Optimization of Swimming Pools as Tuned Liquid Dampers for Vibration Control and Seismic Resilience in High-Rise Buildings

Minimizing the seismic-induced dynamic response of high-rise buildings is crucial to prevent excessive lateral movements, high storey drifts, and occupant discomfort. Due to the low inherent damping problem in tall buildings, new vibration control strategies have been implemented in modern tall buildings, and the Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) has been proven very effective. A swimming pool has a special opportunity to be utilized in recreational and structural ways when it is designed as a TLD in contemporary high-rise construction. Performance of such a system largely depends on placement and water depth, which have to be optimized to maximize the damping efficiency. The present paper focuses on the seismic performance enhancement of a 32-storey mixed-use high-rise building in Bengaluru, India, by incorporating a swimming pool as a functional TLD. With the difference in pool location (edge pool and center pool) and depth (1.2 m and 1.5 m), five structural models were created and analyzed using structural analysis software, with response spectrum analysis (RSA) according to IS 1893:2016. The original model was the most susceptible as it had the highest time period, displacement, and drift with no pool. By adding an edge-positioned pool, lateral displacements were reduced by as much as 44% and storey drifts by up to 32%, but centrally located pools also enhanced performance, albeit to a lesser extent. In all the set-ups, the maximum lateral deflection was between 126 -210 mm, which was within the allowable limits. The results point out that the positioning and sufficient depth of a swimming pool used as a TLD can significantly improve seismic resilience with a twofold usage. This new technology is a cost-efficient, aesthetically unified and structurally advantageous way of enhancing the dynamic stability of tall buildings.