Seismic Response Analysis on a Very Tall Building Considering Damper

Devices

Bodhinanda Chandra, 1TE12854Y

Advisers: Associate Professor Yukihide Kajita and Assistant Professor Joon-Ho Choi

1. Introduction
There was a big earthquake happened last 2011 in Tohoku, Sendai area which destroyed and
damaged most of the infrastructure in Japan such as building, house, bridge, etc. One of them is
Osaka Prefecture Government Sakishima Building which located 700km far in the center city of
Osaka. Although the building's structural body was safe, there are some interior damages such as
the falling of the ceiling and the elevator emergently stopped which trap 5 men in that elevator for
almost 5 hours. Due to the damage occur in this building, the government has spent more money
for reinforcement of the Sakashima building for resisting against earthquake.
Osaka Prefecture Government Sakishima Building (Cosmo Tower)
The Osaka Prefecture Government Sakishima Building or usually
called Sakishima Building or Cosmo Tower is the tallest building in
Osaka and the second tallest building in Japan (after Yokohama
Landmark Tower). Sakishima Building, which was built in 1995 and
has totally 55 stories and topped by a sky lobby, rises about 256
meters (840 feet) and has area about 11,000 m² and the site area
over 20,000 m². This building houses trade office for numerous
companies, thus, considered being a center of trade information,
which is linked with 282 cities around the world. Moreover, it also
contains a museum, restaurants, observation deck and has been a
part of Osaka Prefectural Government office.
Photo 1 Overview of Sakishima Building
Input Ground Acceleration (Pacific Coast Tohoku Earthquake 2011)
The observed ground movement in Sendai has a huge acceleration, 1517 gal, because it is near
the epicenter. Otherwise, in Osaka, the observed ground acceleration record shows that the peak
of acceleration is only 34 gal, since it is really far from the epicenter. However, the response
displacement in the 56th floor of the Sakishima building which was recorded is 137 cm which is a
large displacement and may cause a lot of damage in internal property as well as the building
structure. In order to reduce the displacement, installing the dampers is necessary.

2. Analytical
Results
Since there was
a large

Figure 1 Time history of the observed ground acceleration

 response displacement recorded, experiment to reduce the displacement is conducted such by
installing dampers. Putting oil dampers (energy absorber devices) is normally used to minimalize
the response displacement by changing the mechanical energy into heat energy. The purpose of
the experiment is in order to know where the most effective location to put the dampers is.
Therefore, several cases are calculated and later compared to each other.
The dampers installed to the analytical model have the same stiffness (except the sixth case)
which is 1,000 for each damper. However, when the natural frequency and natural period are
calculated, there are some differences for each case which mean that the
Figure 2 Analytical model
location to install the dampers is important since it will influence the rigidity or
the stiffness of the whole building. The largest the stiffness of the whole building, the smaller
natural period they have.
When the dampers are installed in the top of the building, the effect of the dampers become
really small since the whole building move to the same direction. When the dampers are located in
the middle part (forth and the fifth case), there are decreases in response displacement but not as
large as when the dampers installed in the bottom part.
Therefore, from the experiment results, the case where the dampers are installed in the
bottom part of the building (1 st – 20th floor) shows the best results. It reduces the response
displacement for about 0.76 in Osaka type earthquake.

3. Conclusion
From the results conducted in order to find the seismic response analysis of the building, there
are some differences between the earthquake in Osaka and in Sendai. Sendai’s earthquake which
contains short period wave and high acceleration since it is near the epicenter causes the floors
move to different directions, respectively, have a shorter response displacement. However, Osaka’s
case which contains long period wave and slow acceleration since the location is quite far from the
epicenter causes the all floors move to the same direction. In addition, due to the period of the
earthquake is quite similar to the natural period of the building, the resonance phenomena occurs
and cause a higher response displacement in the 56th floor.
As the locations of the installed dampers are important to determine the whole building
stiffness, it is also influence the building’s natural period. Moreover, since the building’s stiffness is
changing, the response displacement also changing. A higher result of decrease of the response
displacement shows when the dampers are installed in the bottom part of the building, which
therefore is the best case compare to other.
In the experiment, since the dampers in the experiment could not absorb energy, the results of
the experiment show that the third case is the best location to put the damper. However in the
real condition, when the oil damper absorb the mechanic energy and change it into heat energy,
the results may change into the forth case (as calculated and measured by the construction
company).