Acoustical Challenges associated with Resilient Design of Electrical Systems

Cities, utility companies, institutions, developers, and facility managers are designing and constructing buildings to withstand various natural disasters. This new design objective is called resilient design. One of the important tenets of resilient design calls for changing how the primary building infrastructure is handled to ensure that buildings can remain operational or experience minimal damage particularly from weather-related threats. Along the seacoast and low lying areas, resilient design seeks to raise critical infrastructure out of harm's way so that the building can remain a shelter, if not even operational, during a catastrophic event. For large buildings, the critical infrastructure that is being relocated often includes the substation transformers and standby generators to protect them from flooding. These new locations for this equipment are often closer to occupied spaces within the buildings and can introduce significant challenges for achieving appropriate sound and vibration isolation from this equipment, which used to be located further from occupied spaces. This paper will discuss the issues and challenges associated with isolating the primary substation transformers of a building when located on an elevated floor.