The tallest statue in the world, the Statue of Unity, situated in India, is not just a static wonder. Did you know there are two large oscillating objects inside this statue? But why exactly are they there?
The scary oscillations
It is possible to climb up to top observation deck, located at 135 meters of this 182-meter high statue. When I first learned about the height of the statue, I wondered what would happen if a heavy wind were to blow while some visitors were inside of it. Obviously, the statue will oscillate. Even though such oscillations won’t cause any structural harm to the statue, it will surely give the visitors a fright.
The solution : A tuned mass damper
That’s why the engineers behind this statue decided to install two big free-to-oscillate masses inside this statue, each mass weighing an impressive 250 tonnes.
During heavy wind, the statue will sway, but due to the inertia of the masses, there will be a delay in the swing. In short, the statue and the masses will swing slightly out of phases. This relative movement will cause energy loss at the mass-statue hinges. This will help the statue quickly stabilize.
A simple demonstration for tuned mass damping
If you are still confused about the physics of tuned mass damping, please try this experiment at home. Here I have made a simple oscillating system. The normal system takes more than 10 oscillations to die out. However, when I attach another mass which can oscillate, the oscillations die out in just 5 oscillations.
I hope you now have a greater understanding of why tuned mass dampers are used in heavy constructions.
