Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...………………………………………...1-2

Objective………………………………………………………..……………………………………………...……………………………3

Hypothesis………………………………………………..…...……………………………………………...…………………………..4

Physical Concept……………………………………………....…………………………………………………………….…...5-15

Material…………………………………………….…………….……………….……………….……………….……..…..…….16-20

Procedures…………………………………………………..………..…………………………………..………..…..…………21-28

Experiment & Raw data……………..…………………………………..………………….……………………...……29-30

Analysis……………………………………………………………………………...………………….………………….……………...31

Error………………………………………………………………………………..……...…….………………….………..……....32-3

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...………………….………………….………….....34

1
Introduction

An earthquake is a disaster occurred when the surface of the Earth vibrate

which can be caused in various ways. For instant, Earthquake fault types.The range of

earthquake could result from very weak that can not cause any violence to destroy

the whole city. The earthquake caused from the seismic wave that send out the wave

around its center in circular path. When the earthquake occurs it caused the land to

accelerate forth and back which the building to be shaking in the same direction of

the acceleration. Moreover, after we draw a picture of the graph, it will show in

sinusoidal graph, which its amplitude depends on the strength of the oscillation. The

level of damage done to a structure depends on the amplitude and the duration of

shaking. The acceleration and wave go through the structure’s foundation of the

building. The taller the building, the longer it shake. Which all of this will lead to the

collapse of building at the end. Therefore, it comes to our concern and interest to

apply just a simple physics concept that can actually prevent life from death. The

major cause of death due to the earthquake comes from the collapse of buildings.

2
However, there are several ways to prevent this. The device that we focused in this

exhibition is the tuned mass damper. Tuned Mass damper is basically a pendulum

that will reduce the shaking of the building which is located on the roof of the

building. The period of the pendulum depends on the length of the pendulum as the

formula is given by T = 2π
√ L
G . There are 5 total models we use in the

experiment. Each model have the same height, width, and length, however, the length

of the pendulum are not the same. To gain more accuracy, we use the same actual

size as the real building and use the aspect ratio of 1:750 of the Empire State. The

length of pendulum starts from 2 cm, 5cm, 11cm, and 17cm and the last one with no

pendulum as the control group.

3
Objective

The purpose of this lab is to demonstrate how Tuned Mass Damper works and

to learn how to create the model to simulate what would the Tuned Mass Damper

helps in earthquake situation. Additionally, to share the knowledge of how dangerous

the earthquake could be and how it can minimize the energy of the quake. Finally, to

study that does the length of string that connected to the pendulum and the size of

the pendulum affects the period of abbreviation of energy.

4
Hypothesis

If we attach the pendulum on top of the tall building, it will help reduce the

vibration from Earthquake or wind. By passing the vibration at the building through

the string to pendulum in the form of energy, then the building will have less time

and power of vibration.

According to the formula of pendulum motion, the mass of the pendulum is

not included in it. But we ourselves want to prove it by observing the building and

record the data using different masses of pendulum attached to the top of each

building. We believe that masses of the pendulum influence the motion of the

building.

5
Physics Concept

Pendulum Motion

A simple pendulum consists of a mass of object (m) hung by a string with a

length (l) from a fixed pivot point (p). It typically hangs vertically in its equilibrium

position. The object is referred as the ​pendulum bob​. When the bob is displaced from

equilibrium to an initial angle and then released, it begins to swing back and forth

about its fixed equilibrium position. The motion of the bob is regular and repeating

which is referred to as periodic motion. The motion of the pendulum could change

according various quantities including force, position, velocity and energy (both kinetic

and potential).

Force analysis on pendulum motion

All object that is vibrating is acted upon by a force called restoring force. The

restoring force is responsible for bringing the system back to its equilibrium . The

6
force causes the vibrating object to slow down as it moves away from the equilibrium

position and to speed up as it approaches the equilibrium position. There are two

major forces acting upon a pendulum ​bob during the course of its motion. There is

the force of gravity that acts downward upon the bob which results from the Earth's

mass attracting the mass of the bob. And there is a tension force acting upward and

towards the pivot point of the pendulum, where the tension force results from the

string pulling upon the ​bob of the pendulum. The influence of air resistance will be

ignored because the force is relatively weak when compared to Gravity and tension

force. Also, air resistance is neglected for simple calculation purposes.

