huangyhg

vibration criteria for hospitals
does anyone know of a reference for the vibration limits of a hospital floor?
i have a reinforced concrete flat slab floor.
also, can anyone tell me how the check the floor for vibrations. i have an fe program but it doesn't check for vibrations.
any help is much appreciated

i have heard that the main issue with vibrations in hospitals is the certain equipment has particular vibration requirements. so, i guess you would need to find out what those limits are and what part the of the structure those pieces of equipment would be. maybe, there is a general tolerance for hospitals that covers most equipment, but i am not as i have never worked on project with these requirements.
i would look in aisc design guide 11 and see what they say about hospitals.

sound and vibration guidelines for hospitals and healthcare facilities
tweedledee
i'm currently working on building vibration design for several large hospital with imaging facilities. we have done extensive finite element modeling to address vibration exposure to imaging equipment areas.
in general the program for different space types will determine what the vibration criteria ought to be (office areas, patient rooms, operating theaters, micro-surgery, imaging, etc).
there is a lot of vagueness in this area, particularly when it comes to what walking pace to use for floor design (slow, moderate or fast). i do not recommend "slow walking" (50 paces/min), as this is unrealistically slow. depending on proximity to corridors, moderate to fast walking is typically used.
the vibration criteria (velocity in μinches/sec with the appropriate walking pace) should be clearly identified and submitted to the owner for approval. aisc design guide 11 gives an overview of different criteria, and is a good starting point.
if imaging equipment is located in the facility, the specific manufacturer(s) will have vibration criteria that can be very difficult to interpret and often cannot be analyzed using aisc design guide 11.
for imaging equipment, lateral building vibration is also of concern if such areas are located on the superstructure (no slab-on-grade).
i would be very careful with this, as doctors/end-users are often very knowledgeable in this area and you can get in trouble if a proper assessment/evaluation is not conducted...i have seen it before.
andrew gorton, msc
noise & vibration consultant
...the "sound and vibration guidelines for hospitals and healthcare facilities" is very generic and can get you in trouble if you are not careful.
notice that there is no reference to walking pace; which is necessary when making reference to vibration velocity criteria.
also there is no currently accepted method for assessing floor vibration for concrete structures. we have developed in-house proprietary methods for doing such analysis.
andrew gorton, msc
noise & vibration consultant

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