Remember that impressive 730 ton tuned mass damper? Well here's another way to keep buildings standing through winds and quakes by using 100,000 gallons of liquid. The liquid tuned mass damper sits atop of the 60-floor, 641-foot-tall south tower of One Rincon Hill in San Fransisco. The momentum built up by the skyscraper's swaying to and fro will naturally move the water in the opposite direction, balancing out the forces at work. Without the damper, the building would more easily succumb to natural forces — and in a city that was nearly demolished by a quake in 1906, those forces can be incredibly strong.
Unfortunately, the area doesn't double as a wave pool for residents of the 60-floor One Rincon Hill.
Click Continue to see a video of the liquid tuned mass damper in action.
McGraw Hill Construction, via DeputyDog
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By SpeedBlue47 at 10:21 PM ON 07/31/08
I wonder if under normal conditions bio-fuel producing algae could live in these, 100,000 gallons. There would definitely be adequate sunlight, and the water could be processed to separate out the fuel and filter contaminating by-products of the fuel-making process. It would be one way to possibly amortize the cost of these device economically while bolstering not only the viability of earthquake-resistant towers here and abroad, but also allow larger American cities to locally produce fuel for sale.
That being said, I don't know if the vibrations and oscillations of the body of water would prevent the algae from prospering.
By Brass_Orchid at 5:03 AM ON 08/03/08
Natural gas is 95% methane. You could have a methane-producing sludge pool and use the stench to power the building. The ratio of sludge to floorspace might not be economically sound, though. Algae or bacteria wouldn't be bothered by natural motions in the fluid body in which they reside unless it became so violent that the tank were destroyed by it.