INCHEON TOWER,SOUTH KOREA

Aashna Gakhar I 3/11 I Building Construction I Submission 1

 INTRODUCTION
The 151 Incheon Tower is a supertall twin tower proposed for construction in Songdo
International city, Incheon, South Korea. The design consists of two 151 floor, 781 m
(2,562 ft) supertall skyscrapers connected by three sky bridges.

Songdo International Business District (SIBD) is a new smart city or 'ubiquitous city'
built from scratch on 1,500 acres (610 ha) of reclaimed land along Incheon 's
waterfront, 40 miles (65 km) southwest of Seoul, South Korea.

The Incheon 151 is built on reclaimed land

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 PURPOSE
The Skyscraper is designed to represent Songdo. It will include
offices, residential space, and a hotel. It will be a Korean landmark upon completion in
2015 i.e. by the end of this year.

A breakdown of floors of Incheon 151

The 600m tall tower is composed of approximately
30 stories of office floors,17 stories of hotel and
other supporting facilities,100 stories of residential
floors and several levels of mechanical floors.

SHAPE OF TOWER
The original shape of the tower was trapezoidal
with very sharp corners. This shape was
extremely sensitive to cross wind response and
subject to significant lift forces and dynamic
excitation.
Therefore, with the coordination in principal
design, several treatments were introduced and
included:
1. Softening of tower corners
2. Introducing openings along the building
height
3. Edge treatments

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 Question 1

Discuss the structure system of tall

buildings with reference to the case
study.
 STRUCTURE SYSTEM OF INCHEON 151
The outrigger and belt truss system is commonly used as one of the structural
system to effectively control the excessive drift due to lateral load, so that, during
small or medium lateral load due to either wind or earthquake load, the risk of
structural and non-structural damage can be minimized. For high-rise buildings,
particularly in seismic active zone or wind load dominant, this system can be chosen
as an appropriate structure.

Right: Moment Diagram of

The Incheon 151 structure

Left: Mega coupling beam and

outrigger system 3
Structural elements of Incheon 151
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The structural system of the tower in the east-west direction consists of a reinforced
concrete core wall linked to the exterior mega columns with reinforced concrete or
composite panels to maximize the effective structural depth of the tower.
The lateral load resisting system of the tower consists of the tower in the north-south
direction consists of mega-frame structure, where the reinforced concrete core walls
are linked by 4-story structural steel trusses at 3 levels at approximately every 30
floors.

Typical office floor framing plan

Typical residential floor framing plan 5

 LATERAL LOAD RESISTING SYSTEM OF INCHEON 151

Typical Hotel, Office, Residential and Mechanical floor plans 6

 FLOOR FRAMING SYSTEM OF INCEON 151
While several floor framing systems were considered for the tower, only two
options were evaluated in details for time and cost implications.
Detailed finite element analysis for the floor framing system was performed to
validate the reinforced concrete floor framing system that took into construction
sequence, cracking, long term and short term deformation.

Concrete Floor framing concepts and corresponding behavior

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 WIND ENGINEERING
VORTEX SHEDDING- effect of wind on shape of tower
CONCEPT: In fluid dynamics, vortex shedding is an oscillating flow that takes place
when a fluid such as air or water flows past a bluff (as opposed to streamlined)
body at certain velocities, depending on the size and shape of the body.
APPLICATION:
If vortex shedding is to
be effective in exciting
a building into motion,
the vortices must be
shed coherently; that
is, they must be
sloughed off rather
uniformly along the
building height.
Turbulence in the
wind can inhibit or
disrupt such
Vortex shedding effects Uniformity.
crosswinds
Wind tunnel

Use of corner slots to bleed air through Slots reduce wind

corners of Incheon 151 forces and
sway from vortex
shedding

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 SEISMIC ENGINEERING

A summary of the structural system options considered

for the tower 9
 DAMPING SYSTEM FOR THE TOWER

Mega –Toggle Brace Damper, a new generation for Tall

Building System
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 Question 2
Discuss the excavation techniques
with reference to the case study.
 EXCAVATION TECNIQUES FOR INCHEON 151
The excavation in parallel with the steel casing installing was composed of 2
stages.
•The first excavation was conducted in soil using a hammer grab inside of the
steel casing. The second excavation was conducted in rock using a reverse-
circulation drilling (RCD) machine . In order to prevent collapse of boreholes,
the diameter of drill bit on RCD machine was 150 mm less than the inner
diameter of the steel casing, and also drilling speed was carefully controlled
considering ground conditions.

