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Tuned Mass Damper of Taipei 101 Skyscraper during 6.8 earthquake [video] (youtube.com)
157 points by thunderbong on Sept 19, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 24 comments



This is a really cool feat of engineering, even when there's no earthquakes the sway of the building in the wind isn't as noticeable compared to smaller buildings I've been in.

If anyone is interested, there's a short article about Te Papa in Wellington NZ about how it handles earthquakes.

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-p...


I was up the sears tower in an office on the 100 something floor and I could feel the wind move the building.


I have definitely felt a 40 story building move while I was on the 38th floor.


The people up there seem to not be experiencning much. A 6.8 earthquake is very very frightening event from the ground level.


I'm surprised to see them confidently standing around watching and filming. Didn't they feel the quake and evacuate? Or is it standard procedure there not to evacuate buildings?


https://scweb.cwb.gov.tw/en-us/earthquake/imgs/ee20220918144...

The Intensity (human feeling) at Taipei is just Lv.3 (because epicenter is almost 250km or 161 miles away), which means "Almost everyone will feel shaking, and some may experience fear"[1]. Such degree is not very rare at Taiwan, so most people will just act as "hmm", "OK fine".

Also after the 921 Earthquake[2], Taiwan raise earthquake-resistant structures standard, therefore most new buildings will be fine under 5 or 6 Intensity.

[1] https://scweb.cwb.gov.tw/en-US/Guidance/FAQdetail/182

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Jiji_earthquake


Why would you try to evacuate people from the 80+ floor during an earthquake? What good cut realistically come from that under what scenario?


You got a point. I live in a low-risk zone and been through only two experiences - one was a weak quake back in school and the other was an office drill. Both times we were told to evacuate the building. I assumed it was SOP but doesn't look like it. Now that I think about it, it was perhaps because both were from the 1st floor and outside was wide open ground.


They are on the 87th floor, you aren't going to be running for the doors in that situation.


Even if they were on the ground floor I would stay in. Outside they might get hit by stuff falling off the building even under conditions where the building itself survives. If the building collapse, they won't be safe at all even outside the building unless they get pretty far away.


Each skyscraper should have one or more playground-style spiral slides installed that can be ridden directly to the bottom in the event of an emergency. This would also provide a valuable source of fun to the building occupants.

That would be pretty dumb in reality, but I wonder if it could be made to work... you'd need some kind of synchronisation control on the ingress to ensure people enter the slide with sufficient clearance before/ahead of them, and you'd have to have a "mantrap" type arrangement at the ingress points to prevent multiple people cramming in at once and risking a jam. You'd also want to neck the entrances down to about 3/4 of the tunnel diameter to stop overly large persons from entering the slide.

Probably also want some kind of low-friction mat at the exit point so people aren't piling up at the bottom of the slide and blocking it if they can't move fast enough.


It was only a magnitude 2 in Taipei. The epicenter was 200-300km away in the south-east of the island


The first one was 2 the second was 3. I didn’t feel the first one despite being awake when it happened due to taking care of new born.

The second I felt, wife was scared. 4yo on bed watching tv didn’t even notice it.



as someone who used to work in the 80+ floor office of the same building, whenever the earth quake hits, it really isn't that bad up there.


This definitely cries out for a detailed explanation of the engineering principles involved.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1U4SAgy60c&t=181s (for some definition of "detailed explanation")


Youtube serves an ad 5 seconds into this link.

Perhaps we need to invent a new warning acronym for youtube links, akin to NSFW. Perhaps NSFI (not safe for the impatient).

Thanks though, mindless2112; this comment is not a complaint directed at you.


Install yt-dlp, optionally create an alias for the settings you prefer, then paste the URL into a terminal and you’ll download it without ads and also with sponsor segments cut out (if you enable that feature).


Ad blocker


And "YouTube Vanced" on Android.


What’s the difference between this and linking a written page full of ads?


That's surprisingly squeaky, are those pistons pneumatic?


You are quite possibly looking at a $4 million dollar device that kept a 1667 foot building from toppling.




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