Exploring acoustical approach for pre-screening of building envelope airtightness level

Abstract

Air infiltration plays a significant role in designing and evaluating the performance and air quality of a building. Air leakage through an existing building enclosure can both be localized and calculated by using experimental measurement, such as blower door test system, tracer gas method, and transient approach. Estimating building air permeability through these methods can be expensive, time consuming, and weather reliant. The economical and environmental effect of air infiltration through building envelope leads towards more research on detecting air leakage locations and estimating air infiltration rate through newly introduced techniques, such as using an acoustical method. As such, in this research, a general review of airtightness detection and quantification method will be presented, especially acoustical technique which will be explored more deeply. Moreover, due to significant impact of window systems on total air infiltration through building envelope, the correlation between sound transmission loss and air permeability through seven window assemblies in an existing building will be explored in order to investigate acoustical method further. In addition, the acoustic air leakage detection method based on standard ASTM E1186 will be instigated on the experimental windows. The results reveal the negative relationship between these two phenomena.Air infiltration plays a significant role in designing and evaluating the performance and air quality of a building. Air leakage through an existing building enclosure can both be localized and calculated by using experimental measurement, such as blower door test system, tracer gas method, and transient approach. Estimating building air permeability through these methods can be expensive, time consuming, and weather reliant. The economical and environmental effect of air infiltration through building envelope leads towards more research on detecting air leakage locations and estimating air infiltration rate through newly introduced techniques, such as using an acoustical method. As such, in this research, a general review of airtightness detection and quantification method will be presented, especially acoustical technique which will be explored more deeply. Moreover, due to significant impact of window systems on total air infiltration through building envelope, the correlation between sound transmissio...