7
 When the forces acting on an object are not in the same, opposite or

perpendicular directions, it is important to resolve one or more of the forces into

components. In pendulum, gravity force gets resolved because the tension force is

already perpendicular to the motion. One of the components is directed tangent to

the circular arc along which the pendulum bob moves; this component is called

Fgrav-tangent. The other component is directed perpendicular to the arc; it is labeled

Fgrav-perp. The perpendicular component of gravity is in the opposite direction of

the tension force, and the tension force is slightly larger than the component of

gravity.

8
 According to the diagram above, when the bob is displaced to its maximum

displacement to the right of the equilibrium position, it has a velocity of 0 m/s and it

is changing its direction. The tension force (Ftens) and the perpendicular component

of gravity (Fgrav-perp) balance each other. At this specific point in time, there is no

net force directed along the axis that is perpendicular to the motion.

When the diagram for when the bob is at the equilibrium position (the string is

completely vertical), there is no component of force along the tangent direction.

When moving through the equilibrium position, the restoring force is absent. The

restoring force is only needed when the pendulum bob has been displaced away from

the equilibrium position.

9
The nature of pendulum motion

Assume that we could measure the amount that the pendulum bob is displaced

to the left or to the right of its equilibrium over the course of time. A displacement to

the right of the equilibrium position would be considered as a positive displacement,

while a displacement to the left would be considered as a negative displacement.

According to the following, the equilibrium position would be regarded as the zero

position. The diagram below is a plot showing the variation in position with respect to

time.

Assume that we could measure the velocity of the pendulum changes with

respect to the time. As the pendulum bob goes forward and backward, the velocity is

changing continuously. When the pendulum bob moves leftward, the velocity will be

10
negative. And when the pendulum bob moves leftward, the velocity will be positive.

Correspondingly, when the pendulum bob reaches its equilibrium position, it’s

velocity will be 0 m/s. If the variations in velocity over the course of time were

plotted, the resulting graph would resemble the one shown below.

The relationship between the position of the bob along the arc of its motion

and the velocity have connections. The graphic below shows an effort to make such a

connection between position and velocity.

11
 The plot above is based upon the equilibrium position (D) being the zero

position. A displacement to the left of the equilibrium position is considered as a

negative position, while a displacement to the right is considered as a positive

position. The analysis of the plots showed that the velocity is the least when the

displacement is the greatest. In the same way, the velocity is the greatest when the

displacement of the bob is the least. The further the bob has moved away from the

equilibrium position (D), the slower the pendulum bob travels; and the closer the bob

is to the equilibrium position (D), the faster the pendulum bob travels. This can be

explained that as the bob moves away from the equilibrium position, there is a

12
restoring force that opposes its motion and tried to bring the system back to the

equilibrium point. This restoring force slows down the bob. As the bob moves

leftward from position D to G, the force and acceleration is directed rightward and the

velocity decreases. At point G where the maximum displacement to left, the

pendulum bob has a velocity of 0 m/s. This can be viewed as the pendulum bob is

momentarily paused and ready to change its direction. As the bob moves rightward

along the arc from G to D, the restoring force is directed to the right in the same

direction as the bob is moving. This restoring force accelerated the bob, giving it a

maximum speed at position D ,which is the equilibrium position. As the bob moves

past position D, it is moving rightward along the arc towards point A, there is a

leftward restoring force opposing its motion and causes it to slow down. As the

displacement increases from D to A, the speed decreases due to the opposing force.

Once the bob reaches position A, it has reduced it’s velocity to 0 m/s. The bob's

velocity is the least when the displacement is greatest. The bob will then move

leftward from A to D, which is it’s equilibrium position. Along this arc from A to D, the

restoring force is in the direction of the motion, thus speeding the bob up. And the

13
pendulum would repeat the cycle until it stopped due additional force such as air

resistance.

