DAMPING INCREASE IN BUILDING

WITH TUNED MASS DAMPER a

By Kenny C. S. Kwok 1
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INTRODUCTION

The response of a building to w i n d excitation d e p e n d s on the intensity

of the wind, building size, shape, m a s s , stiffness a n d the ability of the
structural system to dissipate energy. M o d e r n tall buildings a n d struc-
tures have reached such heights a n d sizes that occasionally the natural
structural damping is not high e n o u g h to suppress wind-induced m o -
tions. In such cases, d a m p i n g has to b e a d d e d to reduce excessive sway-
ing motions which could cause h u m a n discomfort, cracked partitions
and broken glass.
Damping can be increased by the addition of a damper (or dampers).
Some dampers are designed as real d a m p i n g devices so that part of the
mechanical energy associated with building motions is converted into
heat through the use of either a viscoelastic material or a fluid. These
damping devices can be u s e d in trusses, girders or beams w h e r e there
are relative motions. Another c o m m o n device currently in use is t u n e d
mass damper (TMD) or vibration absorber, system. These devices have
recently been incorporated in the design a n d construction of a n u m b e r
of major building projects.
Sydney Tower, the tallest building in Australia, is 820 ft (250 m) high
and with the base of the structure anchored on the roof of a 15 story
building, it stands 1,000 ft (305 m) above street level. The Tower consists
of a central partially enclosed steel shaft 22 ft (6.7 m) in diameter, stayed
by a system of 56 steel cables. The Tower is s u r m o u n t e d by a nine level
restaurant/observation/telecommunication Turret a n d a spire. Some
features and principal dimensions of the Tower are s h o w n in Fig. 1.
The Tower is one of the first buildings with the installation of a large
scale TMD. The d o u g h n u t - s h a p e d water tank near the top of the Turret,
as s h o w n in Fig. 1, which normally serves as the Tower's water a n d fire
protection supply, was incorporated into the design of the TMD to re-
duce wind-induced motions. The tank is 7 ft (2.1 m) deep and 7 ft (2.1
m) from inner to outer radius, weighs 163 tons (180 tonnes) a n d h a n g s
33 ft (10 m) from the top radial m e m b e r s of the Turret. Energy associated
with relative movements between the Tower a n d water tank is dissi-
pated by 8 shock-absorbers installed tangentially to the tank a n d an-
chored to the floor of the Turret. A secondary TMD of similar design,
with a s u s p e n d e d 36 tons (40 tonnes) mass, w a s later installed o n the
"Presented at the May 23-25, 1983, 4th ASCE Engineering Mechanics Division
Specialty Conference held at Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind.
1
Sr. Lect, School of Civ. and Mining Engrg., Univ. of Sydney, New South
Wales 2006, Australia.
Note.Discussion open until April 1, 1985. To extend the closing date one
month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of Technical and
Professional Publications. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for re-
view and possible publication on April 21, 1983. This paper is part of the Journal
of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 110, No. 11, November, 1984. ASCE, ISSN 0733-
9399/84/0011-1645/$01.00. Paper No. 19255.

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J. Eng. Mech. 1984.110:1645-1649.

 Spire
324-8m
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Turret * 256-6m

215m
Splice Ring
(Neck)

Intermediate 165m
Anchorage
Ring

74-4m

Centrepoint Building

FIG. 1.Some Features and Principal Dimensions of Sydney Tower

Intermediate Anchorage Ring to further increase the damping level, par-

ticularly in the second mode.
Full-scale measurements on the Tower were initiated late in 1980 to
determine the natural frequencies and damping of the Tower (1,2) and
the wind-induced response of the Tower (3). This paper presents the
results of some of these measurements, including the natural frequen-
cies and damping levels of the first and second mode vibrations, show-
ing the effectiveness of the water tank TMD and the secondary damper
in increasing damping levels.

NATURAL FREQUENCIES AND DAMPING LEVELS

For natural frequencies and damping measurements, two accelerom-

eters were installed in the Tower, one at Turret Level 8 to monitor the
first mode vibrations and one near the Intermediate Anchorage Ring to
monitor the second mode vibrations. Each accelerometer has a pair of
sensors alined perpendicular to each other and at north-south and east-
west directions. Wind-induced accelerations were recorded on magnetic
tape using an FM tape recorder. The recorded signals were analyzed by
a digital computer to determine the natural frequencies of vibrations and
damping level.
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J. Eng. Mech. 1984.110:1645-1649.

