Frequently Asked Questions
How do I engage Full Scale Dynamics Ltd (FSDL)?
Get in touch with one of our three academic directors via email or phone and be ready to describe the problem verbally.
What happens then?
One of our three directors will be assigned to your job and will be a single point of contact with you throughout the project. One of the key problems in civil vibration engineering nowadays is the definition of the problem and project specification, so some effort is usually required on the part of a potential client to describe the problem in sufficient detail and send us additional information.
All information that is provided to us at any stage is treated as strictly confidential, whether or not we are appointed as consultants.
Once the project is sufficiently well understood by all parties involved, a quote will be sent to you together with our detailed proposal to carry out the work. To get us formally engaged you need to accept the quote and proposal by signing the quote which should be returned to the academic director running the job. This will trigger a mobilisation fee of 25% of the contract value which should be paid immediately.
Can you measure modal properties of any full-scale civil engineering structure I am interested in, no matter how big it is?
Yes, in principle. We have a unique capability in the UK to perform any kind of dynamic testing of a large civil engineering structure ever described in the literature written in English. We successfully performed hundreds of in-situ dynamic tests on:
- footbridges
- building floors (offices, hospitals, operating theatres, laboratories)
- grandstands
- staircases
- road bridges (including the ultra-long)
- tall buildings
- roofs
- dams
Do you loan your facilities such as software and hardware?
No. Normally, we do not do this considering the high cost, complexity of the facilities and fragility of the instruments. If our facilities are needed, rental is possible but the equipment is always accompanied with our personnel. Such arrangements may be considered on a case by case basis.
How quickly can you mobilise?
As quickly as in 24h, depending on the type of work needed.
How long does the field testing take?
One of the key advantages of using and maintaining state-of-the-art dynamic testing expertise, including hardware, software and experienced staff, is the speed which this kind of approach offers when carrying out field testing. Our typical field testing can be finished within 1-2 days on-site.
How long does it take for you to provide draft report containing field testing results?
Normally our field testing reports are produced within 5 to 10 working days after the testing is finished. However, a key part of our quality assurance is analysis of the data and production of key results during the testing. Therefore, majority of our clients benefit from this approach by being able to see provisional results during or immediately after the testing, which is our key competitive advantage.
Case Studies
| Rugeley Power Station chimney More» |  |
| Office building vibration testing More» |  |
| Modal test of a 6 lane Highway Bridge More» |  |
| Interference effects for in-line chimneys More» |  |
| Gatwick Airport Link Bridge More» |  |
The 183m tall original chimney at Rugeley power station operated without incident
since it was built in 1968 until construction, in late 2006, of a replacement chimney
in the upstream direction of the prevailing wind. An investigation of cross-wind
interference effects, on the old chimney, prior to construction and commissioning
of the new chimney led to the installation of a tuned mass damper (TMD) and of a
system for monitoring performance of both TMD and chimney during the remainder of
its operational life.
The office structure is on the 2nd floor of a purpose-built office building. It has steel
primary beams at 6m centres, secondary beams at 3m centres and steel columns
approximately on a 6x12m grid.
In April 2008 the Federal Highway Agency’s Office of Infrastructure Research and
Development launched the Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program, a 20 year
project with the objective of collecting scientific quality data from the Nation’s
bridges. The information collected will provide a detailed and timely picture of bridge
health, improve knowledge of performance and promote safety, reliability and longevity
of bridges in the USA.
Following on from the Rugeley Chimney and TMD monitoring exercise, FSDL proposed
to carry out a study on interference effect for inline slender chimneys. As a result,
CICIND commissioned FSDL to provide design guidance for such effects using
numerical techniques for fluid-structure interaction based on computational fluid
dynamics and validated using the Rugeley Chimney data.
The Gatwick Airport Pier 6 Link Bridge, completed in 2005, was constructed to connect
a new pier to an existing terminal building at the airport. The bridge traverses a major
taxiway and there is sufficient clearance for Boeing 747-400 aircraft to pass underneath.
