Experimental study on the sound of water flowing through a storm drain

Abstract

In buildings where storm drains are installed indoors, the sound of running water radiated from the surface of storm drains during rainfall may raise the noise level in rooms near the drain. To take appropriate measures against such sound according to the required quietness for the room, quantitative data on the sound of running water from storm drains is necessary, but few studies have dealt with this kind of sound. Therefore, the authors conducted experiments in an existing building, a drainage test tower, and a reverberation room to understand the characteristics of the sound produced by storm drains. Based on the results obtained through these experiments, this paper presents the effects of flow rate, pipe diameter, pipe material, and horizontal piping on the sound of running water from storm drains. The paper also discusses the differences between the sound generated by storm drains and the sound generated by sanitary sewers.