Taipei 101 730 Ton Tuned Mass Damper

[12345mattable]

Search how do they doit there's an episode

On this

[WellWisher4]

Does anyone know what the song in the background is called?

[ChunderThunder1]

@WellWisher4 annoying.

[WellWisher4]

@ChunderThunder1 I'm sure that's not what it's called.

[frtard]

I love how this was turned into something like a science museum exhibit rather than just another great, but hidden, piece of engineering.

[Strydex]

That is one big ball

[amangonecrazy]

so this actually helps when threres a typhoon? if the building moves the hyraulics under the damper will push it to the opposite of where the building is moving?

[luckylaika]

The 730 ton tuned mass damper (TMD) acts like a giant pendulum to counteract the building's movement - reducing sway due to wind by 30 to 40 percent. Eight steel cables form a sling to support the ball, while eight viscous dampers act like shock absorbers when the sphere shifts. Able to move 5 ft. in any direction, the Taipei TMD is the world's largest and heaviest. But it has to be point out that this is a completely PASSIVE system meaning that it has no active parts powered by energy.

[skrape110]

@luckylaika

exactly; nice explanation. i do have a question though.  what is "tuned" referencing?

[luckylaika]

@skrape110 Tuned means that the mass damper is built that way that it reduces the worst-case vibrations. It is "tuned" to counteract those frequencies.

[gordongate]

@skrape110 The weight of the damper is an exact multiple of the buildings empty weight, that means that the weight will move with the building when it sways one way but will linger due to inertia for enough time to be out of phase by half a cycle.

As the building sways back the opposite way, this lingering or "dwell time" if tuned correctly means that the pendulum action of the weight is opposite to the building and will cancel out the swaying quicker than if the building had no damper.

[pumpkinman321]

@amangonecrazy

Yeah, because the damper is so heavy it won't sway with the building (sort of like a seismograph) and the pistons underneath provide a reactive force to help 'dampen' the movement of the building.

[johnxy888]

@amangonecrazy No, the most important purpose of the TMD is to limit the magnitude of movement/oscillation when forced (by earthquake, typhoon, etc). Kinetic energy from the movement in the building is transferred to the mass, and the hydraulic dampers remove energy from the system and dissipates it, thus protecting the building and limiting the motion of the mass (exciting this 700+ ton mass at *its* resonant frequency would have just as catastrophic of results..!)

[bishopdante]

@amangonecrazy

it's basically a massive steadicam.

[imploring0maiden]

what a clever piece of engineering. i prefer bridge engineering though but this is nevertheless great

[DrewieXoX]

Thanks, this helped me get a good idea for what they look like for science

[mellotrongirl]

There's a pretty good sized one on top of an old 1930's brick building seven storeys tall in my town. It's a brick building with a base of only one-fourth of a city block. I didn't think buildings that small would need one! I'm not in earthquake/windy country either!

[alohafish]

it looks fantastic!

[puppetdemon]

i just saw this in my physics book the other day! impressive :)

[corby85]

yup i've got this one in my physics book too....really amazing