Reverse Circular Drilling (RCD) machine

•The bottom slime, such as rock and soil debris by the drilling processing, was
•cleaned out to prevent unnecessary settlements, lowering capacity,
potential defection.
•The cleaning of the bottom slime was performed two steps, and then the
bottom condition of the shaft was inspected.

Installation of Rebar cages for pile foundation of

Incheon 151
After excavations, the pre-assembled rebar cage was lowered into the shaft
with the cage extending into the rock socket all the way down to the base of
the shaft prior to the pile being concreted. It was noted that the shaft depth
and cleanliness had to be verified prior to rebar cage placements.

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The top elevation of the rebar cage was verified that it is within the
specified allowable construction tolerance. For preventing rising rebar cages
during concrete pouring, steel angles were welded on the rebar cage and
the steel casing. The inside of CSL tubes was filled with clean water, and
capped them to keep out debris

Inserting of Rebar Cages

Concrete Placement in Piles

After rebar cage installation, the excavation depth and the cleanliness of the
bottom were verified, and then concrete was placed. The preparation of the
concrete placement was consisted with installing a working station,
assembling and inserting a tremie pipe, installing a hopper and a plunger, and
approaching a floating batch plant.
Concrete was produced and managed by the mix design specification on the
floating batch plant. Since concrete placement should be a continuous
operation, the exhaustive inspection for the batch plant and the preparation
of concrete placement was performed. For occurring unexpected interruption
in placement, a preparation plan was established.

Left: Concrete Placement

in piles 12
 Integrity test of piles
After 7 days of concrete placing, CSL tests were conducted to inspect the
integrity of drilled shafts. They were applied for all drilled shafts in pylons
and pile bent, and 30 percent of drilled shaft of viaducts and approach
bridges.

The results of CSL tests were evaluated whether or not the drilled shaft was
acceptable. When it was acceptable, the tubes were dewatered and place
grout in accordance with the grout for structures special provision. For
unacceptable drilled shafts, further investigation and consulting with
specialists were performed to correct the unacceptable drilled shafts.

Pictures of integrity tests of piles

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 Question 3
Discuss the foundation types
employed in the case study.
 FOUNDATION FOR INCHEON 151

The Incheon area has extensive sand/mud flats and near shore intertidal areas. The
site lies entirely within an area of reclamation, which is likely to comprise
approximately 8m of loose sand and sandy silt, constructed over approximately 20m
of soft to firm marine silty clay, referred to as the Upper Marine Deposits (UMD).
These deposits are underlain by approximately 2m of medium dense to dense silty
sand, referred to as the Lower Marine Deposits (LMD), which overlie residual soil
and a profile of weathered rock.

Top left: The building is

developed on reclaimed
~ 30m
land

Top right: Geotechnical

~ 20m
Parameters of site

Left: Soil diagram of the

site on soil

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 Ground conditions on site

Load Load
Transfer Transfer
G round F ound ation Lo ad
C om po nents C om po nents C om po nents

D isplacem ent
R eactions

Flow chart of Foundation design for the tower

Foundation Layout:
Raft thickness: 5.5m thick embedded into UMD
• 172 piles @ 2.5m diameter
• Lengths: 36m to 66m (2 x pile diameters socket length)

Challenges:
• Variation in Ground Conditions
• Interaction of Pile Group
• Lateral Stability

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 Foundation Design Challenges:
•Simulation of interaction effects of large pile group
•Simulation of interaction between piles and raft
•Negative skin friction of consolidating marine clays
•Lateral stability of foundation
•Large variation in pile lengths

77.5
m

88m
Plan of foundation
Vertical loading
The foundation comprises a 5.5
of foundation m thick concrete mat and piles
supporting columns and core
200m
walls. The numbers and layout of
200m piles and the pile size were
obtained from a series of trial
analyses through collaboration
between the geotechnical
engineer and the structural
designer. The pile depth was
determined by considering the
100m performance and capacity of
piles of various diameters and
length.
The pile depths required to
control settlement of the tower
foundation were greater than
those required to provide the
Isometric of foundation base geotechnical capacity required.

