Many metropolitan cities suffer from a shortage of land supply, which results in new development in areas with high building density. Construction activities, particularly piling processes, may generate excessive ground-borne vibrations. The nearby sensitive people, facilities and buildings (e.g. hospitals and healthcare institutions) are often vulnerable to such excessive vibrations. However, the impact of construction-induced vibrations on sensitive medical equipment is rarely discussed. The vibration limits commonly adopted by the construction industry are mainly with regard to structural safety, which are considerably greater than the tolerable limits for sensitive medical equipment. This case study evaluates the potential effect of ground vibrations induced by piling activities on sensitive medical equipment. The ground-borne vibrations induced by two piling methods are quantified by field measurements. The indoor floor vibrations are simulated using building models. The vibration limits for a large number of sensitive items of medical equipment are established through questionnaires to the manufacturers. The potential risk to the functionality of the concerned equipment is illustrated by comparing the tolerable vibration limits with the predicted vibration levels.
AthanasopoulosG.A. and PelekisP.C. (2000). “Ground vibrations from sheetpile driving in urban environment: Measurements, analysis and effects on buildings and occupants”, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 19, pp. 371–387.
2.
AmickH. (1999). “A frequency-dependent soil propagation model”, Proceedings of the SPIE Conference on Current Developments in Vibration Control for Optomechanical Systems, 20 July, Denver, USA.
3.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers), (2011). ASHRAE Handbook 2011, Ventilating and Air-conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta, USA.
4.
BehniaA.ChaiH.K.RanjbarN. and BehniaN. (2013). “Finite element analysis of the dynamic response of composite floors subjected to walking induced vibrations”, Advanced in Structural Engineering, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 959–974.
5.
BS 5228–2:2009 (2009). Code of Practice for Noise and Vibration Control on Construction and Open Site, Part 2: Vibration, European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, Belgium.
6.
BS 7385–2 (1993). Evaluation and Measurement for Vibration in Buildings, Part 2: Guide to Damage Levels from Ground Borne Vibration, European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, Belgium.
7.
California Department of Transportation (2010). The Transportation and Construction Induced Vibration Guidance Manual, California, USA.
8.
DowdingC.H. (1996). Construction Vibrations, s.l.:Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, USA.
9.
DowdingC.H. (1996). Construction Vibrations, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, USA.
10.
ENV 1993–5 (1993). Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures Part5-Piling, Volume ENV 1993–5, European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, Belgium.
11.
FialaP.DegrandeG. and AugusztinoviczF. (2007). Numerical modelling of ground-borne noise and vibration in buildings due to surface rail traffic. Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 301, No. 3, pp. 718–738.
12.
GazetasG. (1991). Foundation Vibration, Foundation Engineering Handbook, New York, USA, pp. 553–593.
13.
HaoH.AngT. C. and ShenJ. (2001). Building vibration to traffic-induced ground motion. Building and Environment, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 321–336.
14.
HeadJ.M. and JardineF.M., (1992). Ground-Borne Vibrations Arising from Piling, CIRIA Technical Note 142, Englewood, USA.
15.
HillierD.M. and CrabbG.I., (2000). Groundborne Vibration Caused by Mechanised Construction Works, TRL Report 429, Austin, USA.
16.
HKSARG (2004). Code of Practice for Foundations, HKSARG: Building Department, HongKong, China.
17.
HKSARG (2006). Foundation Design and Construction, HKSARG: Civil Engineering and Development Department, HongKong, China.
18.
HKSARG (2011). Code of Practice for Dead and Imposed Load, The HKSAR: Building Department, HongKong, China.
HopeV.S. and HillerD.M. (2000). “The prediction of groundborne vibration from percussive piling”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 700–711.
21.
HwangJ.H. and TuT.Y., (2002). “Ground vibration during gravel pile construction”, Journal of Marine Science and Technology, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 36–46.
22.
KimD.S. and LeeJ.S. (2000). Propagation and attenuation characteristics of various ground vibrations. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 115–126.
23.
LamI.P.MartinG.R. and ImbsenR. (1991). Modeling Bridge Foundations for Seismic Design and Retrofitting, Transporation Research Record 1290, Washington D.C., USA, pp. 113–126.
24.
MartinD.J. (1980). Ground Vibrations from Impact Pile Driving During Road Construction (Supplementary Report 544.), United Kingdom Department of Environment, Department of Transport, Transport and Research Road Laboratory, London, UK.
25.
MasoumiH.R.DegrandeG. and LombaertG. (2007). “Prediction of free field vibrations due to pile driving using a dynamic soil-structure interaction formulation”, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 126–143.
26.
MhannaM.SadekM. and ShahrourI. (2012). Numerical modeling of traffic-induced ground vibration. Computers and Geotechnics, 39, 116–123.
27.
MorrisR.S. (1991). Surface Vibration Measurements for Vibratory Pile Drivers, Tests Conducted by International Construction Equipment, Matthews, USA.
28.
SchexnayderC.J. and ErnzenJ.E. (1999). Mitigation of Nighttime Construction Noise, Vibration, and Other Nuisances(Synthesis of Highway Practice 218.), National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., USA.
29.
SelbyA.R. (1991). Ground Vibration Caused by Pile Installation, Technical European Sheet Piling Association, Luxembourg, Germany.
30.
ShengX.JonesC.J.C. and ThompsonD.J. (2006). Prediction of ground vibration from trains using the wavenumber finite and boundary element methods. Journal of Sound and Vibration, Vol. 293, No. 3, pp. 575–586.
31.
SkippB.O. (1997). Ground Vibration-codes and Standards, Institution of civil engineer, London, UK.
32.
WattsG.R. and KrylovV.V. (2000). Ground-borne vibration generated by vehicles crossing road humps and speed control cushions. Applied Acoustics, Vol. 59, No. 3, pp. 221–236.
33.
WissJ.F., (1974). “Vibrations during construction operations”, Journal of Construction Division, ASCE, Vol. 100, No. 3, pp. 239–246.
34.
WissJ.F. (1982). “Construction vibrations: State-of-the-art”, Journal of the Geotechnical, ASCE, Vol. 107, No. 2, pp. 167–181.
35.
WoodsR.D. and JedeleL.P. (1985). “Energy attenuation relationships from construction vibrations”, Vibration Problems in Geotechnical Engineering. ASCE Convention in Detroit, Michigan, USA, pp. 229–46.
36.
WoodW.C. and TheissenJ.R. (1982). “Variations in adjacent structures due to pile driving”, Geopile Conference 82: San Francisc Clifton, NJ: Associated Pile and Fitting Corp, USA, pp. 83–107.
37.
WuY.K.HaoH.ZhouY.X. and ChongK. (1998). Propagation characteristics of blast-induced shock waves in a jointed rock mass. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 407–412.
38.
XuL. (2011). “Floor vibration in lightweight cold-formed steel framing”, Advanced in Structural Engineering. Vol. 14, No.4, pp. 659–672.
39.
XuX.XuH. and ChenS. (2003). “Research on influence of vibration caused by pile construction on environment and countermeasures”, Rock and Soil Mechanics, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 957–960.
40.
YangY.B. and HsuL.C. (2006). “A review of researchers on ground-borne vibrations due to moving train via underground tunnels”, Advanced in Structural Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 377–392.
