Australia is one of the world’s most highly urbanised countries, with around nine million of the country’s 24 million people living in two cities – Melbourne and Sydney. And urbanisation is going to continue in the coming years, according to experts. This rapid urbanisation poses challenges for city planners, as metros, railways and industrial applications cause vibrations that affect people as well as buildings.
With its innovative solutions, Austrian specialist Getzner Werkstoffe minimises this structure-borne noise, benefiting people and their surroundings.
“Dense urban areas, with transportation, industry, offices, residential areas and public space next to each other, pose a challenge in the field of vibration isolation,” says Thomas Dorfner, Regional Sales Director Asia Pacific at Getzner Werkstoffe.
“Professional vibration isolation benefits not only the people living and working in the area. It also reduces lifecycle and maintenance costs of the capital investments.”
To reduce vibrations in urban areas, Getzner developed high-tech materials like Sylodyn®, Sylomer® and Sylodamp®, that can be modified to meet specific requirements.
In Australia and New Zealand, the innovative Getzner solutions reduce noise and vibrations in multiple city centres.
New York, London and Berlin: international experience
Getzner has completed countless successful international projects in urban centres in recent years, including the Rushmore Building in New York’s Upper West Side.
reduce lifecycle and maintenance costs.
This two-tower high-rise complex was constructed directly above an AMTRAK railway tunnel, and consisted of two railway lines carrying 25-ton axle loads, and a planned future metro line. Due to the proximity to the railway line, rail-generated vibrations were a major concern.
“Getzner’s solution was to elastically decouple the individual floors of the 41-storey building. A very sophisticated solution, in which two stories were completely decoupled in terms of vibrations,” said Mr Dorfner.
Not far from the Rushmore Building is another luxury condominium, The Touraine, a 15-storey residential building containing 22 exclusive residences. The location in the historic Upper East Side of Manhattan, immediately adjacent to three subway lines with more than 1.000 daily trains, is as exclusive as it is worrisome in terms of noise and vibrations.
Using Sylodyn® material from Getzner, the construction project managers subsequently developed an innovative bedding for the condominium building which offered protection from vibrations.
Specifically, elastic foundation and wall supports made from the high-tech polyurethane were
used to good effect under the foundation of the building and on the surfaces of the foundation walls.
In London, Getzner was responsible for isolating vibrations on a very busy 2.5km long section of the London Underground in the city centre.
Sylodyn® sleeper pads protected the track superstructure and reduced the level of vibrations caused by the railway traffic. The Getzner experts faced similar urban challenges in Berlin, with the Hampton by Hilton at Alexander Square, which is located next to busy tram lines and above a planned metro line.
Thanks to the bedding of the building on Sylodyn® mats, structure-borne noise was successfully reduced.
This partner content is brought to you by Getzner Werkstoffe. For more about the Australian vibration protection specialist in construction, railway and industrial applications visit www.getzner.com.
