BIM-based sound insulation performance evaluation of interior walls

Abstract

As a general contractor, acoustical design confirmation of a project at construction stage is rather limited especially if it is large-scale. Among others, many interior walls of the building projects are found to be improperly designed in terms of sound insulation in that chances are hardly given for the most projects to be intervened by an acoustic expert at their design stage. In many cases, they turn out to be either underperformed or overperformed. This study developed a tool for holistically evaluating sound insulation design of interior walls across the building areas. It was designed on the basis of BIM modeling to be fast-tracked in supporting either the architects or general contractors for a quick and broad design review. Mapping of the information of room use and wall types with their predicted or measured sound insulation data on to a BIM model is set out to compare to the design criteria according to room use and adjacency. The results are simulated on both 2-D and 3-D BIM models, visually presenting the sound insulation performance. A report is instantly generated on performance qualification with the information of wall types, surface areas, etc. It also suggests alternative wall types as necessary.