Akira Nishimura Hiroshi Yamamoto Yasuhiko Kimura Hideki Kimura Masashi Yamamoto Atsumichi Kushibe DOI: 10,1002/sue0.201100011 Base-isolated super high-rise RC building composed of three connected towers with vibration control systems The Island Tower Sky Club is a super high-rise RC apartment block constructed in Fukuoka City, Japan, which makes inventive use ofthe most advanced building technologias. The building is 145 m tall with 42 storeys. Itis composed of three similar, slender towers with three-fold rotational symmetry. The towers are con: nected at three different levels by aerial gardens and contain various vibration control devices to assure a high lave of safety. The aerial gardens are connected tothe towers by vibration con- tral dampers to reduce the overturning effects of the towers caused by seasonal winds and large earthquakes. An elaborate control system can reduce the storey acceleration response by 30 %. At the upper two storeys of each tower, super-plastic zinc~ ‘aluminium alloy dampers are alsa used. To reduce the storey acceleration response, the base ofthe building is isolated using a hybrid system of bearing supports and dampers. The validity of the control system implemented is confirmed by human power vibration tests conducted atthe aerial gardens. Keyword: buitings, concrete structures, seismic engineering 1 Introduction Island City is an urban area under development since 1994, built on a reclaimed land. It incorporates several housing areas, business areas, commercial areas and a harbour. The project aims to “bring an additional value to the artificial island”, “construct a harmonious housing area in a natural environment”, “create a safe and an ad- eee eer vanced urban system offering unparalleled convenience”, and “establish a creative and pioneering city model for a sustainable future”, ‘As a super high-rise RC apartment block built in the residential area, Island Tower Sky Club genuinely achieves the objectives of this ambitious project and offers a new style of residential space (Fig. 1) It should be noted that the structure is one of the winners of the 2010 fib awards for outstanding concrete structures 2 Design concepts of the Island Tower Sky Club The design of this building is conceived to “create a form reminiscent of the seashore”, “allow excellent daylighting and a broad view of the outside”, and “introduce a safe and sustainable environment into high-rise areas”. As for the first concept, the illuminated top to each tower of the 145.5 m tall building recalls the image of a lighthouse (Fig. 2) As for the second concept, this building is composed of three similar, slender towers with three-fold rotational symmetry. The total floor area of the building is 61296 m? and each tower has a 20 x 20 m square floor plan (Fig. 3). ‘The structure of each tower is provided with a core wall (Super-Flex-Wall) that carries a large part of the seismic load. Such a core wall allows a reduction in the size of Preerery Fig. 1. Island Tower Sky Club 94 ©2011 Emst& Sot erg fr Architoktur und technische Wissenschatten GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin Structure Gonerte 122011, No.2A Nshimur Yamarot/. Kina, Kina Yaron sib Bast Fig. 2. Night views of sland Tower Sky Club peripheral columns as well as the depth of the peripheral beams. The form selected for the building and the imple- mentation of the Super-Flex-Wall results in sufficient day- lighting on the floors and allows a good view of the out- side. AAs forthe third concept, the sustainable building has aerial gardens (“Sky Gardens”) (Fig. 4) Furthermore, the skeleton-infill method is adopted for the construction of this building, aiming for a long life span and high values for the building and city assets. The elevators and entrances are of universal design, sprinklers are installed in all apartments and a pair of evacuation routes is secured through the Sky Gardens. 3 Outline of the Structure ‘The outline of the structural system of the 145.3 m tall building with 42 storeys above the ground is illustrated in Fig. 5. Connecting the three towers (arranged in rotation- al symmetry) through the Sky Gardens increases the lateral and torsional stiffnesses of the building. To carry the separate overturning moments of the towers, the low- et part of the building is conceived as one body with a continuous foundation beam, a continuous large beam at the first floor and a continuous thick slab at the third floor. A high-strength reinforced concrete with a com- pressive strength of 70 N/mm? has been used. Various techniques have been implemented to improve the struc. tural safety against earthquakes and the comfort of resi- dents during strong winds. These techniques are intro- duced below. 