Comparative analysis of acoustic insulation in different building geometries: field tests and computer simulations

Abstract

Currently in Brazil, residential buildings must be comply with basic acoustic insulation conditions, and in order to do that, the acoustic characteristics of the building system must be well known. For the design conditions, acoustic insulation data from laboratory tested systems are used as input values in computer simulations, thus estimating the results that can be obtained in field tests. This paper presents the results of air noise and standardised impact of different building systems tested in the same building, focusing on the comparative analysis of different areas and geometries and the estimation obtained from an acoustic prediction software. The tests were performed in residential buildings according to the technical standards ISO 16283-1 and ISO 16283-2 and estimated using the SONarchitect software. An analysis of measurement uncertainty from a historical data series was performed to verify whether geometry influences expanded uncertainty. It was verified that part of the air noise tests presented simulated results with smaller values than those found through the test, and measurement uncertainty tended to a higher value as the room volume increased. For the impact noise transmission tests, the estimated values were very close to the test results, however, it was not possible to relate the measurement uncertainty to the tested room volume.

Keywords:
Building acoustics; Dwelling performance; Measurement uncertainty