Evaluation of the Floor Impact Sound Insulation Performance of a Voided Slab System Applied to a High-Rise Commercial Residential-Complex Building

Abstract

Multi-unit dwellings, such as apartment housing, town houses, and flats, are some of the most common housing types in Korea, as well as in other countries. Such multi-unit dwellings are considered an effective means to overcome the housing problems of high-density population in urban areas, owing to their high efficiency of land utilisation. However, interlayer noise complaints, such as footsteps or dragging items in apartment housing, are an inevitable problem in apartment dwelling conditions, because each household in an apartment shares walls and ceilings with other households. This paper presents the results acquired from the field test of the floor impact sound insulation performance of a voided slab system as applied to a commercial residential-complex building in South Korea. The results have shown that adopting the voided slab system for a commercial residential-complex building increased floor impact sound insulation performance. The test results show that the sound insulation performance of the voided slab system applied in the building for lightweight and heavyweight floor impact sound reached (47 and 41) dB, respectively. Based on the results of the field tests, it is expected that the application of the voided slab systems to the slabs of the apartment dwellings would be effective, and offer outstanding sound insulation performance. Moreover, it is expected that the floor impact sound insulation performance would be further improved, if the floor finishing materials, such as carpet or other types of flooring material, would first be installed onto the floor.