TY - JOUR
T1 - The low frequency structure-borne sound problem in multi-storey timber buildings and potential of acoustic metamaterials
T2 - A review
AU - Gibson, Bernard
AU - Nguyen, Tuan
AU - Sinaie, Sina
AU - Heath, David
AU - Ngo, Tuan
N1 - Funding Information:
One particular application of particle damping, which integrated several other attenuation mechanisms to achieve good performance down to 50 Hz, was reported by Medved’ et al. (2014) [53]. In that instance, a sand-gravel filled, OSB floating floor was mounted on rubber pads over an open joisted floor system. The floor itself was also partially filled with a sand-gravel mix, and the rest of the cavity was filled with mineral wool. The high performance of that system was largely attributed to the use of small (45 × 45 mm) rubber pads instead of continuous lines or whole layers of resilient material. This ‘point elastic’ support system has also been shown to be effective for floating floors over CLT floors [69], and glulam beam joisted floors [49]. It should be noted that compressive creep, while not considered in those studies, may negatively affect the performance of systems due to the fact that some rubber materials, when used in the form of pads as opposed to continuous layers, have been shown to exhibit deteriorating performance over time [66].The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support of Forrest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), The ARC Training Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (ARC CAMP-H) (Grant ID: IC150100023). and the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne.
Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support of Forrest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) , The ARC Training Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (ARC CAMP-H) (Grant ID: IC150100023 ). and the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - In recent years, advances in timber engineering, combined with an associated evolution in building codes, have led to a significant expansion of multi-storey timber construction worldwide – helping to unlock timber's potential as a sustainable alternative construction material. This expansion has intensified a long-recognised need for more effective methods to attenuate low frequency (20–120 Hz) structure-borne sound. Being lighter and less stiff than steel and concrete, timber structures tend to offer less inertial and elastic resistance to impact forces and existing sound insulation treatments provide inadequate attenuation in the 20–120 Hz range. This leads to high levels of low frequency noise transmission and deleterious effects on occupant comfort. This review lays out the fundamentals of the problem, the significance of its effects on building occupants, and the shortcomings of existing technologies developed to solve it. In this context, potential new metamaterial-based approaches are then considered. In acoustic metamaterials, previously impossible properties, such as infinite or negative mass density, stiffness, or bulk modulus, have been achieved, opening new possibilities for wave attenuation. However, practical issues, relating to structural capacity, imposed additional mass, and the breadth of attenuated frequency ranges, remain challenges to be solved. This article provides a broad overview of the characteristics that make low-frequency structure borne sound attenuation in multi-storey timber buildings so critical for occupant comfort and so difficult to achieve. It analyses the limitations of existing technologies and identifies nonlinear metamaterials that use vibro-impact oscillators to induce energy flow from low to high frequencies as having the best potential for overcoming those limitations.
AB - In recent years, advances in timber engineering, combined with an associated evolution in building codes, have led to a significant expansion of multi-storey timber construction worldwide – helping to unlock timber's potential as a sustainable alternative construction material. This expansion has intensified a long-recognised need for more effective methods to attenuate low frequency (20–120 Hz) structure-borne sound. Being lighter and less stiff than steel and concrete, timber structures tend to offer less inertial and elastic resistance to impact forces and existing sound insulation treatments provide inadequate attenuation in the 20–120 Hz range. This leads to high levels of low frequency noise transmission and deleterious effects on occupant comfort. This review lays out the fundamentals of the problem, the significance of its effects on building occupants, and the shortcomings of existing technologies developed to solve it. In this context, potential new metamaterial-based approaches are then considered. In acoustic metamaterials, previously impossible properties, such as infinite or negative mass density, stiffness, or bulk modulus, have been achieved, opening new possibilities for wave attenuation. However, practical issues, relating to structural capacity, imposed additional mass, and the breadth of attenuated frequency ranges, remain challenges to be solved. This article provides a broad overview of the characteristics that make low-frequency structure borne sound attenuation in multi-storey timber buildings so critical for occupant comfort and so difficult to achieve. It analyses the limitations of existing technologies and identifies nonlinear metamaterials that use vibro-impact oscillators to induce energy flow from low to high frequencies as having the best potential for overcoming those limitations.
KW - Acoustic metamaterials
KW - Floors
KW - Low frequency
KW - Multi-story
KW - Structure-borne sound
KW - Timber construction
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85137167208
U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109531
DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109531
M3 - Review Article
AN - SCOPUS:85137167208
SN - 0360-1323
VL - 224
JO - Building and Environment
JF - Building and Environment
M1 - 109531
ER -