DynamicAssessment.

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4.3 Human Sensitivity to Vibration

4.3.1 Reiher and Meister classification (1931)

This classification is based on reactions of a group of people to harmonic motion with varying amplitudes and frequencies.
Figure 4.1 shows bands of frequencies and amplitudes for which the motion is barely perceptible, becomes annoying, and is
actually painful. The figure shows displacement amplitudes d
in as a function of frequency f
Hz or cycles  s. Since the
motion is harmonic the velocity and acceleration amplitudes can be computed as follows.

Velocity amplitude
2Π f d; Acceleration amplitude

2Π f 2 d

For mild vibrations the reaction depends upon velocity while for strong vibrations it is proportional to the acceleration. The
'just perceptible' zone corresponds to a velocity of approximately 0.04 in/s. Velocities in the range of 0.1 to 0.3 in/s fall into
the annoying vibrations category. Vibrations felt by an acceleration of 0.1g are unpleasant and are indicated by the dashed
line in the figure.
DynamicAssessment.nb 2

100
Acc of 0.1 g
50

VI

10 V
I: Imperceptible
Disp in103 

5 II: Just perceptible

III: Clearly imperceptible
IV IV: Annoying
V: Unpleasant
1 VI: Painful
III
0.5
II

5 10 20 50 100
Frequency Hz

Figure 4.1. Reiher and Meister Classification for Human Sensitivity to Vertical Vibration

4.3.2 German Standard DIN 4025

This standard is based on the research conducted by Dieckmann (1958) and defines the level of vibration by a parameter
identified as K. Expressions for computing K for vertical and horizontal vibration are as follows.

For vertical vibrations:

Frequecy range, f
Hz Basis for the criterion K

Upto 5Hz Acceleration K
25d f 2
From 5 to 40Hz Velocity K
125d f
Above 40Hz Displacement K
5, 000d

d
displacement amplitude in inches

DynamicAssessment.nb 3

For horizontal vibrations:

Frequecy range, f
Hz Basis for the criterion K

Upto 2Hz Acceleration K
50d f 2
From 2 to 25Hz Velocity K
100d f
Above 25Hz Displacement K
2, 500d

Using these K values the human sensitivity to vibration is classified as follows.

K value Classification Effect

Upto 0.1 Imperceptible No effect
0.1  0.3 Just perceptible Easily bearable
0.3  1 Easily noticeable Bearable but moderately unpleasant if lasting for an hour
13 Strongly noticeable Tolerable but very unpleasant if lasting more than an hour
3  10 Unpleasant Can be tolerated only for an hour
10  30 Very unpleasant Cannot be tolerated for more than 10 minutes
30  100 Extremely unpleasant Not tolerable for more than one minute
Over 100 Intolerable Intolerable

4.3.3 Soliman (1963)

Based on extensive studies, Soliman developed charts for threshold of perception and annoyance. These charts are shown in
Figure 4.2 for displacement, velocity, acceleration, and the rate of change of acceleration (derivative of acceleration, also
known as 'jerk').

Disp mm Vel mms

100 1000

10
100 Annoyance

1 Annoyance
10

0.1

1
0.01
Perception

0.1
0.001 Perception
DynamicAssessment.nb 4

f Hz f Hz
10 100 1000 10 100 1000

Acc mms2  Acc rate mms3 

1.  106 1.  107

100000. 1.  106 Annoyance

10000 Annoyance 100000.

1000 10000

100 1000 Perception

10 Perception 100

f Hz f Hz
10 100 1000 10 100 1000

Figure 4.2. Threshold for Vibration Perception and Annoyance

4.3.4 British Standard BS 6472

For different types of buildings and activities, the British standard BS 6472, gives thresholds for human response to vertical
motion. The Figure 4.3 shows the curves for threshold of perception for different weighting factors. The following table gives
the weighting factors above threshold for acceptable building vibration.
DynamicAssessment.nb 5

Acc ms2 
1 128

0.5
60

20

0.1
8
0.05

0.01
1

0.005

Frequency Hz
2 5 10 20 50 100

Figure 4.3. British standard BS 6472 Base Curves for Threshold of Perception.

