Vibrations / Structure-Borne Sound
Recording, measuring and investigating the generation of vibrations and structure-borne noise (railways/trams, machinery, construction sites) and their transmission. Analyses, assessments, forecasts, development of protective measures. Vibration monitoring of construction sites.
Railway Infrastructure
The environmental issue of vibrations/structure-borne noise has become increasingly important in recent years. As a result of increasingly dense construction, particularly in urban centres, conflicts of use are arising: rail transport passes through densely populated areas, often at very close distances to adjacent buildings. This often leads to conflicts due to excessive vibration and structure-borne noise emissions.
Vibration Monitoring
Monitoring vibrations on construction sites serves to protect buildings, technical equipment, sensitive devices and also the health of people. Activities such as pile driving, blasting, drilling or the use of heavy construction machinery in particular generate vibrations that spread across the building site and can cause damage or disruption. Vibration measurement is usually carried out using seismographs, which record the vibration velocity and frequency and trigger an alarm accordingly. Thanks to cloud-based solutions, data can be retrieved at any time and from any location.
Vibration and Structure-Borne Noise Measurements
Precise immission measurements are often essential as a first step in addressing vibration and structure-borne noise issues, whether these involve displacement amplitudes, vibration velocities or accelerations. The object-specific, networked installation of high-precision measuring devices and simultaneous measurement of the relevant immission parameters enable conclusions to be drawn about the desired investigation parameters. Our extensive range of top-quality equipment enables all types of short- and long-term measurements, with the cloud solutions commonly used today allowing initial evaluations to be carried out directly on site. For example, frequency analyses provide information about the exact frequency distribution and can be accessed regardless of location.
Inventory
When it comes to immission problems, it is important to accurately and objectively record the current situation. This is the only way to make a factual comparison of reference values or objectively assess the success of remediation measures, without relying on subjective perceptions. An accurate definition of the current situation can also be of great importance for new sources of emissions or new recipients of emissions, as this is the only way to prove which emissions were already present or not present before.
Forecasts
In the case of new sources of pollution or those resulting from conversion and expansion work (e.g. new workshops, expanded rail transport facilities, factory extensions, etc.), it must be possible to predict the expected noise, vibration and structure-borne noise emissions as accurately as possible, in some cases also within the framework of environmental impact assessments. We use modern, computer-assisted emission and propagation models, some of which we have developed ourselves. The semi-empirical approach often used for this purpose, involving reference measurements and calibration of the calculation models, enables reliable statements to be made with relatively little effort about the effects of conversions and extensions and also about any vibration control measures that may be ordered.
Protective Measures
When existing or anticipated guideline values are exceeded, the question of possible improvement and/or remediation measures usually arises. We are familiar with all modern, state-of-the-art source, propagation and receiver-side measures for vibration and structure-borne noise protection: design/dimensioning, preparation of implementation documents, tendering, contract award consulting, construction management, implementation checks.
Expert opinions, Assessments
Independent assessment by experts leads to clarification of the facts. Our expert opinions are based on our own measurement and/or calculation data and are professionally assessed thanks to our experience and constantly updated specialist knowledge. Problems are quickly identified and can be specifically remedied.
Comprehensive Solutions
We offer our services for all tasks in the field of vibrations/structure-borne noise, either for individual areas or for the entire environmental sector: client consulting, planning studies (feasibility studies and variant comparisons), environmental impact assessments, measurement campaigns, planning and implementation of measures, specialist construction management.
Measuring Instruments
Technical Articles
- Tec 21 13/2007 - Erschütterungsquelle Schienenverkehr
- 17. DACH Tagung SGEB 2021 - Erschütterungsempfindlicher Laborbau
- 17. DACH Tagung SGEB 2021 - Bestimmung des abgestrahlten Körperschalls in Räumen aus gemessenen Erschütterungen (EMBE)
- European Railway Review 6/2016 - Quality control measurement of a MSS after 30 years of operation
References
MehrSpur Zürich-Winterthur
Zurich, Switzerland
Environmental impact assessment,
Specialist
Huber & Suhner
Herisau, Switzerland
Site evaluation,
Decoupling of precision lathe
Europaallee
Zurich, Switzerland
Building consultancy,
Elastic building bearings