The project site for the twin towers consists of approximately 200,000 square meters, an area that also includes low-level retail and parking podium areas (Poulos & Davids 2005). Like the Burj Dubai (Poulos & Bunce 2008), the foundation system for each of the towers in the Emirates Twin Towers complex buildings consists of a piled raft, founded on deep deposits of calcareous soils and rocks (Poulos & Davids 2005).

Based on what was determined to be relatively good conditions near the ground surface, a piled raft system was identified as being most suitable for the foundation of each tower based on the series of analyses conducted by the foundation project engineers (Poulos & Davids 2005). In each case, project engineers evaluated 18 different load combinations to assess loading as follows:

1. One loading set for the ultimate dead and live loading only;

2. Four groups of 4 loading sets for...
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