Data Centers
Nationwide
Client
Many
Industry
Environmental Acoustics
Scope of Work
MD Acoustics provides noise and vibration consulting for data centers from site selection through operation, working with developers, operators and the municipalities that review them. Data centers run around the clock, and their chillers, cooling towers and emergency generators often sit near property lines that border homes.
Our work begins with 24 to 72 hour baseline noise surveys at the property lines and nearest residences, followed by 3D SoundPLAN models of each operating scenario: generators only, chillers only and both together. We compare the results to the city’s noise ordinance or, where the code sets no number, to the quietest ambient measured at the nearest homes. Services also include peer review for cities, generator acceptance testing and construction noise and vibration monitoring.
Outcome
Across more than 35 data center facilities in Arizona, California, Texas and beyond, MD’s surveys and models have given developers and cities a shared, measurable target before anything is built. On a recent Phoenix-area expansion, the city code had no residential limit, so MD held the design to the quietest ambient measured at the nearest homes and showed that compressor sound covers on the chillers would cut the project’s noise by up to 10 dBA, making it typically imperceptible to neighbors.
On an operating campus in Chandler, silencer and insulation testing before and after each installation verified every fix as neighbor concerns were worked through. Loaded generator surveys in Mesa measured 55 dBA at 50 feet against an 80 dBA specification.
Scope of Work
MD Acoustics provides noise and vibration consulting for data centers from site selection through operation, working with developers, operators and the municipalities that review them. Data centers run around the clock, and their chillers, cooling towers and emergency generators often sit near property lines that border homes.
Our work begins with 24 to 72 hour baseline noise surveys at the property lines and nearest residences, followed by 3D SoundPLAN models of each operating scenario: generators only, chillers only and both together. We compare the results to the city’s noise ordinance or, where the code sets no number, to the quietest ambient measured at the nearest homes. Services also include peer review for cities, generator acceptance testing and construction noise and vibration monitoring.
Outcome
Across more than 35 data center facilities in Arizona, California, Texas and beyond, MD’s surveys and models have given developers and cities a shared, measurable target before anything is built. On a recent Phoenix-area expansion, the city code had no residential limit, so MD held the design to the quietest ambient measured at the nearest homes and showed that compressor sound covers on the chillers would cut the project’s noise by up to 10 dBA, making it typically imperceptible to neighbors.
On an operating campus in Chandler, silencer and insulation testing before and after each installation verified every fix as neighbor concerns were worked through. Loaded generator surveys in Mesa measured 55 dBA at 50 feet against an 80 dBA specification.
