Roof-mounted mass damper

Explore how a roof-mounted mass absorber moves with a building and how much relative travel it needs.

How does a roof damper respond to building sway?

Monochrome sketch of the layered tuned mass damper and its suspension cables inside Taipei 101
Reference sketch: the suspended tuned mass damper inside Taipei 101, adapted from a photograph.
Sketch from photo: travelwayoflife · CC BY-SA 2.0 · sketch adaptation

What you can model

A mass, spring and damper sit on the roof of a three-storey frame under harmonic ground motion. The diagram shows their connection to the structure, and the animation follows the coupled motion. Displacements are magnified ten times so the movement of the absorber relative to the roof can be seen.

Model diagram showing the frame and the mass, spring and damper at the roof.
Model diagram showing the frame and the mass, spring and damper at the roof.
Simulation of the frame and roof absorber. Displacements are magnified ×10.

What you can explore

Compare the roof and absorber responses, paying attention to their relative motion through each cycle. The response plot connects the visible movement to the travel required by the absorber. This example provides a starting point for exploring how absorber settings change the coupled structural response.

Building and absorber response under the example’s harmonic excitation.
Building and absorber response under the example’s harmonic excitation.

← Back to StructuralMembers