thema 1

Monolithic pouring of the foundation slab of the 632 m high tower

Shanghai Tower
The Shanghai Tower, a 632 m high building, is the highest one in To control volume variations due to release of hydration heat,
China and the second highest in the world. The foundation raft of guidelines such as the Code for Construction of Mass Concrete
(GB50496-2009) [1] and others provisions (EC 2) [2] give limi-
high-rise buildings is usually a huge mat with cast-in-place mass tations on pouring of concrete, for example, a maximum volume
concrete. It is a structural member that transfers loads from the build- of poured concrete per unit time and a minimum interval
ing to the foundation base. To keep the integrity of a massive raft is a between pouring of each batch. Research interests are raised
worldwide to explore measures to avoid thermal cracks in mass
key issue both in design and construction phase. The key point to
concrete. Accordingly, many construction approaches aimed at
obtain a monolithic foundation raft is via continuous pouring of decreasing hydration heat and controling of heat accumulation
concrete without providing construction joints. This would definitely in a massive raft have been developed in practice. For example,
the pre-installed pipe system method was applied in the 13 500 m3
invoke a problem on how to mitigate hydration heat accumulated in
mat foundation of Jinmao Tower building [3] and layered
mass concrete during pouring of concrete. Preventing thermal cracks construction in the 9 m thick foundation raft of the World
is critical for large concrete members and this project presentation Financial Center [4]. This method increases project costs and
complicates the construction procedure. Some projects such as
shows how is dealt with this issue in the Shanghai Tower foundation.
Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were executed by
continuous pouring in 54 hours [5]. Excel Warehouse Project

86 3 2017 Shanghai Tower

Jian Gong 1 Pumping concrete for the foundation of the Shanghai Tower
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University Shanghai, China / 2 Location and surrounding of the Shanghai Tower
credits: Courtesy to Shanghai Center
Shanghai Construction Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China 3 Foundation raft of main building: (a) plan, (b) section [mm]
Weijiu Cui, Yong Yuan
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University Shanghai, China

[6] and Abu Dhabi’s Landmark Tower [7] also used this method. mega column
For the foundation of Shanghai Tower, more than 60,000 m3 of core tube
concrete had to be poured continuously, with no construction foundation slab
joints or post-cooling measures, for high-speed construction
and with high-quality impermeable concrete. To avoid early
age cracks, special measures such as mix design considering 1 1
hydration heat reduction and a pouring organization suitable
for continuous pouring were taken.

Outline of the Shanghai Tower

corner column

Location 3

Located in the central area of Lujiazui financial district in Shang- 123 000

hai city, Shanghai Tower is designed for offices, a hotel, a

6000

6000
1600

1600
commercial and shopping mall, a conference hall and an exhibi-
tion hall, as well as leisure tourism and sightseeing platform. It 103 500
consists of a tower building and a surrounding podium building.
With the footprint of the complex covering an area of more than
30 000 m2, the total useful area of the complex is about 570 000 m2.
The tower building has 121 floors above the ground, and below Mix Proportions
ground is 5 storey basement. The main issue during the mix design is to minimize the
hydration heat of concrete. Therefore, raw materials which
Foundation raft of main building assure that the low-heat concrete is obtained, are used.
The foundation raft slab of the main building has a disk-like Locally produced cement with hydration heat of 220 kJ/kg
circular shape with a diameter of 123.0 m (fig. 3a). Along the and 289 kJ/kg at 3 and 7 days, respectively, is chosen. Beside
radial direction from the center to the perimeter, the thickness Ordinary Portland cement, fly ash and slag, as supplementary
of the slab changes from 6.0 m at the center to 1.60 m at the cementitious materials, are used as a binder. This leads to a
edge (fig. 3b). Special measures with respect to mix design and decreases of the hydration heat by 22.3% at 3 days and 13.5%
the organization of pouring were taken. The key challenge was at 7 days compared to the cement without addition of supple-
to ensure continuous pouring with the limited thermal issues. mentary cementitious materials. A polycarboxylic acid

3 2017 87
 thema
4 Temperature comparisons (measured and simulated in the core of the element)
5 Strength developing curve
6 The concrete pouring plan, pouring area and pump arrangement: (a) from top
and (b) from side

80
70 measured
simulated
70
60
temperature(ºC)

50 60

strength(mpa)
No.1
No.2
40 50 No.3
No.4
30 No.5
40 No.6

20
30
7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91
0 200 400 600 800 1000
4 time(h) 5 age(d)

Table 1  Mix design of concrete C50 (kg/m3) figure 5. The strength all passes 50 Mpa at 28th day, so the
W/B water cement slag power fly ash sand gravel additional-agent concrete meets performance requirements.
P.O.42.5 S95 III middle 5~25 poly carboxylic acid
0.36 160 240 120 80 760 1030 4.4

