there were more than 100 studies which took place just to confirm if this project will be either successful or not.
The base of this project does not include any artificial materials such as steel or concrete, in fact, the base was made using only natural resources such as sand and rocks. In order to build this amazing project, the workers used an insane amount of sand that was calculated to be around 94 million cubic meters, which was brought from the seabed as well as 7 million tonnes of rock was used which was obtained from the Hajar Mountains. Also to construct this base, the machines used were 4 dredgers, 9 barges, 10 floating cranes, 15 tank boats, and 30 heavy land-based machines. The cost to build this enormous project was estimated to be a whopping $12 billion and the construction started in 2001 which lasted 6 years as the handover of the first residential units took place at the end of 2006.
The Palm Jumeirah is shaped considering the main elements of a palm tree which were, a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and an 11 km long crescent which would act as a breakwater. To keep the artificial archipelago secure from rough waves and heavy storms, the architects planned to construct a “breakwater” which will act as a shield and protect the buildings on the fronds. To construct this breakwater, the first step was to build up the seafloor by dumping sand with the help of the dredgers. The next step was to place rubble or small rocks on top of the sand, this sand and rubble will act as the core. The final step was to place large lumps of rocks on top of the core as these rocks will decrease the force of the waves striking them.
But placing these large lumps of rocks was not an easy task; a team of professional divers was hired just to check if the rocks were stable and if they have been placed in the right place. If not, any movement of rock could lead them to form cracks and the wall to disintegrate leaving the whole project vulnerable. Later on, the engineers face another problem; the water was motionless inside the breakwater meaning that there was no freshwater entering the megastructure and this could cause algae to form which can have a devastating effect. To counter this, the engineers found a solution which was to add 2 breaks on each side of the breakwater. This would allow the freshwater to enter from both sides preventing any motionless water.
After this challenge, there was another important task to be completed which was land reclaiming. Land reclamation is a process where a large amount of sand is dumped in the sea in order to create an artificial island. To fill the area by sand, the dredgers collect the sand from the seabed then they use a technique known as “rainbowing”. This is a technique where the dredgers spray the sand in the desired location. It is not an easy task to place the sand by rainbowing and creating the perfect shape as expected; due to lack of accuracy the island was not taking the shape required. To fix this issue, the team had to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) which would help the workers rainbow the sand with the pinpoint accuracy they needed to get the perfect shape.
The foundation of the Palm Jumeirah finally finished in 2003. Now it was time to build the structures on the fronds, but unfortunately sand is not the best material to build structures on. Since the sand was sprayed, it was loose and non-compact meaning the sand would shrink if any force applied. Luckily, the engineers had a solution to this problem which was to use a technology called Vibro-compaction technology. 15 machines were assigned to drill 200,000 holes in the 17 fronds. Each machine would drill 12m into the sand using the probes as vibrators and pour water inside the sand to compress it. Once 200,000 holes were drilled, the land was finally compacted enough to build structures on.
In 2004 the construction of the buildings started. An entire city was to be built on this man-made island. On the 17 fronds, a total number of 1,500 beachfront mansions were to be built and around 6,000 apartments on the trunk as well as The Atlantis hotel on the crescent. By the end of 2006, 75% of the properties were ready to hand over and at the end of 2009, 28 hotels were opened on the crescent. Also over 12,000 trees were to be planted on Palm Jumeirah which were grown in a nursery.
Palm Jumeirah is one of the best attractions to visit in Dubai. This megastructure is an inspiration for Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, these 2 man-made islands are under construction and they are going to be larger than Palm Jumeirah. In the near future, these 2 islands will enhance the beauty of Dubai and offer good memories and experiences for their visitors.
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