Vibrations Assessment of a Hospital Floor for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit (MRI) Replacement

This is a case study where the goal is to predict the vibration environment due to a footfall excitation in the vicinity of a replacement Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit on a hospital floor. A new MRI unit with a weight of 19,000 lbs replaces an existing, much heavier unit with a weight of 82,000 lbs. Dynamic characteristics of the floor will change when the new unit is installed, affecting the vibration environment of the unit that is generated by nearby footfalls. In this study we use physical heel drop measurements of the existing conditions to calibrate a computer model that we then use to predict the vibrations and compare the calculated vibrations with the criteria for the new unit. The results show that the vibration levels predicted for the new MRI unit do not exceed its vibration criterion. The paper will present detailed analytical model and analysis procedure, together with conclusions.