实验室建筑的高效振动设计

Efficient vibration designfor lab-enabled buildings First editionMay 2025 Laboratories are critical spacesfor research and development andanalytics in the science, healthcareand higher education sectors. Over recent years there has been significantgrowth in demand for laboratory space,with life science and deep tech flourishingin the ‘golden triangle’ of London-Oxford-Cambridge, and other clusters forming outsideof this area including Bristol, Manchester andEdinburgh. As demand has increased there has been a progressiontowards building new lab-enabled commercial spaces,providing developers and building owners the ability toattract science tenants to their properties, whilst retainingthe option for office use only, or a mix of both functions.These buildings are not designed as bespoke laboratoriesbut have the adaptability to accommodate many laboratoryrelated activities. There has also been a trend to convertexisting commercial office space into laboratories,although occasionally this comes with a compromise in thefunctionality that may restrict the building’s use for someareas of research. For both dedicated laboratory and lab-enabled buildingsthere are a range of additional requirements that mayneed to be considered in the building design, as shownin Figure 1. In this guide we show that sensitive equipment andprocesses occupy only a small area of lab buildings,they often aren’t particularly vibration sensitive, andthere are more cost and carbon efficient solutions to thetraditional approach of designing whole floor plates tomeet strict vibration criteria. Introduction Challenges to defining vibration requirements The purpose of this document Without widely adopted standards for labs, an abundanceof caution may lead to overspecification of new buildings.The property market has fallen into this trap before. In theLondon new build office market of the 1990s and 2000sthe de facto specification for floor loading was 4 kN/m2,which is far higher than actual offices of the time saw, andabove the value set out in design standards. This meant thatbuildings were overdesigned, incurring additional cost andcarbon for no real benefit. Identifying vibration requirements for a new labor lab-enabled office can be difficult, because: Pathogens themselves are not particularlysensitive to floor vibrations – it is eitherthe people or the specialist equipment inthe lab which is vibration sensitive. •Tenants might not be known at design stage,•Science equipment might not be known at design stage,•Tenants and equipment might changethrough the life of the building,•Lab uses includes a wide range of disciplines frombiology through to robotics, each with differing needs,•Many lab users and equipment do not haveparticularly onerous vibration requirements,•Some lab users and equipment have verystrict vibration requirements. This document is designed to guide technical and non-technical readers through vibration considerationsfor laboratories, enabling readers to have informedconversations about specification and design for vibration.We will do this by discussing the following topics: •Vibration standards for labs•Lab space vs equipment requirements•Vibration sources affecting labs•Space use in labs•Vibration sensitive equipment•Indicative equipment requirements•Enhancing vibration performance in labs Why getting vibration right is important If vibration requirements are set too high, then additionalcost and carbon will be spent for no benefit to the labusers or the building owner. Alternatively, if the vibrationrequirements are set too low, then vibration may limit thework that can be carried out in the building, and impactreturns for the building owner. Finding the right balance isessential. As we will explore later in this document, there are nowidely adopted standard requirements for lab vibrationand so labs are often designed by adopting and interpretingdifferent standards and guides. This document draws on extensive project experienceacross Arup, including designing dedicated labs (e.g.Figure 2), lab-enabled offices, office to lab conversionsand helping clients achieve some of the lowest vibrationenvironments in the world. There are widely adopted standards for other lab specificrequirements, such as Containment Level (CL). It mightbe tempting to link the CL requirement with a vibrationrequirement, but correlation between the two does notalways exist. For example, consider a lab that handlesa dangerous pathogen like Ebola. Ebola requires a CL4laboratory, but pathogens themselves are not particularlysensitive to floor vibrations - it is either the people or thespecialist equipment in the lab which is vibration sensitive. In comparison, an electron microscope that is used toimage minerals would have no CL requirements but is veryvibration sensitive. Vibration standards for labs Vibration criteria Vibration limits and metrics Vibration standards In addition to the vibration limit, to fullydefine a vibration