Energy Analysis On Pendulum

The ​kinetic energy possessed by an object is the energy it possesses due to its

motion. It is a quantity that depends upon both mass and speed. The equation that

relates kinetic energy (KE) to mass (m) and speed (v) is

1 2
K .E. = 2 mv

The faster the pendulum bob moves, the more kinetic energy that it will

possess. The kinetic energy of the pendulum bob increases as the bob approaches the

equilibrium position. And the kinetic energy decreases as the bob moves further away

from the equilibrium position.

14
 The ​potential energy possessed by an object is the stored energy of position.

The form of potential energy possessed by a pendulum bob is gravitational potential

energy. The amount of gravitational potential energy is dependent upon the mass (m)

of the object and the height (h) of the object. The equation for the gravitational

potential energy (PE) is:

P .E. = mgh

The g represents the gravitational field strength (or referred to as the

acceleration caused by gravity) and has the value of 9.8 N/kg. The height must be

measured as the vertical distance above some reference position. When the bob is at

15
the equilibrium position, its height is zero and its potential energy is 0 J. As the

pendulum bob goes forward and backward, there are times during which the bob is

moving away from the equilibrium position. As it does, its height is increasing as it

moves further and further away. It reaches a maximum height as it reaches the

position of maximum displacement from the equilibrium position. As the bob moves

towards its equilibrium position, it decreases its height and decreases its potential

energy.

16
Materials

-​Wood Materials

Picture Name Quantity Function

Long Wooden Board 1 Uses as a cart for

(100 cm * 30 cm * placing the buildings.

2cm) This cart will be used

to stimulate vibration

from Earthquake.

Small wooden board 15 This is used for the

(12cm * 6cm) base and floor of the

building

17
 Square Stick 41 Use as the pillar of

(1cm * 1cm * 30cm) the building and

connected the board

of cart receiver.

-​Accessory Materials

Picture Name Quantity Function

Floor care pad 2 To soften the impact

of the cart and the

wall.

18
Wheels 4 Attach to the long

wooden board to

make the cart.

Hook 2 One connect the cart

another on the wall.

To pull the cart with

string.

Hook 4 To put the string on

and then connect with

the mass.

19
String 1 To hold the masses

under the hook

Screw 4 sizes To connect the hooks,

buildings, and wheels

to the the board.

Hex cap screw 4 Act as the pendulum

mass

20
-​Equipments

Picture Name Quantity Function

Driller 1 To drill holes and

apply screws.

Saw 1 Cut the wooden

board.

Super glue 3 Connect wooden

pieces together.

21
Procedures

Sketch Models

We started by drawing a blueprint for our buildings to minimize the materials

used. We tried to design it with extreme precision so that our project could come out

the best it could be.

Blueprint of control pendulum model

Blueprint of 10 cm pendulum model

Blueprint of 20 cm pendulum model

22
 Blueprint of 30 cm pendulum model

Blueprint of 40 cm pendulum model

23
BUILD THE MODEL

Brief explanation

There are five total models including 3 cm ,6 cm ,9 cm , 12 cm string and

another one is control variable, which does not have the tuned mass damper. The

model contains 3 major parts which are the building models, cart board, and cart

receiver. The building models are made from wood connected together by super

glue. We wanted the model to be realistic and accurate, so we use the real ratio of

24
1:750 of the Empire State of  United State of America. Then, those building models

are installed on a long cart made from long piece of wood screw with wheels and

hook. Then the hook of the cart will be pulled by a tried rubber band within three size,

each size contains different tightness, which will be pulled to the wall from the same

distance, so the force is almost the same every time we pull.

