Abstract
Abstract The materials that compose a construction system influence directly the acoustic performance of buildings.In masonry systems, through experiments, the geometry of the blocks and the types of coating were perceived as fundamental factors on the acoustic performance of walls. Therefore, this study intends to enrich the database and promote analysis for the civil construction industry by evaluating the airborne sound reduction of masonry walls composed by ceramic blocks with and without mortar coating. Accordingly, different partitions made of different ceramic blocks were built to determine the performance discrepancies in the partitions’ behavior due to physical characteristics and the influence of the mortar coating. These analyses were made in laboratory. As a result, without coating, the highest sound reduction was observed in the samples with more bulk mass and higher Aliq/At ratio (relationship between the net and gross areas of the ceramic blocks). Then, with the mortar coating, the coating improved the sound reduction. Moreover, the bulk mass was the most influential characteristic in comparison to the Aliq/At ratio, even though the best results were obtained in the samples with higher Aliq/At ratios.
Highlights
The acoustic performance of building construction materials is basically characterized by the capacity they have to reduce airborne or structure-borne sound transmission
This paper evaluates the relationship between the geometry and typology of blocks as well as the changes caused by the mortar coating of the walls in the acoustic performance
The samples were compared on the basis of their similarities in block geometry, influencing the Aliq/At ratios, bending stiffness, critical frequencies and surface mass
Summary
The acoustic performance of building construction materials is basically characterized by the capacity they have to reduce airborne or structure-borne sound transmission. Regarding the reduction against airborne noise, this feature is strongly dependent on the inertia, surface mass, stiffness and internal damping. This means it is expected that the use of heavy and robust systems, as concrete or masonry walls opposed to gypsum drywalls, will result in satisfactory sound insulation. The purpose of the holes is to increase the thermal reduction of vertical partitions and to lighten/facilitate the blockshandling, reducing the buildings structural loads. The geometry of the holes influences the sound reduction index and can be checked by the ratio between the net and gross areas of the blocks as well as by their mass ratio which generate different sound transmission reduction curves (FRINGUELLINO; SMITH, 1999)
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