Project overview
Monument Sharjah is a sculptural landmark in Sharjah, UAE. Wrenze Steel carried out structural design verification for the monument, working for Diales as client and consultant.
The site photo shows a white form that spirals upward from its base and narrows into a tall, slender spire. The drawings in our profile set out the twisting geometry in plan and in an isometric view, segment by segment, with colour coding for the different parts.
Our scope
Our scope was structural design verification. In a verification, we do not produce the design ourselves. We take the design prepared by others and check it independently.
A design check of this kind usually looks at:
- whether the loads, including wind on an unusual shape, have been set correctly;
- whether the analysis model reflects the real geometry and support conditions;
- whether the members, plates and connections have the strength and stiffness the analysis requires;
- whether the base and anchorage can carry the forces into the foundation.
The result is a set of comments and conclusions the client can act on before fabrication or before the structure is accepted. Independent checks like this sit within our wider structural engineering consultancy service.
The structure
Sculptural structures are hard to fit into standard design rules. A building has floors, columns and beams that follow familiar patterns. A spiralling monument has none of these, so the engineer has to follow the load through a continuous, twisting form.
Wind is usually the governing load. Wind acting on a curved, irregular shape does not produce the simple pressures found on a box-shaped building, and the spire at the top is exposed and slender. A tall, thin element like this must be checked for stiffness and dynamic response as well as for strength, because it can sway noticeably in strong wind.
The base takes every force the structure collects. Overturning from wind turns into tension and compression in the anchorage, so the base plate, anchor bolts and the concrete around them are a key part of any check.
See our other work in Sharjah, or request a quote for an independent design check.
