Burj Al Arab Hotel (Dubai)
The world famous Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It is situated on an artificial island approx. 300m off of Jumeirah Beach which is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. Its design was based upon a dhow, an Arabian boat with a triangular sail or sails.
Long concrete piles were driven into the sand to secure a foundation. A surface layer of rocks, circled with a concrete honeycomb pattern, protect the foundation from erosion. Though it took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, it took fewer than three years to construct the building.
The hotel employs 9,000 tons of steel and more than 70,000 cubic meters of concrete. The internal atrium is 180m tall. Despite its size it only accommodates 28 double story floors with 202 suites.
The Metal Spraying Process of the Burj Al Arab:
Metallisation client Ant-Corrosion Protective Systems (APS) used Metallisation Arc Spray equipment as an anti-corrosion protection system of the famous hotel in Dubai. When the Burj Al Arab was being built, vital structural components were metal sprayed to protect against corrosion. In total, 10,000m² of steelwork was arc sprayed, over an intermittent six-month period. The items sprayed included the heli-deck framework, roof mounted mast and 6 diagonal support braces, each weighing in excess of 200 tonnes. The surface was first grit blasted to SA 2.5 cleanliness and then sprayed with 150µm of aluminium using Metallisation’s Arc Spray 140 and Arc Spray 700 systems. The Arc Spray 140 system offered excellent flexibility for hard to access areas, due to its long reach and flexible drive system. The Arc Spray 700 system was used to spray large, less complicated areas as quickly as possible, due to its high spray rate. An epoxy sealer and three coat paint system was then applied for aesthetic reasons and finished with a topcoat of 50 microns of polyurethane. The aluminium coating should guarantee a 15 to 20 year protection against corrosion in the harsh, coastal environment in which the Burj Al Arab stands.
