Prediction, measurement and assessment of industrial noise and vibration

Industrial noise and vibration has accounted for a large part of the work undertaken by ISVR Consulting for four decades. We have experience over a very wide range of industries, large and small, including:

manufacturing engineering; - vehicles, industrial and consumer equipment
process; - food and drink, chemicals, drugs, plastic, oil
extraction; - minerals, rock and gravel
distribution; - wholesale, retail, industrial
packaging
gas turbine installations.

Assessments of industrial noise are necessary:

to ensure the safety of workers on site and minimise risk of damage to hearing or
to minimise any disturbance to neighbours and the environment around the site.

Prediction, Measurement and Assessment

Frequently the prediction, measurement and assessment need to be combined within a project. New developments or the expansion of facilities require design studies of noise and, less frequently, vibration to be undertaken so that statutory or planning noise limits can be met. ISVR Consulting applies both empirical and theoretical prediction methods from the first stages of a project, in order to:

establish and specify on-site and neighbourhood noise or vibration limits
assess the likely noise and vibration from the activities on site
derive specifications for the purchase and installation of equipment and complete systems
advise project engineers on the selection and layout of equipment
measure and assess similar operations
perform and witness noise tests at a supplier's works and/or the client's site
undertake start-up and commissioning surveys, on-site and in the neighbourhood
specify and check proposals for remedial works and survey works before and after installations.

Prediction

Computer-based noise prediction methods used by ISVR Consulting include:

software for mapping the noise resulting from many items of outdoor plant on and around large sites
Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) software for predicting the noise radiated from individual items of equipment
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software
ray-tracing software for the prediction of noise inside buildings.

Additional, state-of-the-art knowledge gained from many, wide-ranging research projects is available within our parent department, the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research.

Measurement

ISVR's facilities include anechoic and reverberant test chambers for measuring the noise of equipment to British and International standards. When industrial equipment has to be run in-situ, ISVR Consulting can offer measurements of sound pressure level, sound power or sound intensity on site. Similarly, vibration and strain can be measured either in the laboratory, or if necessary, on-site:

Measurements on site are carried out using ISVR Consulting's own portable battery-powered instrumentation which is adequate for most needs, and is regularly serviced and calibrated in-house,

Additional instrumentation can be obtained if necessary for high channel counts or to meet intrinsic safety requirements.

Analysis of noise or vibration signals is undertaken using specialist frequency analysers, supplemented where appropriate by computer acquisition and digital processing.

ISVR is developing methods for the measurement of unsilenced gas turbine noise on site to enable the optimisation of noise control treatments.

Assessment

ISVR has been involved in the development of many noise standards, criteria and codes of practice. This experience ensures a good understanding of such specifications, criteria and limits, and helps us to provide:

recommendations for appropriate criteria or limits
rating of proposed or existing installations, on-site and in the neighbourhood
hearing conservation programmes
noise and vibration control specification; design and assessment for client's of their supplier's offers.

For related information see our pages on

For further information please contact:

Stuart Dyne, Manager
ISVR Consulting
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
UK

Telephone 023 8059 2162 (+44 23 8059 2162 from outside the UK),
or e-mail consultancy@soton.ac.uk