Construction Site Wireless Vibration Monitoring

Construction Site Wireless Vibration Monitoring

Introduction

Have you ever thought about starting construction operations in the middle of a rather busy neighborhood but then feared that the endeavor would be more costly than you anticipated? These fears will be well-founded if you put into consideration possible compensation claims that would be put up against you from the neighbouring structures. The suits would all be attributed to the vibrations that originate from your construction site, and while some would be reasonable and possibly true, some would be outright absurd. The complaints would be anything from you being responsible for the cracks on the neighbour’s floor and walls, to you shattering china in a house two miles away while those nearest to the site are left unchanged. If left unchecked, such claims would run you dry.

Some of the measures taken to minimize the effects of vibrations on construction sites include the use of rubber bushes around the construction site, using vibration-absorbing sleeves on the machinery used and installation of anti-vibration mounts. Even though these and many more measures are put in place, they are not full-proof.

But what if you had a way to prove that you played by the rule book, that vibrations from your site wouldn’t have harmed that fine china set even if it were in the building next door. What if you could have readings and numbers so accurate that any baseless claims against you would be rendered an insult?

Construction Site Vibration Monitoring

Construction site vibration monitoring is a handy and cost practical approach to ensuring that your construction operations are adhering to the set regulations and standards of your particular jurisdiction. The conventional equipment used in construction site vibration monitoring would require that you continually engage construction and acoustic engineers. These expert engagements, along with their apparent costs, would have to be a constant in the construction site whenever heavy machinery is in use, and this is a whole lot of extra bucks to spend.

Wireless Construction Site Vibration Monitoring

Construction site wireless vibration monitoring systems provide a compact and cost-effective solution to keeping up with the vibration outputs from a construction site. These monitoring modules are designed in conjunction with both construction and acoustic engineers to ensure that they work seamlessly in collecting all the relevant information.

Making use of the Internet of Things concept, these wireless monitors provide you with remote access to your construction site vibration data 24/7 from all over the world. The monitors transmit their data through 4G/LTE, WiFi or Power over Ethernet(PoE) when connected to an adapter. The wireless monitors also have built inside them integrated GPS sensors that can be used for the collection of accurate data on the positioning and timing of each monitor’s readings.

The wireless solution provides an efficient and innovative vibration monitoring system since the monitors can be accessed from a web-based platform. The web platform, which is accessible through a smartphone, tablet laptop, provides an interface for both calibrations of the monitors and review of the data collected. The collected data can then be converted from one format to another, depending on the analysis needs and then easily shared from one individual to another.

The compactness of the wireless construction site vibration monitors means that they can be positioned anywhere in the construction site and not get in the way of any operations. The wireless monitors are also designed to give you real-time alerts and notifications if the readings exceed a set threshold. These alerts come in handy in the prevention of potential damages by providing a basis for advice and decision making to the construction team.

The wireless monitors are easy to install and setup, which makes their use expandable with an ability to scale whenever the need arises in the construction site.

Causes of Construction Site Vibrations

In a construction site, depending on the nature of the work being done and equipment in use, vibrations of different magnitudes can be produced. Examples of heavy machinery that can be present in construction sites include: excavators, loaders and pile boring machines.

Some construction sites may involve going deep into the earth to find a suitable foundational rock or taking down an already existing structure to put up another in its place. In such instances, to save on time, explosives such as dynamite are used to blast their way into getting the job done. In as much as the blasts are well-coordinated and set up following safety regulations, they still cause significant amounts of vibrations on the site and its surroundings. The explosions can result in shock-waves that can shatter windows or even cause cracks in buildings. Before commencement, it is vital to clear a blast radius and make known to the people around that a controlled explosion is about to take place.

Potential Hazards Due to Vibrations in the Construction Site

Vibrations from construction sites can have adverse effects on both the human and infrastructural environment of the site. The consequences can vary in magnitude, and the time it takes to recover, depending on the distance from the source.

Some of the human effects from construction site vibrations are chronic back pains, stomach problems, motion sickness, headaches and sleep and visual disturbances. These social effects are more pronounced in the workers who operate the vibration producing machinery and those working immediately around the machinery.

The infrastructural effects from construction site vibrations can be experienced on roads, bridges and buildings around the site. In some of the infrastructure, results from vibrations in construction sites might not have immediately visible consequences.

On buildings around the site, one-off blasts or continuous vibrations may reduce the structural integrity of the building. The vibrations may also leave visible markers on buildings like cracks on walls and floors and even shatter windows. Depending on the integrity of an adjacent building’s foundational rock, the vibrations have the potential to destabilize the structure in its entirety.

Construction site vibrations are also known to reduce the structural integrity of bridges and roads, by causing cracks and destabilizing their foundations.

Containment Measures for Construction Site Vibrations

Vibration monitoring practices help you assess the scale of vibrations from a construction site and in turn, make informed decisions on the measures to take in damage prevention.

Once the vibration readings have started coming in, it is crucial to put in place measures that would help in maintaining the vibration levels within the set limits. Even though the use of some heavy machinery in some construction environments cannot be avoided, some methods can be put in place to contain the amounts of vibrations produced. For workers operating machinery that have high levels of vibration, it is essential to use shock-absorbing material like rubber in places where the workers’ bodies come into contact with the machinery. When machinery producing high vibration levels are being operated, materials such as tires can be stacked to create some form of barrier in which the vibrations can be absorbed. It is also essential for workers working in environments and with equipment prone to high levels of vibrations, to have regular health checkups.

Visit us today at our stores to inquire and interact more. You can check out our product options online or reach out to us.