TITLE : VIBRATING TOWERS CASE STUDY

COURSE CODE : SKAA3122

COURSE : TEORI STRUCTURE

LECTURER : PM DR. REDZUAN B. ABDULLAH

DATE : 29th MAY 2017

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

MEMBER MATRIC NO.

SIVAGURU A/L NARAYANASAMY SX143245KAWF04

MOHD REZANAJUIB BIN RAMLI SX143226KAWF04

MOHD NASIR BIN NAWAWI SX150363KAWS05

GANESH A/L RAMASAMY SX150351KAWS05

 MAIN CONTENT

Content Page
Main Content 1
Introduction 2
Methodology 3-5
Conclusion 6
Attachment 7

1
 INTRODUCTION

Five story steel tower was erected at nearby seaside area in Semporna, east coast of Sabah, to attract more
visitor to the area. As the owner, the Local authority select contractor directly by negotiation and design was
carried out in house. After construction completed, local authoritys staff were invited to climb the tower. At
the top of steel tower, staff feels that tower is shaking. The case immediately reported to head of local authority,
where they postpone the opening ceremony to public and appointed a structural forensic company to
investigate. As our team was elected as part of the investigation team, company humbly request us to submit
reports cause of tower vibrating.

2
 METHODOLOGY

Tower vibrations can originate from a number of common sources, which is cause by like rail or vehicle traffic
loads, wind load, pile driving, earthquake and etc. The magnitude of these vibrations can range from being
entirely unnoticeable, to a minor nuisance, to extremely damaging. Factors that dictate the effect of vibrations
may have are the strength of the source vibrations, duration of exposure.

Long term vibration, can lead to structural failure. Therefore, to identify cause of vibration site investigation,
need carried out immediately. Take note that steel tower was constructed near to seaside. All column and beams
are made of hot rolled steel rectangular hollow section, all connection are boldly welded together. Eight tying
bolt used to tie well four main column. Site investigation very important to assume cause of problem before
deep analysis to be carry out, following data very helpful to assuming the cause vibration:

Nearby construction area, any pile driving

Vehicle traffic and railway
Earthquake zone
Duration of vibration, magnitude of vibration, peak vibration
Nature of area, type of soil
Etc.

After site investigation, it is very important to check from the start of design to maintenance period, where
further information have to collect into 5 major area such as:

1. Design and documentation

Code of designs and design procedures
Load calculation and load combination
Foundation types
Records and necessary test
2. Construction
Structure construction as per drawing
Method of construction, sequence
3. Material
Material qualities as per standard
Size and thickness as per design
4. Administrative
Man powers skills and experiences
5. Maintenance

3
 Record of maintenance and type of maintenance

DISCUSSION

After long discussion and go through some data given, we conclude possibility that cause tower to vibrate is
wind because the structure vibrates very badly especially towards early evening. As we know Malaysia
surrounded by sea, where tasted real effect of the sea breeze especially on days that are not clear, sea breeze
with a speed of 15 knots (example) will occur and can reach several tens of kilometers into the interior. Buildings
exposed to stochastic loading such as wind load have a tendency to vibrate in the rst natural frequency. During
strong motions, such as earthquakes, conventional structures usually deform well beyond their elastic limits,
and remain intact only due to their ability to in-elastically deform.

To control vibration, adding damping arms to the underside of the structure, where damping allow a structure
to achieve optimal performance when it is subjected to seismic, wind storm or other types of transient shock
and vibration disturbances. A damping arm dissipates vibration through friction. Its an effective but expensive
measure. Another practical and inexpensive approach is to increase the floor loading within the building.

4
 CONCLUSION

Local authority should hire very experienced contractor and design should give to authorize steel structure
designer. Where designer should calculation wind load in load combination and obey national standard of
designing, (refer to attachment) to prevent unwanted structural failure or structural fault. Phase of construction
should under licensed engineer responsibility to minimize any additional cost. Responsibility engineer can give
instant solution and advice to contractor, by doing this no cheat works carried out and quality assured.

Lastly, structural designers and tower owners should be aware of the complexity associated with wind protection
engineering. Not only are there uncertainties in the approximation of the dynamic response itself, but since
people react so differently to the phenomenon one has to take extra consideration when evaluating acceptable
accelerations in a tower.

5
ATTACHMENT

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