Quote:
Originally Posted by BVictor1
It depends on the structure and the use.
You probably won't find too many office buildings with dampening systems.
When it comes to residential, to prevent the sway and sense of motion sickness, you may have a dampener. The first tower in Chicago to use a dampener is Park Tower.
It also depends on the height-width ratio.
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Because of their larger floor plates, office buildings often use tuned mass dampers, which come in a variety of flavors. for example, the concrete block on a lubricated slab, which moves in the x-y plane to counter the movements of the building as it sways. there is also the suspended steel ball, which is basically a pendulum turned on its head. Then there is the slosh damper, already discussed. all of these slow down the acceleration of the building's sway, which is what causes discomfort in the building's occupants. Problem is, they occupy lots of space (2+ stories in some cases) and are expensive. The viscoelastic system I described earlier takes up very little space in each location, and is distributed throughout so as to absorb shocks where they occur locally instead of relying on a whole-building response. They are still considered somewhat experimental, which is why some building owners are reluctant to use them yet.