Place Weighting factor Weighting factor

for continuous or for impulsive shock
intermittent vibration with several
and repeated shock occurence per day
Critical working areas 1 1

e.g. hospital operation theaters
Residential 2  4 during day 60  90 during day
1.4 at night 20 at night
Office 4 128
Workshops 8 128
DynamicAssessment.nb 6

4.3.5 Empirical Formula for Bridge Design

For bridges, Oehler (1957) has proposed the following empirical formula to determine the displacement amplitude for
discomfort threshold.

Discomfort amplitude, d


 mm for 1  f  6 Hz
50.8
f3

d

 mm for 6  f  20 Hz
25.4
3 f 2

Disp mm

10

0.1

fHz
1 1.5 2 3 5 7 10 15 20

4.3 Intensity of Vibration and Possible Structural Damage

Both amplitude and frequency of vibration influence possible damage to structures. However because of wide variety of
structural materials and types of construction, no precise relationship can be given between the damage and these vibration
parameters. Some general estimates of the risk of damage are available that, when used carefully, can lead to successful
designs.

The first task is to combine the amplitude and the frequency into a single quantity that determines the intensity or strength of
vibration. Several different definitions have been proposed based on energy and time considerations. Zeller's power, which
includes acceleration and frequency, is defined by

Z
16Π4 d 2  f 3
cm2  s3 

A non-dimensional unit called vibrar is derived from zeller's power to define strength of vibration as follows.

vibrar
10log10
Z  Z0 

Taking Z0
0.1cm2  s3 a vibrar is defined as

vibrar
10log10
10Z

DynamicAssessment.nb 7

Using this definition Figure 4.4 is constructed to give vibrar values corresponding to usual range of frequencies and displace-
ment amplitudes in inches.

100

50
60
55
50
45
Disp in  103 

10 40
35
30
5 25
20
15
10
1
5
0.5

2 5 10 20 50 100
Frequency Hz

vibrar Values for Usual Range of Frequencies and Displacement Amplitudes in

Figure 4.4.
Inches

The vibrar scale is used to assess possibility of structural damage.

Strength of vibration Classification of vibration Possible damage

vibrar
10  20 Light None
20  30 Medium None
30  40 Strong Light damage
minor cracks
40  50 Heavy Severe damageto main walls
50  60 Very heavy Destruction

Information from seven case studies used by Koch (1953).

DynamicAssessment.nb 8

Case Type Vibration source Damage

1 House, 15 in
381 mm walls
2 Building, brick walls
about 4.75 in
120mm thick
3 House
4 Concrete floor
5 House
6 Stone  built farmhouse
7 Three story building
Unknown 'short duration '
Operation of nearby
billet shears
Blowing of rocks nearby
Machinery
Explosions in a nearby quarry
200lb
90kg of gelgnite fired
at a distance of 115 ft
35 m
Dynamic testing, acceleration of
0.2g maintained for over a minute
Cracks in walls, ceilings,
over door lintels
Large through wall cracks
Cracks in outer walls
Through  crack in one panel
Crack in a light partition wall
Cracking of plater between
partition walls and ceilings
Hairline cracks

Case Disp. Amplitude Frequency Acceleration Strength Reiher  Meister

in
Hz
g
vibrar intensity
1 0.0083 21 0.37 48 Painful
2 0.0024 40 0.39 46 Painful
3 0.008 17 0.23 45 Painful
4 0.0174 7.1 0.09 40 Unpleasant
5 0.0013 29 0.11 36 Unpleasant
6 0.088 3.7 0.12 46 Unpleasant
7 0.052 6.2 0.20 48 Painful

