130 m Deep Bored Piles â€“ A New Superlative-Paper

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BAUER (Malaysia) constructed 225 large-diameter bored piles for the podium and tower foundations at Kuala Lumpur City Centre. The piles ranged from 2.0 to 2.5 m in diameter, with design drilling depths up to 150 m; some exceeded 130 m. The project also included 209 m of diaphragm wall and related monitoring and utility-diversion works. The tower’s original barrette design was partly optimized using large-diameter piles.<br /><br />Work in variable Kenny Hill soils and karstic limestone demanded careful control of pile depth, bore stability, and verticality. The largest available rig, the 300-tonne BG 72, was used for the deepest shafts, with a five-stage telescopic Kelly bar. Polymer support fluid helped maintain bore stability and avoid delays associated with bentonite. Reinforcement cages weighing up to 70 tonnes were installed, followed by continuous concrete pours of up to 550 m³; kingposts weighing up to 80 tonnes were positioned using a guiding frame.<br /><br />Verticality was controlled to a required tolerance of 1:100. Bauer’s Drilling Inclination System (DIS), Koden, and Sonicaliper measurements provided independent checks; the authors report that DIS offered a fast, robust means of monitoring alignment. Quality assurance emphasized controls throughout construction, supplemented by Cross-Hole Sonic Logging on approximately 25% of the piles, with no major integrity issues detected.<br /><br />The works were completed to the client’s quality and schedule requirements despite the busy urban setting. By December 2019, the project had recorded 584,199 work hours with no lost-time accidents and no complaints from neighboring stakeholders.

Keywords

large-diameter bored piles

Kuala Lumpur City Centre

deep foundation

diaphragm wall

Kenny Hill soils

karstic limestone

BG 72 rig

polymer support fluid

verticality control

Cross-Hole Sonic Logging