341 Super-Flox-Wall Each tower is provided with a Super-Flex-Wall that carries 4 large part of the seismic load, Hence, the size of the pe- ripheral columns and the depth of the peripheral beams could be reduced (Figs. 6 and 7). Based on the seismic load level, three framing plans were designed, as shown in Fig, 6. The storeys in the low- cr part of the building have a full frame structure with in- ternal and peripheral beams, the storeys in the middle part of the building have a frame structure without internal highsise Abin rnd of hoe ceed ters within can ystems beams, and the storeys in the upper part of the building have a frame structure without beams but with peripheral steel columns, 32 Base isolation system ‘The hybrid base isolation system shown in Fig. 8 has been adopted to reduce the storey acceleration response of the building mainly during large earthquakes ‘The system is composed of multi-layer natural rub- ber and extremely low-friction sliding bearing supports plus U-shaped metaltic and oil dampers. The low-friction sliding bearing supports with a friction coefficient u = 0.01 are particularly able to increase the isolation period of the building, whereas the two damper types absorb the vibra- tion energy (Fig. 9). 33 Dampers for the Sky Garden trusses ‘The aerial gardens (“Sky Gardens”) connecting the towers at three different levels (Fig. 10) are made of concrete slabs supported by steel trusses. The trusses are connected to the towers by vibration control dampers in order to re- duce the overtuming effect of the towers caused by sea sonal winds and large earthquakes. The vibration control dampers are of two types: the first type is the broad-band damper (BB damper), which is a buckling-restrained hys teresis damper made of very low yield stecl connected in series with a laminated viscoelastic damper (Fig. 11); the second type is an oil damper (Fig. 12) The laminated viscoclastic damper, which i a part of the BB damper, is shown in Fig. 15. It is composed of vis- coelastic rubbers that are laminated in ten 3 mm thick lay- ets and vulcanized with the steel plates, and two pins of 50 mm diameter that work as stoppers. Each pin pene- trates the steel plates and the viscoelastic rubbers, There is a clearance of 1.5 mm between the pin the diameter of the case is 3.0 mm larger than that of the pin. Therefore, the laminated viscoelastic damper is effec- tive within deformations of 3 mm (Fig. 14). ‘The buckling-restrained hysteresis damper is com- posed of a main brace member (BH-150 x 150 x 25 x 25) made of a very low yield steel (S, = 100 N/mm?) and a pe ‘Struturel Concrete 12(2011,No.2 9Pian on 14h floor (Underside of tho Sky arden} Fig.3. Typical oa pans ripheral member (BBox-185 x 185. 16 (SS400)) that re- strains buckling of the main brace member. ‘The oil damper is used as a damper for earthquakes. ‘The maximum damping force is 1000 kN. For small excitations, such as seasonal winds, the laminated viscoelastic dampers reduce the response of the building, For a large excitation, such as earthquakes, the buckling-restrained hysteresis dampers and the oil dampers reduce the response of the building. Therefore, the damping effect of this vibration control system ranges from small to large excitations. 9% Structural Conerote12(2011, No.2 a A. Nishimura Yarsot/ Kimura. Kinua/M, Yaar Kshibe-Baseiscated ier hihise A bling amped Hes comece ove With etn ently Residential eres \ S)Pubic area Machine roam Residona roa Pabiie eren = Machine room Plan on 1th oor [Upper sido of the Sky Garden) 3.4 Dampers for the uppor storeys (zinc-alu alloy dampers) Another vibration control system with superplastic zinc- aluminium alloy dampers (Zn-Al dampers) has been adopted for the two uppermost storeys of each tower as shown in Fig. 16. The deformable portion of the Zn-Al al- Joy plate is 700 mm long, 200 mm wide and 17.1 mm thick. Fig, 17 shows the load-strain relationship of the Zn- Al damper for various strains at a controlled frequency of 0.35 Hz, where the hysteresis loops are stable. This re-