Monitoring Construction Vibrations at Sensitive Facilities

Construction-related vibrations, while temporary, still have the potential to disrupt vibration- or noise-sensitive operations in adjacent facilities (such as hospitals, laboratories and low-vibration fabrication facilities). Traditional construction vibration monitors are configured to measure levels corresponding to building damage thresholds. Unfortunately, vibration-sensitive equipment can be adversely affected at levels that are orders of magnitude lower than this. Furthermore, while most construction vibration monitors provide level information at a single dominant frequency, most criteria for sensitive equipment are specified over a range of frequencies. Generally, occupants of buildings near construction sites prefer to continue operations during the construction process. To do this, however, they need to know how the construction-related vibrations compare to their instrument criteria.