4m 58s: Lenght
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Excerpts from a video of William F. Baker, Partner in Charge of Structural and Civil Engineering at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, 2007. The “Y” shape and extraordinary height of Burj Khalifa was a result of its innovative “buttressed core” structural system. The form tapers as it rises, and the scalloped sections spiral as they step up the tower in ways that were determined by tests in a wind tunnel with models like this force-balance model which measures vibration. Integrating wind-engineering principles designed to “confuse the wind” (also known as “vortex-shedding") had a significant impact on the shape and details of the tower. These included softening of the shape of the scalloped buttresses and the reversal in the direction of the stepped spiral to the prevailing wind. Learn more here: http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/TEN_TOPS/burj.php