Construction near existing hospital facilities has the potential to adversely affect sensitive equipment and activities. General contractors often employ vibration monitors around the construction site to protect neighboring buildings from vibration-related damage.
For sensitive equipment, however, the vibration levels of concern can be more than 100 times lower than those associated with even minor cosmetic building damage.
In such cases, more sophisticated monitoring systems are necessary to measure and assess the potential adverse effects of construction-related vibration.
Vibration sensitive equipment, like electron microscopes and MRIs, typically have very detailed vibration criteria that are often frequency dependent (the allowable level varies depending on the frequency of the vibration).
Again, sophisticated systems are needed to evaluate the vibrations at multiple frequencies at the same time.
Widely available remote desktop software has made it possible to place these sophisticated monitoring systems in the field and to monitor the vibration remotely in near real time. With an Internet connection, it is also possible to send alarm messages by text or email when the criterion limits are exceeded, allowing the contractor to adjust means and methods to reduce the offending vibration.
During times when the vibrations are within safe limits, the monitoring systems can provide peace of mind to researchers and staff in the facility.
Jeffrey Zapfe, PhD, is the President of Acentech. He can be reached at jzapfe@acentech.com. For more information about Acentech, visit www.acentech.com.
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Vibration management
Beyond monitoring, what with the costs of interrupted or interim replacement services, we often recommend direct coordination between the owner and the contractor (with or without an expert intermediary). The time and duration of work that is likely to produce disruptive vibration can be coordinated, and means and methods which might mitigate disruptive vibration can be discussed and negotiated.
Yes, each of these can add cost, but when you look at the cost of a day's interruption of an MRI (at $10k - $15k of daily technical revenue), or of renting an interim MRI-in-a-trailer on short notice (may cost $80,000 per month), the costs associated with managing this risk are far greater than the surprises that they can spring on you.
These are exactly the issues we're wrestling with in the design of a 6 MRI suite which will be finished just as ground is broken outside the perimeter wall for a new hospital addition.
Tobias Gilk
RAD-Planning
Vibration Management
Tobias,
One can not underestimate the value of communication and planning. Many times users can schedule their activity to work around the most disruptive construction activities. Alternatively, high vibration construction activities might be scheduled off-hours.
The key is that users have to know what is coming so they can plan accordingly.
Another useful tool in the planning process is representative equipment testing. This can give the project insight into what types of activities are likely to cause an issue (and how close they have to be).
Jeff