Pearson Int'l Airport, Terminal 3

Stop the Shaking at Pearson International Airport

Passengers at Pearson’s Terminal 3 departure level noted the floor vibrated. Some suspected the vibration was also cracking the terrazzo flooring. We were called in to analyze the cause of the vibration and devise a solution.

We designed three tuned mass dampers (TMDs) that could fit in the narrow space between the floor of the departures area and the ceiling of the arrivals area below. The project was completed in 2012.

Highlights

• Each damper consisted of two tons of steel plates with isolation springs and energy-dissipating dashpot dampers.
• We provided on-site supervision of installation and commissioning, including development of specifications, supervision of testing, and analysis of test data.
• The commissioning testing, which involved full-scale testing with a large shaker, clearly demonstrated that the TMDs are effective and meet all specification requirements.