台北101高楼风阻尼器

台北101大楼第88~92层之间有一颗巨大的‘黄色大球’。它由41层12.5厘米厚的实心钢板堆迭焊接而成，直径约5.4米，重达730吨，价值400W美元。它的作用是减轻飓风、地震等自然现象给大厦带来的震动，也就是传说中的‘调制阻尼器’。

The new Taipei 101 is sitting just 660 ft. from a major fault line in Taiwan, the tower could be subjected to earthquakes, typhoons and fierce winds--major challenges to the rigidity of the building. The remedy for these potential seismic and atmospheric assaults is this 730-ton tuned mass damper (TMD). It acts like a giant pendulum to counteract the building's movement--reducing sway due to wind by 30 to 40 percent. Constructed by specialty engineering firm Motioneering, the damper was too heavy to be lifted by crane and had to be assembled on-site. Eight steel cables form a sling to support the ball, while eight viscous dampers act like shock absorbers when the sphere shifts. Able to move 5 ft. in any direction, the Taipei TMD is the world's largest and heaviest. This gold-colored orb is on view from restaurants, bars and observation decks between the 88th and 92nd stories. A bumper ring prevents the ball from swaying too far, should that much swaying ever need to occur.