Raising the bar for jack-up floating floors—Understanding laboratory test results and proposed future test methodologies

Abstract

The jack-up concrete floating floor has been a staple in the field of architectural acoustical design for decades. Compatible with both spring and elastomeric isolators, the jack-up concrete floating floor system is often specified when the highest level of airborne and structure-borne vibration isolation separation is desired, and assurance of a decoupled floor is needed. Recent laboratory testing for jack-up floating floors under various configurations has yielded interesting and perhaps unexpected results. This paper will review the results from laboratory testing and dissect which factors appear to influence the airborne and/or the structure-borne isolation performance. A preview of future testing will be discussed, including new testing methodologies to validate existing conclusions and identify the influence of additional factors that may influence the airborne and/or structure-borne isolation performance.