Storm Eunice tests damper technology installed on the 56 storey One West Point Tower in London….
It is rare for the performance of tall and slender buildings to be monitiored during wind storms, particularly in the UK but on the 18th February whilst the United Kingdom was preparing for Storm Eunice, a team of wind consultants in Ottawa, Canada were collecting data from accelerometers fitted at level 56 of City and Dockland’s One West Point development in West London.
Engineered by Manhire Associates, the slender 56 storey tower built by CJO’Shea is believed to be the first building in the United Kingdom to incorporate damping technology. Designed by specialists Gradient Wind, the tuned liquid damper (TLD) dampens building motions and the effects of vortex shedding.
Gradient processed and analysed the data and have concluded that the damping technology performed exceptionally well with motions (accelerations) significanty reduced. The graph of acceleration against time shows that without the technology, the peak building accelerations would have been approximately 32 to 27 milli-g which is much higher than the measured peak at just under 20 miil-g.
The building experienced this level of response only very briefly for 3 cycles at 11.29 A.M with the prevailing winds hitting the building at the most susceptible angle/wind direction. Gradient have remarked that the direction of the winds and their intensity is what makes the data so extraordinary. The gusts are likely to have exceeded the winds recorded at Heathrow Airport upon which the comparison was based exceeding the 1 in 50 year design ‘extreme’ event.
We will be posting more on the benefits of damping technology on both on our web-site and on Linkedin together with Gradient www.gradientwind.com.
Manhire Associates have been working on the development since early 2015.