Design and application of a novel eddy current damper for a high-rise sightseeing tower

A conventional tuned mass damper (TMD) provides a passive control option to suppress the structures' wind- or earthquake-induced vibrations. However, excessive displacements of the TMD raise concerns in the practical implementation. Therefore, this study proposes a novel TMD designed for and deployed on a high-rise sightseeing tower. The device consists of an integrated two-way slide rail mount and an eddy current damper (ECD) with a stroke control mechanism. This stroke control mechanism allows the damping coefficient to automatically increase when the stroke reaches a predetermined value, preventing excessive damper displacements during large earthquakes. The corresponding two-stage damping parameters are designed with a variable-thickness copper plate to enable the TMD stroke within a specified range. Thus, this study discusses the detailed design schemes of the device components in TMD. The designed two-stage damping parameters are also numerically verified, and the structural responses with/without the TMD are compared. As seen in the results, the proposed TMD yields effective control authority to limit the acceleration response within a comfort level. In addition, this TMD resolves the spatial availability for the damper movement in high-rise buildings by the controllable damping mechanism.