Research on Impact Sound Insulation Performance of Timber Floor Structure

• Published in: Experimental techniques (Westport, Conn.) Conn.), 2021-12, Vol.45 (6), p.827-840
• Main Authors: Ding, Y. W., Zhao, X. Y., Wang, Z., Li, M. M., Sayed, U., Huang, Y. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustic insulation; Bedrooms; Brief Technical Note; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Excitation; Field tests; Floor coverings; Flooring; Frequency ranges; Impact loads; Materials Science; Optimization; Polystyrene resins; Pressure distribution; Sound pressure; Weight reduction; Wood floors; Wooden structures
• ISSN: 0732-8818; 1747-1567
• DOI: 10.1007/s40799-021-00440-w

To meet users’ needs for the building comfort, this article researched the impact sound insulation performance of timber floor structure under different conditions. The research has been done on a common floor covering and three floating floor coverings (composed of Portuguese cork board, a kind of improved graphite polystyrene sound insulation board (BGL) and expanded polypropylene sound insulation board (EPP) respectively) in the same bedroom in a two-story light-weight timber structure. The tapping machine excitation and daily behavior excitation test methods have been used, and the field tests on the impact sound insulation of the floors under conditions that doors and windows are closed and doors and windows are opened have been validated. Based on the test result, the sound insulation effects has been analyzed; law of the sound pressure distribution of the noise sources and the change of sound pressure with frequency has been validated; the frequency characteristics of the noise sources has been summarized; and the optimization measures of sound insulation has been proposed. The main conclusions show that: the impact sound insulation effect of the floating floor is more significant than that of the ordinary floor, BGL floor has the highest impact sound pressure level improvement; the insulated sound pressure of the floating floors is 10–20 times more than that of the ordinary floor in condition of tapping machine; With the increase of the frequency, the measured impact pressure level of the floor decreases continuously, and the decrement of the impact sound of the floor increases; in the frequency range of 80-8000 Hz, the sound pressure distribution of the floating floor is lower than that of the ordinary floorsound pressure. The impact sound insulation test is expected to provide a useful reference for improving the sound insulation performance of the timber floor structure, and has high engineering application value for improving living comfort.