Frontpage NewsDiscuss In action: a skyscraper’s amazing 728-ton stabilizing ball in the All things news forums; by deputydog ⋅ 22 / 06 / 2008
image source: popular mechanics
The enormous steel ball you see in the photos (and the incredible video below) is the world’s largest ...
In action: a skyscraper’s amazing 728-ton stabilizing ball
The enormous steel ball you see in the photos (and the incredible video below) is the world’s largest ‘tuned mass damper’ and sits near the top of the world’s largest completed skyscraper on earth, taipei 101 in taiwan. the idea behind a tuned mass damper is quite simple: as a building sways (resulting from high winds, earthquakes etc), its tuned mass damper, essentially a finely tuned and ridiculously heavy pendulum, will move in opposition to the structure’s oscillations and minimise any movement. if that makes no sense, watch the crude gif below.
Due to both the immense size of taipei 101 and the fact that it sits just over 600ft from a major fault line, engineers had no choice but to install one of this size at a cost of $4m. too heavy to be lifted by crane, the damper was assembled on site and hangs through 4 floors of the skyscraper. it can reduce the building’s movement by up to 40%.
Now for an incredible video. on may 12th, as the horrendous earthquake occurred in china’s sichuan province, tremors were felt for miles, including in taipei 101. youtube user phuaalvin was in the building at the time and said that as the building started to shake, dozens of people ran to the damper to watch it in action. here’s the video he took…
Re: In action: a skyscraper’s amazing 728-ton stabilizing ball
that IS pretty cool....I wonder how it would have affected things if the Twin Towers had something like that.
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Re: In action: a skyscraper’s amazing 728-ton stabilizing ball
That is really cool, but what happens if that sucker is ever shaken so hard it comes loose from it's moorings? They said it was so heavy it had to be built on site, and the diagram shows it on the 87th floor. That would be really devastating if it were to fall either down the building or punch out the side and then fall. Something that huge would do some major damage! But it's an interesting design concept for areas that are prone to earth quakes. I just don't know if it was such a great idea to put it up so high! I'm with Zippy, there is no way I'd be running to watch that sucker sway in a quake. I'd wanna be far, far away!!
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Re: In action: a skyscraper’s amazing 728-ton stabilizing ball
Quote:
Originally Posted by motherof3
That is really cool, but what happens if that sucker is ever shaken so hard it comes loose from it's moorings? They said it was so heavy it had to be built on site, and the diagram shows it on the 87th floor. That would be really devastating if it were to fall either down the building or punch out the side and then fall. Something that huge would do some major damage! But it's an interesting design concept for areas that are prone to earth quakes. I just don't know if it was such a great idea to put it up so high! I'm with Zippy, there is no way I'd be running to watch that sucker sway in a quake. I'd wanna be far, far away!!
From an engineering stand point, you have to put it up that high. If you were to put it lower in the building it wouldn't have the same effect. Because as you go up in height, the vibrations from the quake is magnified through the building so the top will say WAY MORE than the bottom.
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