Self Mass Damper (SMD): Seismic Control System Inspired by the Pendulum Movement of an Antique Clock

Abstract eng:
Completed in May 2007, the Swatch Group’s new flagship building in Tokyo, the Nicolas G. Hayek Center, is filled with an array of innovative elements ranging from elevating showrooms to multi-storey retractable glass exterior walls to moving floors for reducing the seismic forces induced into the building. Utilizing a combination of base isolation technology and a mass damper scheme, the Self Mass Damper (SMD) system is the result of a seismic control concept inspired by the pendulum movement of an antique clock. Typically, a mass damper type seismic control systems are integrated into the building by augmenting a significant amount of mass on top of a structure – characteristically detrimental to the overall seismic performance of the building. However by utilizing the existing mass, the actual floor plates in this case, as a mass damper to counteract the seismic response of the building, the unfavorable addition of mass was avoided. The SMD system was implemented by disconnecting four of the upper floors (9F, 10F, 12F, 13F) from the main structure through a combination of slider and high-damping rubber bearings placed at the interface. Each combination of bearings was tuned to provide the maximum damping to the overall structure while maintaining an acceptable lateral relative deformation limit in all directions. To bring about this system from concept to reality, rigorous structural analyses and full scale device testing was conducted to validate that the SMD system would reduce seismic forces in the structure by up to 37% under a large scale earthquake loading.

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