The opportunities of supplementary damping systems in Dutch high-rise buildings

Abstract

In slender high-rise buildings wind-induced accelerations can become the governing design criterion. These issues can be solved by increasing mass, increasing stiffness, or increasing the damping ratio. The focus of this research is on the last option and investigates the opportunities of supplemental damping in the Dutch high-rise building context. The research report answers the following main research question: In what way can supplementary damping be applied in Dutch, slender, tall buildings to efficiently meet the structural design requirements? A literature research was conducted to the topics of wind-engineering, high-rise structures, and supplemental dampers. To answer the main research question two research methods have been applied. First, a variant study was performed in Karamba, a FEA plug-in for Rhino Grasshopper. Building height, floor mass, outrigger, stiffness limits, and damping ratio were varied. From this analysis charts were generated from which it could be determined which design requirement is governing. In this way opportunities for the application of supplemental damping could be determined. In the last phase of the research the mitigating effects of tuned mass damper (TMD) were modelled with the use of the theory of random vibrations and modal analysis. With a developed python script the reduced accelerations could be computed and the parameters of a TMD could be determined.