The Hidden Engineering of Liquid Dampers in Skyscrapers

chmaynard | 51 points

Toward the end, he suggests water dampers serve a dual purpose to meet fire codes (having a reservoir of water atop your building).

Does this create additional risk when firefighting operations draw it down?

i.e. Do the dampers contribute meaningfully to short term structural integrity of the building (particularly in gusty weather), or are they mainly just for comfort and materials longevity?

Has any building architected its liquid pool damper as a bonafide swimming pool?

rkagerer | 9 hours ago

The non liquid active tuned damper in Tapei 101 is a delight. Sprayed gold like a funky futurist nugget, set amongst massive hydraulic actuators.

I'm not sure you could make a liquid tuned damper be a tourist attraction.

ggm | 11 hours ago

I don't recall him mentioning how the viscosity of the fluid changes it's effectiveness, but I imagine it would. For reduced maintenance costs (prevent algae growth) they probably use mineral oil, not blue water.

chiph | 12 hours ago

Cool video. I love the practical attempts at demos. Even if they don’t always work 100% it’s so much better than talking plus some semi relevant animations

Havoc | 10 hours ago