25
Cart

The cart were used to stimulate the impact of earthquake

1. First we took out the wooden board and drilled the screw with the driller

2. Each wheel contains four screw

3. Then, we screw a hook in the front of the cart directly in the middle to be able

to slide the cart smoothly

26
Building

1. Stick four wooden sticks on each corner of a wooden plank by using super glue

27
2. Stick another wooden plank on top of the sticks, and stick four more wooden sticks

on the on each end of the second wooden plank

3. Put the hook on top by drilling it through the wood

4. Combine the cart and the building together with 2 big screws on each building.

28
Cart receiver

1. Cut a hole on a wooden board, big enough to get the string pass to.

2. Screw a hook on the other wooden board.

3. Connect two boards together with sticks between them by glue gun.

4. Apply the floor care pad on the area of impact to soften the hit.

29
Experiment Methods

This experiment is separated into two particular area, which are period of

pendulum and the effectiveness of each tuned mass damper in different lengths.

Each two takes the same exact process except the force applied by the cart. The

experiment on the period does not need much force, but the experiment on the

effectiveness of mass tuned damper need to collect more accurate result.

Experiment on the period.

1. Hang the rubber string on both the hook of the cart and the hook on cart

receiver.

2. Pull the cart away from the cart receiver for 2 meters.

3. Release the cart.

4. Record the time and the result on each pendulum.

5. Analyse the data.

30
Experiment on the effectiveness of Tuned Mass Damper.

1. Hang the rubber string on both the hook of the cart and the hook on cart

receiver.

2. Pull the cart away from the cart receiver for 4 meters or more.

3. Release the cart.

4. Record the time and the result on each building.

5. Analyse the data.

Experiment on Period

Length By calculation on Record Difference

formula

T = 2π
√ L
G

2cm 0.28 0.42 0.14

5cm 0.45 0.46 0.01

11cm 1.06 2.30 1.24

17cm 1.23 4.39 2.16

31
Experiment on different masses

Length No hex cap First hex Second hex Third hex Fourth hex

cap cap cap cap

Control 0.56 1.01 0.53 0.54 0.58

2cm 1.03 0.42 0.36 0.49 0.53

5cm 0.38 0.58 0.47 0.46 0.47

11cm 0.28 0.39 0.43 0.53 0.49

17cm 0.16 0.48 0.52 0.43 1.12

32
Analysis

After we did the experiment, the results were unreliable because we can’t

really measure the exact time of each different mass. Therefore, we weren't able to

conclude that our hypothesis is right or wrong. According to the data, the model with

the same length of string, but with different masses stop shaking with the nearest

amount of time. However, we still can’t conclude that the mass of pendulum doesn’t

affect the vibration of the buildings.

The control building with no mass damper seemed to be the one that vibrate

the least while the building with the longest pendulum shook the most.

33
Error

Every experiment takes more than once to be precise and perfect, our

experiment also. We found a lot of flaws and errors since the beginning until the end

of the experiment. The first error we found is our model. Since we want precise

results, we tried to give the same force on each model by located the cart in the

same exact release point. However, the location of the models settle on the cart is

different, which it causes the model to recieve the difference force. As a result, our

experiment can not measure the result as much as we wanted. After we tried to

record the result, we found another big errors on our model. Our models were

constructed with thick sticks as the pillar connected together by the super glue. Our

models were too strong to cause a lot of the vibration. Therefore, we have to apply

more force as we were releasing the cart for several trails. Two models were

collapsed and one was damaged on the base. Thus, we fixed it but the models are not

precise as it was before, but it still be able to give us accurate results. Moreover, we

also decrease the distance between the release and impact points to reduce the

impact force that could break our models again. The other errors, our pendulums are

34
not the perfect pendulum as its structure is not that precise respective to our budget,

which could cost 5 times more than how much we spend. We do not have precise and

accurate pendulums, so we created the pendulum by ourselves, which led to this

error. Our result took much longer than we expected because the masses and the

strings were not tied and constructed perfectly. Therefore, most of the errors and

flaws come from the models that were not well constructed due to the materials and

budgets.

Conclusion

This project is to experiment on how mass damper or the pendulum affect the

vibration on the building to prevent the damage from the earthquake. We

experimented by using the model made of wood. Which is how the project gone

wrong because of the thickness of the pillars. And we realized that the distance also

affects the force of vibration, and notice that most of our expectations go in opposite

way. In the end, we can’t conclude anything from the data with this much of errors.

35
36