How are those toothpick skyscrapers in Manhattan earthquake proof?
In: 5
Source – I literally studied earthquake resistant construction in school.
It works like this, the two most important factors in a building surviving an earthquake are the building’s height, and the type of shaking involved in the quake. Some earthquakes make small, fast shaking, others long, slow shaking.
Have you ever seen the thing where a certain frequency of sound can make a glass shatter? Imagine that but with buildings, the right frequency earthquake, combined with the right building height will determine if they fall. Believe it or not, some earthquakes will topple small 1-5 story buildings and leave the flimsy skyscrapers unharmed, others will knock down mid-height buildings, others only the tallest buildings.
So what they’ve invented is basically a big heavy weight they install in the top of the building. Sort of a massive pendulum the size of a small building itself. They call this a “tuned mass damper” and it basically makes the tall building act like a small one if it needs to. TMD’s are in almost all the super structures you see in the modern world and they are the heros in your example.
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