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8/18/2019 The Palm Jumeirah_ Ekta Chaudhary, II Year
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The Palm Jumeirah
Ekta Chaudhary
Dubai has some of the richest collections of modern buildings and
structures of various architectural styles. Often dubbed one of the most
perfect places on the planet, Dubai is popular because of its numerous
beaches and many resorts with sunny days throughout the year.
The idea for the construction of Palm Islands struck when it was
estimated that about ve million tourists visited Dubai which the heikh
wanted to triple to fteen million. !ut the problem lay in the coastline of
Dubai at "ust #$ km, not enough for %& million tourists that Dubai was
supposed to be attracting.
Dubai found a very lucrative solution to its problem. It was decided to
build a massive Palm Tree shaped island by the year $''(. The island
was supposed to be &.& km in diameter, thus increasing the coastline by
&( km. The e)traordinary plan was to build a city in that island which
would have shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, apartments and homes.
*ow, world+s best engineers were needed for the pro"ect. earch for
e)perienced professionals was started to prove rst of all that it was
possible to build a mega structure island, out at the sea. any obstacleswere overcome day by day. They started with the calculation of the
strength of storms in the sea and the rise in water level due to global
warming. trong tides which destroy nearly everything in their path were
among the greatest threat to this pro"ect.
The research team worked out that -rabian ulf is only %(' km wide and
only /' meters deep, hence too short and too shallow for catastrophic
waves to build up. The solution to the problem of keeping this fragile
island safe was to construct a breakwater having a height up to / meters
and which was %%.& km long. In -ugust $''%, the construction of the
breakwater started.
!y *ovember $''%, nine barges, fteen dumpers, four dredgers, thirty
heavy land based machines and ten cranes beside other construction
machinery, were put to work.
0nlike other previously man1made islands that are built from metal and
concrete, Dubai+s Palm Islands are made from all natural materials2 rocks
and sand because the Prince wanted give it a natural appearance that
would blend in its surroundings. *ow, the biggest problem that needed to
8/18/2019 The Palm Jumeirah_ Ekta Chaudhary, II Year
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be resolved was how an island made out of sand would remain in
position.
olutions to this problem were very comple) because it is dependent on
many factors such as the strength of Dubai+s storms, the height of waves
and tidal surges, and global warming+s impact in raising sea levels. One
of the biggest fears was how waves could accumulate over long distances
via persistent winds and large currents potentially causing severe
destruction to the islands.
3uckily, scientists say that the -rabian ulf is the perfect place for such
construction because with a depth of /' m and a width of %(' m, it is too
short and shallow for the creation of immensely destructive waves.
cientists designed the crescent breakwater structure to surround the
front of the Palm Islands to protect them from high waves and storms.
The crest of the breakwater is /14 m above mean sea level. The seaward
slope is one in two. The composition of the breakwater consists of coarse
sand, 5uarry run, and &1( tonnes of sand.
In early October $''#, the Palm 6umeirah had already become the
world+s largest articial island.
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