4.3.6 Earthquake Intensity and Magnitude

Modified Mercalli (MM) Earthquake Intensity Scale

DynamicAssessment.nb 9

Intensity Description
I Not felt
II Felt by person at rest, especially those on upper floors of buildings
III Felt indoors, Hanging objects swing. Vibration similar to the passing of light trucks.
IV Standing motor vehicles rock. Windows, dishes, doors rattle.
Wooden walls and frames creak. Vibration similar to the passing of heavy trucks
V Felt noticeably outdoors. Sleepers awakened. Small unstable objects displaced or overturned.
Some dishes and windows broken.
VI Felt by all. Many frightened and run outdoors. Windows, dishes, and glassware broken.
Books and pictures fall off. Furniture moved or overturned.
Weak plaster and masonary cracked.
VII Difficult to stand. Noticed by drivers of motor vehicles. Furniture broken.
Damage to weak masonary. Weak chimneys broken at roof line.
VIII Steering of motor vehicles affected. Damage to ordinary quality masonary; partial collapse.
Some damage to good quality masonary; none to reinforced masonary.
Fall of chimneys, monumnets, towers, and elevated tanks.
IX General panic. Weak masonary destroyed; ordinary masonary seriously damaged.
General damage to foundations. Conspicuous cracks in ground. Underground pipes broken.
X Most masonary and framed structures destroyd along with their foundations.
Some well built wooden structures and bridges destroyed.
Serious damage to dams, dikes, embankments, rails bent slightly.
XI Rails bent greatly. Underground pipelines destroyed.
XII Total damage. Large rock masses displaced. Lines of sight and level distorted.
Objects thrown into the air.

Richter magnitude scale for earthquake. Most commonly used. It is defined as follows.

M
log10 d

where d is displacement amplitude in microns
103 mm measured at a distance of 100 km from the epicenter of the earth-
quake. Since the Richter scale is logarithmic, a unit increase in magnitude represents a 10 times increase in amplitude of the
seismic motion. In general earthquakes with magnitudes M  5 cause little damage. Approximate correlation between the
earthquake Richter magnitude M and the modified Mercalli intensity MM is as follows.

Richter magnitude, M Modified Mercalli intensity, MM

2 I  II
3 III  IV
4 V
5 VI  VII
6 VII  VIII
7 IX  X
8 X
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4.3 Dynamic Effects Due to Machinery

The VDI recommendations (1941) for vibrations caused by machinery appear in Figure 4.5. The information is classified into
four groups.

Group K: Small machine tools and individual parts of driving gears of prime movers. Mass-produced electro-motors up to
15kW. No special foundation requirements.

Group M: Machines of medium size. Electric motors of 15kW to 75 kW without any special foundations. Rotating machinery
up to 300kW placed on proper foundations.

Group G: Major parts of driving gears mounted on heavy foundations. Large prime movers and machine tools having only
revolving masses.

Group T: Large prime movers and machine tools supported on special foundations.

For each category the graph shows four regions, identified as I, II, III and IV with the following meaning.

I: Good to excellent
II : Fair
III : Improvement necessary
IV : Impermissible

The velocity (mm/s) is indicated on the lines dividing different regions. The dashed line corresponds to a velocity of 0.11
mm/s which is the average sensitivity limit of a human. The displacement and velocity amplitudes used in these graphs are
measured/computed at machine bearing locations.
DynamicAssessment.nb 11

Group K Group M
100 100

50 50 IV

IV III

III II
10 10
Disp Μm

Disp Μm
7.1
5 4.5 5
II
2.8
1.8 I 1.1
0.7
1 I 1
v0.11 mms
0.5 v0.11 mms 0.5

20 50 100200 5001000 20 50 100200 5001000

Frequency Hz Frequency Hz
DynamicAssessment.nb 12

Group G Group T

IV
IV
100 100 III

50 III 50 II
Disp Μm

Disp Μm
II 18
11 7

10 4.5 10 2.8
1.8 I
5 I 5

v0.11 mms
v0.11 mms

10 20 50 100200 10 20 50 100200
Frequency Hz Frequency Hz

Figure 4.5. VDI recommendations for vibrations caused by machinery