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   xoxoxoBruce  Friday Jun 27 02:57 AM

June 27, 2008: Very Big Ball

A very big ball, I mean a 728 ton, very big ball.
From deputy dog;

Quote:
The enormous steel ball you see in the photos 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.


Quote:
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%.
Here's the ball in action, during the May 12th quake, that shook China so badly.




newtimer  Friday Jun 27 03:21 AM

Talktalktalktalktalktalktalktalktalk... (we're on the 89th floor of a building that is built just 600' from a fault line).. talktalktalktalktalktalktalk.. (there's a gigantic ball that will sway if there's an earthquake).. talktalktalktalktalktalk.. (and it just now started swinging back and forth. A lot.).. talktalktalktalktalktalk.. (what should I do? Think I'll chat in my cell phone for a few minutes and watch the big earthquake ball swing some more.).. talktalktalktalktalk... (and listen to the other tourists keep jabbering away.)



xoxoxoBruce  Friday Jun 27 03:34 AM

Well, they don't worry about no stinkin' quake... they got big ball(s).



SPUCK  Friday Jun 27 06:10 AM

That would be a bit of a bummer if those cables broke... I wonder how long it would take it to get to the basement...



glatt  Friday Jun 27 09:04 AM

Awesome find, Bruce!

This is really interesting.



Sundae  Friday Jun 27 09:20 AM

If I was there with someone else I'd be talktalktalk too.
Are we in the safest place?
Hang on, does this mean there is an earthquake going on, I can't feel it?
Should we head off or do you think this is a test [yes, stupid response, but I might], the building doesn't appear to be shaking?

If I was on my mobile I would carry on talking:
Mum, are you okay? I'm in this weird place and there's a huge ball that's just started moving! It can't mean what I think it does!

My assumption is that if there were any normal indications of an earthquke these people would have exhibited all the screaming and running you hoped to see.
The fact that they didn't, and only the ball responded, meant that it was reacting to tremors that could have damaged the building, but weren't destroying anything at that point.

I might be wrong, no idea where Teipei lies in regards to the epicentre.
But it seems unlikely that even "tourists" would stand and talk if they felt the building shake on its foundations.



HungLikeJesus  Friday Jun 27 09:34 AM

If I had the office directly below that ball, I'd always be thinking, "There's a one-and-a-half million pound steel ball hanging above my head, supported by cables made of green Chinese steel."



Griff  Friday Jun 27 10:13 AM

Wow spectacular! Is it possible that a really long duration quake would allow the ball to catch up....?



YellowBolt  Friday Jun 27 12:26 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sundae Girl View Post
I might be wrong, no idea where Teipei lies in regards to the epicentre.
But it seems unlikely that even "tourists" would stand and talk if they felt the building shake on its foundations.
It's... like 900 miles away. About the distance from California to Missouri.

I saw the ball a few years ago when I went to Taiwan. It was... bally.


Karenv  Friday Jun 27 01:13 PM

They Built the World's Largest Skyscraper 600 feet from a Fault Line??!!

This is experimental technology. They have no business erecting their phallic symbols full of human beings just 600 feet from a fault line. What part of "Don't build big buildings next to fault lines" don't they understand?

I do not understand this mania for the world's biggest buildings going up all over. Give me something where I can see the ground and open the windows, and get out in case of emergency.



Sarasvati48  Friday Jun 27 02:14 PM

Then they all went downstairs to the street and realized a horrific earthquake had taken place...



newtimer  Friday Jun 27 05:15 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by YellowBolt View Post
It's... like 900 miles away.
Correct. Chengdu to Taipei is a little more than 1,100 miles. That's about the distance from Dallas, straight north, to the Canadian border.


Flint  Friday Jun 27 05:35 PM

I'm out of time here. I need somebody to write a clever reply, having something to do with Quasimodo. kthxbai



DanaC  Friday Jun 27 05:48 PM

Quote:
If I had the office directly below that ball, I'd always be thinking, "There's a one-and-a-half million pound steel ball hanging above my head, supported by cables made of green Chinese steel."
Oh yeah...that thought would definately be a recurring one


BigV  Friday Jun 27 06:44 PM

Why make it in the shape of a sphere?

