Ain Dubai: The Story Behind the World's Tallest Observation Wheel

Dubai, a city known for its record-breaking feats, is about to add another monumental achievement to its roster with the launch of its latest giant.

Ain Dubai, the colossal observation wheel currently taking shape on Bluewaters Island, will open on October 21, 2021, setting a new world record as the largest observation wheel. It’s not just a competitor, it’s a game-changer.

Standing at over 250 meters, Ain Dubai surpasses the current tallest Ferris wheel, the High Roller in Las Vegas, by 82 meters. It also dwarfs the London Eye, nearly twice its height at 135 meters.

Dubai is no stranger to record-breaking engineering marvels, with the Burj Khalifa, the highest restaurant, the world’s largest fountain, and the fastest roller coaster, just to name a few of its astounding accomplishments.

Announced in February 2013, Ain Dubai took over eight years to complete. Construction began in May 2015 with an expected finish in early to mid-2019. However, the timeline shifted first to October 20, 2020, and then was delayed by another year due to the pandemic and Expo 2020's postponement.

Though there were speculations about the causes of the delays, the team behind Ain Dubai maintains that such holdups are common in large-scale construction projects.

The wheel can accommodate 1,750 riders at a time.

Darren Brooke, Senior Technical Director at WSP, the lead consultant and architect of Ain Dubai, shared with Dinogo that the team was continually pushing industry standards throughout the project.

"With an area four times larger than a standard wheel, we had to focus extensively on the design process, ensuring that every aspect was fine-tuned for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, while maintaining the highest design standards," Brooke explained.

The engineering feats behind Ain Dubai are truly remarkable.

Ain Dubai's construction required 11,200 tonnes of steel, which is 33% more than the steel used to build the Eiffel Tower. The maximum jacking force to lift the wheel was 2,500 tonnes. The hub and spindle alone weigh 1,805 tonnes, equivalent to four A380 airplanes, while the rim and 48 passenger cabins together weigh 7,500 tonnes. If the 192 spokes, each made of 107 separate 9mm wires, were laid end-to-end, they would stretch all the way from Dubai to Cairo. The 48 cabins each hold 40 passengers, allowing 1,750 people to ride the wheel simultaneously.

Since Bluewaters is a man-made island, the foundation piles had to be drilled all the way down to the bedrock to support the immense weight of the structure.

Global expertise from across the world was essential in bringing Ain Dubai to life.

As expected in Dubai, the passenger experience on Ain Dubai is far from ordinary—it's designed to be a luxury experience unlike any typical Ferris wheel ride.

There are three cabin types to choose from during the 38-minute ride: standard observation cabins, social cabins with a central bar for a VIP experience, and private cabins, which can be reserved for special events, offering a private three-course dinner over two rotations of the wheel.

Bringing Ain Dubai to life required the collaboration of experts from around the world. Consultants from the UAE, South Korea, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, France, and Italy all played pivotal roles in shaping the design.

One of the key successes was recruiting Kevin Dyer, former technical director of the London Eye, to become Ain Dubai’s operations director.

Ain Dubai is designed to endure 300,000 rotations (or 60 years), but to ensure its longevity, additional measures have been implemented to enhance its lifespan while adhering to rigorous design and safety standards.

Experts from Politecnico di Milano, who also contributed to the London Eye, conducted extensive analysis on the cables and stress cycles of Ain Dubai’s structure, ensuring its durability for the long term, according to Brooke.

By analyzing the real loads on the cables of the London Eye instead of relying on predicted data, the team was able to effectively double the lifespan of the cables, Brooke explained.

Each cable can bear a peak load of 300 tonnes. With 192 cables converging at the spindles and the hub, there’s a massive concentration of force at play.

To gather real-time data on the stress cycles, several cables were fitted with accelerometers. This data will be analyzed to help prolong the life of the cables, and by extension, the entire structure.

Earthquakes and storms pose a challenge, but the design takes these forces into account.

The temporary structures put in place to aid in the construction of the wheel have been just as ambitious and groundbreaking as the wheel itself.

A towering 135-meter-high frame, built from crane mast sections, was used to lower the wheel's legs into position. A 300-tonne truss was erected to secure the eight rim sections. A custom jacking system then lifted each segment 100 meters into the air, where it was connected to the spindle, rotated, and followed by the attachment of the next segment.

Throughout the construction, rumors circulated about design flaws causing the delays, including seized bearings that required replacement and sound issues in the cabins that led to redesigns.

However, Brooke firmly rejects these allegations.

"I haven't heard a single rumor based on fact. For example, there were claims that the foundations were sinking," he said.

"Ain Dubai is the safest place in Dubai, and I say that for two key reasons. First, it's designed to withstand a 1-in-2,475-year earthquake, a standard only applied to hospitals. Second, it's engineered to endure 100-mile-per-hour storms, equivalent to a Category 12 hurricane on the Beaufort scale," Brooke emphasized.

A spokesperson for Ain Dubai echoed a similar view: "What we’ve created here is incredibly complex – it’s unprecedented at this scale, and much of what we did involved pioneering new techniques."

"Naturally, this means that not everything went according to plan. We encountered obstacles, but in true Dubai fashion, we adapted, found solutions, and are now confident that Ain Dubai will surpass anything that has come before it," they added.