Pouring Organization
Concrete supply and transportation is the basic issue of the
60 000 m3 pouring. The main principle was to fulfill the
superplasticizer is added to decrease the water - cement ratio. pouring work within 60 h. Careful calculation on concrete
The addition of superplasticizer resulted also in the reduction supply and transportation is combined with extensive project
of the hydration heat by 37.3% and 24.6% at 3 and 7 days, experience. Six pre-mixing plants are chosen with the total
respectively, in comparison to those without superplasticizer. supply capacity of 1250 m3/h. 355 mixing trucks with an
average size of 8 m3 were in charge of the transportation.
The final mix (see table 1) should also comply with the follow-
ing requirements: the 28 days strength is not below 50 MPa and Central flowering pouring
the slump is around 180 mm (based on pumping requirement). Pouring usually takes place from one side to another side in a
For the purpose of checking the thermal performance, a traditional pouring method. For this huge mass concrete
6.0 m × 8.0 m × 3.0 m test block is poured prior to casting of member the poring distance was too long. Therefore, a new
the foundation with the same mix proportions. Temperature concrete pouring method, called ‘central flowering pouring’, is
monitoring is carried out simultaneously. The temperatures used in this project. Unlike with the traditional pouring
reach the peak values within 48~72 h and the peak value does method, pouring of the concrete begins at the center and
not overpass 65°C. The designed mix proved to be suitable for concrete flows to the surrounding area.
the construction and it was further used in the actual project.
Mobile pumps have flexibility and high pouring capacity, but
Temperature monitoring is carried out on the spot during the its pouring range is limited by its arm. Fixed pumps can over-
project. Temperature development is also simulated, and come this disadvantage. Two kinds of mobile pumps were used
temperature comparisons are shown in figure 4. The tempera- i.e. a 56 m long arm concrete pump and a 48 m long arm one.
ture-time curves resemble except for peak values. The differ- As the maximum pouring distance is 61.5 m long (radius of
ence between simulated and measured temperature is 2°C. circular mat), the mobile pumps cannot reach the central area.
Strength tests were performed on concrete used for real Therefore, fixed pumps are in charge of that area. Based on
pouring. The average compressive strength of concrete, their maximum pouring length, the whole slab is divided into
obtained from each plant for foundation pouring is shown in three parts in the radial direction. The three areas in horizontal

88 3 2017 Shanghai Tower

 direction are shown in figure 6a. All the area divisions can be pouring area line

explained by the pumps’ maximum length. The pouring

amounts of the three areas are 880 m3, 10 150 m3 and 48 950 m3
pouring volume
respectively. Firstly, the fixed pump started to pump in the
central area. Then, when the concrete from the central area area 1: 900 m3
area 2: 10 150 m3
reaches the pouring boundary of other pumps, they begin to area 3: 48 950 m3
pump. Figure 6b shows the concrete is supposed to flow along a
slope of 1:12. ■ 56 m long arm motor pump
combined with 5 m long chute
▲ 48 m long arm motor pump
Layout of concrete pumps combined with 10 m long chute
Four 56 m long arm mobile pumps are installed on the previ- ● fixed pump

ous soil digging platforms. Other pumps are arranged along the
edge of the foundation pit (fig. 6a). Based on experience and i : flowing slope
the actual situation, six fixed pumps are used for the pouring r: flowing radius
i =1:12
work of area 1. The theoretical pouring capacity of the three
h2
types of pumps is 40 m3/h (fixed pump), 80~100 m3/h (56 m
mobile pump) and 60~80 m3/h (48 m mobile pump) respec-
h1
tively. The average pouring speed should not be lower than
1000 m3/h. Therefore, eight 48 m-long arm pumps are chosen. r2 r1

The pouring speed is: 6

Vs = Q1 ∙ N1 + Q2 ∙ N2 + Q3 ∙ N3 = 40 ∙ 6 + 80 ∙ 4 + 60 ∙ 8 = 1040 m3/h
In other words, the 60 000 m³ of concrete can be poured in
60 hours theoretically under such pump arrangement. ● REFERENCES

1 GB50496-2009.: Code for Construction of Mass

Concrete. Beijing, China Plan Press, 2009.
Pouring on the spot 2 Eurocode 2, Design of Concrete Structures, Part
All the 18 pumps are placed along the perimeter of the foun- 1-1, General Rules and Rules for Buildings. British
dation pit. The whole pouring scene is shown in photo 1. Standards Institution, 2004.
During the actual pouring process, the fixed pumps showed 3 Wang, T.M. (1997). Control of Cracking in Engineer-
some disadvantages such as inflexibility and low pouring ing Structure (fifth edition). Beijing: China Archi-
speed. Therefore, another four 48 m long arm pumps were put tecture and Building Press.
into use instead of the fixed pumps. Because of the traffic jam 4 Gong, J. , Zhang, Y., & Yuan, Y. (2006). Construc-
on the spot, the pouring speed was lower than the theoretical tion Study on Deep Mass Concrete Foundation
value. Curing is carried out after concrete initial setting for Slab for Main Tower of Shanghai World Financial
each area. The main curing materials were film and sack. The Center. Building construction 28(4), pp. 251-256.
coverage contained four layers: film, sack, film and sack from 5 Nadiu, K.G. (1995). The Petronas Tower: The
the bottom to the top. By this the temperature difference world’s tallest building. Modern technology in
between the surface and the central area of the concrete was concrete construction, 03/1995. Bangkok, Thailand.
reduced. 6 Continuous cast: Exxcel Contact Management
oversees record concrete pour. Concrete Products,
March 1998; 101, 3; ABI/INFORM Complete p. 32.
Conclusions 7 Landmark Tower has a record-breaking pour.
The foundation raft of Shanghai Tower was poured continu- Abu Dhabi: Al Habtoor Engineering, September/
ously in 63 hours without construction joints and without post October 2007, p. 7.
cooling measures. The continuous pouring for such huge
volume concrete was never reported before. Mix proportion
design and pouring organization are important parameter for
this construction method. According to the data obtained by
temperature monitoring, the used procedure resulted in the
desired effect.

Shanghai Tower 3 2017 89