Robust prediction metrics for structure-borne noise in timber buildings

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation of prediction metrics for structure-borne noise in timber buildings, based on the vibration response of the structure. The purpose of the study is to derive a robust measure for predicting structure-borne noise in timber buildings based solely on the vibration response; a measure with a known correlation to the actual acoustic response. Such a measure is useful for establishing simplified numerical prediction models, and for making robust assessments of different design alternatives. The procedure has previously been applied to automotive applications with a valuable outcome for the industry. The vibration and sound pressure responses in a room of a multi-storey building are calculated using the finite element method. As excitation, a harmonic unit point load (20-300 Hz) located at another storey of the building is used. Based on the structural and acoustic response fields, scalar values are calculated by performing spatial and frequency domain averaging and summations. Various methods for calculating scalar values from the vibration response are investigated. The correlation between the vibration scalar values and the acoustic scalar values are presented.