Groundborne vibration isolation of a recycling depot to protect sensitive laboratory equipment

A post-secondary institution conducting medical research was operating a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer installed on grade in an early-20th-century building, located immediately adjacent to the university’s recycling depot. Groundborne vibration generated by trucks dropping large recycling containers onto the concrete surface caused periodic disruptions to the imaging research. To enable uninterrupted operation of the NMR, a fourfold reduction in vibration amplitude was required at a critical frequency of 16 Hz. To address this, a novel vibration isolation platform was developed to support the recycling containers and mitigate vibration transmission associated with their movement and placement. This paper presents the field vibration data collected from the mock-up phase through to final implementation, outlines the design concepts behind the platform, and shares key lessons learned during the process.