Innovative ways to make cross laminated timber panels sound-absorptive

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2014-10, Vol.136 (4_Supplement), p.2151-2151
• Main Authors: Logawa, Banda, Hodgson, Murray
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4899775

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels typically consist of several glued layers of wooden boards with orthogonally alternating directions. This cross-laminating process allows CLT panels to be used as load-bearing plate elements similar to concrete slabs. However, they are very sound-reflective, which can lead to concerns about acoustics. Growing interest in applications of CLT panels as building materials in North America has initiated much current research on their acoustical properties. This project is aimed at investigating ways to improve the sound-absorption characteristics of the panels by integrating arrays of Helmholtz-resonator (HR) absorbers into the panels and establishing design guidelines for CLT-HR absorber panels for various room-acoustical applications. To design the new prototype panels, several efforts have been made to measure and analyze the sound-absorption characteristics of the exposed CLT surfaces in multiple buildings in British Columbia, investigate suitable methods and locations to measure both normal and random incidence sound absorption characteristics, study the current manufacturing method of CLT panels, create acoustic models of CLT-HR absorber panels with various shapes and dimensions, and evaluate the sound absorption performance of prototype panels. This paper will report progress on this work.