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Vertical displacement in the
foundation for Incheon 151

Left: Design load components for

Incheon 151
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Assessment of pile capacities

The geotechnical capacities of piles were determined by the shaft friction and end
bearing capacities of pile, andthe required pile length was generally assessed based
on these geotechnical capacities to provide the required load capacity. For a large
pile group founding in weak rock, the overall settlement behavior of the pile group
could control the required pile lengths rather than the overall geotechnical capacity.
In this case, the soft rock layer was considered to be a more appropriate founding
stratum than the overlying weathered rock, in particular the soft rock below
Elevation EL-50m. This is because this stratum provides a more uniform stiffness
and therefore is likely to result in a more consistent settlement behavior of the
foundation. The basic guide lines to establish the pile founding depth were:
 Minimum socket length in soft rock = 2 diameters;
Minimum toe level = EL-50m.
The pile depths required to control settlement of the tower foundation were
greater than those required to provide the geotechnical capacity required.

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 Question 4
Discuss the method of basement
construction and waterproofing
techniques with reference to the
case study.
 BASEMENT CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE OF INCHEON 151
The Incheon 151 has 8.5 m deep basements. They could not go too deep with
the basements since the land is reclaimed.
The technique used here is Top-down technique of basement construction.

Conventionally, buildings with underground basements are built by bottom-

up method where sub-structure and super-structure floors are constructed
sequentially from the bottom of the sub-structure or lowest level of
basement to the top of the super-structure.
Though this conventional method, also called as bottom-up method, is
simple in both design and construction, it is not feasible for the gigantic
projects with limited construction time and/or with site constraints. Top-
down construction method as the name implies, is a construction method,
which builds the permanent structure members of the basement along with
the excavation from the top to the bottom.

Mining excavation beneath

Excavation of B1 level B1 level

B1 slab in place, construction

proceeds upward in up-down zone 19
Procedure
The typical construction procedure of top down construction is as
follows
· Construct the retaining wall.
· Construct piles. Place the steel columns or stanchions where the
piles are constructed.
· Proceed to the first stage of excavation.
· Cast the floor slab of first basement level
· Begin to construct the superstructure
· Proceed to the second stage of excavation; cast the floor slab of
the second basement level.
· Repeat the same procedure till the desired depth is reached
· Construct the foundation slab and ground beams, etc. Complete
the basement
· Keep constructing the superstructure till it gets finished.

Top-down construction method procedure

The underground retaining wall

which is usually a diaphragm wall,
is installed before excavation
commences.

Left: Installation of
Retaining wall
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The soil is excavated just below
roof slab level of the underground
structure. Struts are installed to
support the retaining walls, which
in turn support the soil at the sides

Left: Excavation and

installation of steel strut

The roof slab is constructed, with

access openings provided on the
slab for works to proceed
downwards. The roof slabs not
only provides a massive support
across the .

Left: Construction of
underground structure

The next level of slab is

constructed, and this process
progresses downwards till the base
slab is completed

Left: Construction of
underground structure

The side walls are constructed

upwards, followed by removal of
the intermediate struts. The access
openings on the roof slab are then
sealed.

Left: Construction of
underground structure
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 WATERPROOFING TECHNIQUE OF INCHEON 151
Wet soil beneath the building’s foundation can swell or lose strength.
And that was only the first reason to keep the foundation dry. Then there was
the little problem of wet damp basements and crawl spaces that could breed
mold and make below-ground interior spaces generally unpleasant. The
problem is that typical concrete is not waterproof.

There are three components of Incheon 151 system designed to keep water
out. These are,
1. Drains to move water away from the bottom of the foundation
2. Wall treatment to prevent moisture from moving through the wall and
to route water down to the drains
3. Ground surface treatment adjacent to the building to direct surface
water away

A schematic diagram of a foundation wall

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 The wall treatment used for the waterproofing of the concrete
foundation was a fluid membrane waterproofing material.

These systems include urethanes, rubbers, plastics and modified

asphalts.

Fluid-applied membranes are applied in liquid form and cure to form one
monolithic seamless membrane. For foundation wall applications, typical cold
applied fluid applied systems are approximately 60 mils in thickness. Some
systems include reinforcing mesh embedded into the liquid. Hot applied,
rubberized asphalt systems can be 125 mils to 180 mils thick, plus embedded
60 mil neoprene sheets.

Cold Fluid membrane

waterproofing

Above: Layers of cold fluid

waterproofing membrane

Left: Application of waterproofing

Membrane
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