Vibrations measurement

The measurement of vibrations introduced to structures makes it possible to assess the effects produced by specific sources (such as road or rail traffic, cyclic machinery, impulsive events, or conditions of stationary structural resonance) on the structures themselves and/or on people inside them.
The investigation consists of measuring vibrations at specific preselected points of the structure, under various operational conditions — regular operation, peak, transient, or stationary — depending on the vibratory phenomenon being studied. The data collected are then processed in accordance with the reference technical standards.
This type of assessment aims at determining whether the vibration levels recorded inside a building are compatible with the threshold values recommended by the regulations, both in terms of potential structural damage and the comfort of occupants.
Furthermore, the test allows for verifying whether the vibration levels measured in the examined environments are compatible with the presence or installation of complex machinery (e.g., CT scanners) or sensitive optical devices (e.g., telescopes), either as passive elements or as active sources of vibration (such as body-scan systems, whose rotational motion could trigger structural resonance phenomena).

Reference standards: UNI 9916:2014; UNI 9614:2017; UNI 11568:2015.