Services and Solutions

Vibration control
development of remedial measures during design troubleshooting after construction developing solutions to control and reduce excessive vibration passive vibration control strategies based on adjustment of stiffness, mass and damping in the structure state-of-the-art active control using arrays of electrodynamic shakers
Vibration serviceability assessment
state-of-the-art analytical / numerical modelling based on design specification dynamic testing of as-built structures management of the whole design process when vibration serviceability has been identified as a potential problem design checking and supervision of design teams negotiation of specifications for vibration serviceability performance of the structure More >>
Long term structural performance monitoring of...
high-rise buildings chimneys ultra long-span bridges footbridges grandstands floors
Operator-free data mining with vibration parameter estimation
and intelligent data processing that can be automatically merged and correlated with other data, such as wind speed and direction from a nearby weather station hourly reporting via any electronic communication system as e-mail or sms empowering you to make quick decisions monitoring of long-term trends in the dynamic properties of structures the only UK system (within a handful of worldwide) robust enough for commercial use

Multi-shaker Modal testing of a hospital ward floor.

Rugeley Chimney - Vibrations were permanently monitored online by FSDL
during its de-commissioning during 2009/10.

Tamar Bridge (left) & Royal Albert Bridge (right), Plymouth.
Tamar Bridge is currently monitored using online structural health monitoring
(SHM) technology, deployable by FSDL.

Millenium Bridge, London. Dynamic properties and responses were measured
using a bespoke shaker arrangement by FSDL directors in 2000.

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.