The world's tallest building is the 1667-foot Taipei 101 in Taiwan. One of its features is a 730-ton steel ball, made of 41 steel plates, that acts as a damper against swaying motions of the skyscraper due to wind.
On May 12, 2008, the damper, which sits between the 87th and 89th floors of the building, got a workout from the earthquakes that hit China's Sichuan province. And a YouTube user was there to get footage:
(Via deputydog, which has more information about the damper. Hat tip to Dan Noland on the SKEPTIC mailing list.)
Impressive.
ReplyDeleteI've visited Taipei 101 on a couple of occaisions.
Those cables are so enormous and solid looking, that it is hard to imagine them being anything but rigid columns.