Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal 3

Project Background

In 2009, the new Terminal 3 at Abu Dhabi International Airport was opened. At a cost of AED 1 million (£175 million), this new facility has almost doubled the airport’s capacity.

As the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s vision is to become the world-class centre for investment, tourism and commerce. To fulfil this, the international airport needed to increase its capacity.

Terminal 3 was therefore designed to allow provision for growth in passenger numbers and for it to be constructed before the planned opening of a new Midfield Terminal in 2017.

The new Terminal 3, which is predominantly used by the airline Etihad Airways, has boosted passenger capacity from 7 million per year to 12 million per year. It has added 10 new gates to the airport, 2 of which are Airbus A380 compatible.

 

Project Scope

Tenos was required to develop a comprehensive fire engineering strategy to comply with Abu Dhabi and US NFPA fire code requirements.

 

Tenos Solution

Tenos fire engineers initially completed a detailed review of the new terminal’s fire safety design.

Using our international experience and extensive knowledge of UAE and US NFPA fire codes, we were able to provide the project’s design team with the following:

• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for the optimisation of the terminal’s pier and retail atria smoke control;
   
• Development of a life protection fire strategy ;
   
• An impact assessment of the fire safety strategy on the airport’s existing terminal buildings.

Our innovative fire safety strategy met with client and the approving authorities’ requirements whilst avoiding any significant changes to preliminary designs that may have impacted on cost and programme constraints.