A sphere is the shape that has the highest volume to surface area ratio, but I don't see any compelling reason to have to conserve surface area for this counterweight. It seems like it would be a wasteful use of space compared to, say, a cylinder, perhaps a cylinder with a hemispherical lower end. Since the whole weight will swing in an arc described by the radius of the cable and ball, it would seem that there would be empty space in the swing path that could otherwise have been used to add mass, had they departed from their (nearly) spherical choice.

Perhaps there were aesthetic reasons for the shape I don't understand.



breakingnews  Friday Jun 27 10:44 PM

I've seen it - pretty cool (and big).

The guy on the cell phone is asking someone if there was an earthquake, but he was told there wasn't.



xoxoxoBruce  Friday Jun 27 11:03 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigV View Post
Why make it in the shape of a sphere?
The cables can be attached at points around the center of mass and the sphere will clear the cables as it swings.


BeltNah  Saturday Jun 28 03:28 AM

Sphere

There are a lot of reasons as to why it is a sphere. I haven't got the time to go into it though. You will have to trust me.

Nice find Bruce.



SPUCK  Saturday Jun 28 03:38 AM

It's obvious.. When the cables break, if it were a cylinder it would just crater. A sphere could be deflected on the way down and roll through town making a much greater spectacle. Think bowling pins!



Griff  Saturday Jun 28 08:20 AM

Quick! Call George Lucas!



HungLikeJesus  Saturday Jun 28 10:44 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigV View Post
Why make it in the shape of a sphere?

...
It's the Feng-shui.


Ibby  Sunday Jun 29 01:20 AM

I've seen it.
not that impressive. the view from the top of 101 is pretty sweet though.

(i do live in Taipei, remember)



SPUCK  Sunday Jun 29 06:04 AM

You say you are a type A?



Griff  Sunday Jun 29 08:36 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ibram View Post
I've seen it.
not that impressive. the view from the top of 101 is pretty sweet though.

(i do live in Taipei, remember)
Look deeper.


dar512  Sunday Jun 29 07:43 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint View Post
I'm out of time here. I need somebody to write a clever reply, having something to do with Quasimodo. kthxbai
I don't know his name, but his face rings a bell.

Sorry. All I had in stock was the punchline.


Ibby  Sunday Jun 29 08:32 PM

by the way
the may china quake
was WAY too far away
to be felt in taipei
trust me
we couldnt feel it.



Sundae  Sunday Jun 29 08:41 PM

Perhaps it depends on the size of your balls?



Clodfobble  Sunday Jun 29 09:48 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ibram
by the way
the may china quake
was WAY too far away
to be felt in taipei
trust me
we couldnt feel it.
That's downright poetic.


xoxoxoBruce  Sunday Jun 29 09:57 PM

Maybe that's because you weren't at the top of the 101.



Imigo Jones  Monday Jun 30 01:34 PM




Ibby  Tuesday Jul 1 12:39 AM

took this one myself
excuse the watermark:
mark-free costs,
and i'd rather save




xoxoxoBruce  Tuesday Jul 1 01:25 AM

Very nice.



BigV  Tuesday Jul 1 10:08 AM

sweet, Ibram... very nice.

Traumflieger DRI

free hdr watermark free image blender. seriously bare bones interface. produces .tif file output (which I had a hard time displaying and viewing outside traumflier at first). And, it's all in German. Sprechen sie Deutsch?



Imigo Jones  Friday Jul 4 10:21 AM




You know what this is.


With a salute of gratitude and no offense to our friends in the dear mother country ,
here's adapting an 18-month-old image for our purposes today:



Happy Fourth of July!



Sundae  Friday Jul 4 10:59 AM

Yay - red white & blue!
(we share the colours remember)

Happy Independence day to you all.



HungLikeJesus  Friday Jul 4 11:14 AM

And I bet you're glad to be rid of us.



TheMercenary  Saturday Jul 5 08:02 PM

How's it do with deflecting an airplane laden with passengers crashing into it at 500 mph?



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