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te i
Frequency (Hi)
(a) At Turret Level 8

IB 18
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

FIG. 2.Power Spectral Density Functions of Acceleration Responses

The peaks in the power spectral density functions of acceleration re-

sponses at Turret Level 8 and the Intermediate Anchorage Ring, as shown
in Fig. 2, identify natural frequencies of 0.10 Hz and 0.50 Hz for the first
and second mode respectively, and possible a third mode of 0.12 Hz.
For a single degree-of-freedom, linear and lightly-damped (less than
about 5% of critical damping) system under random excitation, the au-
tocorrelation function of the response has an exponentially decaying en-
velope given by
R(T) = constant, exp (-OOT) (1)
from which damping ratio can be determined. co = the natural circular
frequency and T = the time delay. The acceleration response signals were
selectively filtered to isolate the first mode and second mode variations.
The autocorrelation functions of the filtered signals were obtained by
Inverse Fast Fourier Transformation of the spectral density functions.
Autocorrelation envelopes for different damper configurations were pre-
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(i) 1st Mode (ii) 2nd Mode

FIG. 3.Decay of Autocorrelation Envelopes of Acceleration Responses

TABLE 1.Damping Ratios (in % of Critical) of First Mode and Second Mode Vi-
brations
Water tank Water tank Water tank TMD free
Mode TMD jammed TMD free + secondary damper
(1) (2) (3) (4)
First mode 0.7% 1.0% 1.2%
Second mode 0.4% 0.7% 1.5%

sented in Fig. 3 a n d the d a m p i n g ratios are given in Table 1. These

damping ratios are average values with a variation of typically 30%.

CONCLUSIONS

Spectral density functions of wind-induced acceleration responses of

Sydney Tower identify natural frequencies of vibration of 0.10 H z a n d
0.50 H z for the first m o d e and second m o d e , respectively. Decay of au-
tocorrelation functions of the response s h o w e d that the water tank TMD
produces moderate increases in the d a m p i n g levels of the first m o d e and
second m o d e , a n d the secondary d a m p e r causes a substantial increase
in the d a m p i n g level of the second m o d e .

APPENDIX.REFERENCES

1. Kwok, K. C. S., "Achieving and Measurement of Damping in Tall Buildings

and Structures," Chapter 14, The Structural and Environmental Effects of Wind
on Buildings and Structures, W. H. Melbourne, Ed., Dept. of Mechanical En-
gineering, Monash University, 1981.
2. Kwok, K. C. S., "Natural Frequencies of Oscillation and Damping Charac-
teristic of Centrepoint Tower, Sydney," Investigation Report No. S316, School
of Civil and Mining Engineering, Univ. of Sydney, 1981.
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J. Eng. Mech. 1984.110:1645-1649.

 3. Kwok, K. C. S., "Full-scale Measurements of Wind-induced Responses of
Sydney Tower," 6th International Conference on Wind Engineering, Surfers
Paradise, Australia, Mar., 1983.
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OPTIMAL SHAPE OF CABLES

By C.-M. Wang 1

INTRODUCTION

Recently, Rozvany and W a n g (1,2) have developed a simple procedure

in determining the optimal shape of fully stressed arches subject to ver-
tical loads. W h e n inverted, these arches become fully stressed cables of
varying cross-section. However, for practical p u r p o s e s , the cross-section
throughout the cable should be kept constant. Thus, the aim of this pa-
per is to present a m e t h o d of obtaining the shape of such a cable w h o s e
volume (or weight) is to be a m i n i m u m . Design-dependent loads are
assumed to be negligibly small in this study.

OPTIMALITY CONDITION

The shape of a cable carrying external loads p(x) only [see Fig. 1(a)]
must take the funicular form of
M
(1)
*=H
in which y = the displacement of the centroidal axis of the cable; M =
the bending m o m e n t of the "equivalent" simply supported b e a m which
is subjected to the same load p as the corresponding cable a n d also has
the same span L as the cable [see Fig. 1(b)]; a n d H = the horizontal
reaction component at the support.
Using Eq. 1, the specific length of the cable p e r unit horizontal length
is
2 1/2
1 + /M'\ 1
(2)
U)J
in which the prime denotes differentiation with respect to the horizontal
coordinate, x.
'Lect, Dept. of Civ. Engrg., National Univ. of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Sin-
gapore.
Note.Discussion open until April 1, 1985. To extend the closing date one
month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of Technical and
Professional Publications. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for re-
view and possible publication on October 28, 1983. This paper is part of the
Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 110, No. 11, November, 1984. ASCE,
ISSN 0733-9399/84/0011-1649/$01.00. Paper No. 19255.

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J. Eng. Mech. 1984.110:1645-1649.