Characterisation of lightweight stairs as structure-borne sound sources



Scheck, Jochen
(2011) Characterisation of lightweight stairs as structure-borne sound sources. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

The work reported in this thesis addresses the problem of structure-borne sound transmission from impacts on lightweight stairs. The primary aim was to provide a laboratory method for characterisation of lightweight stairs as structure-borne sound sources, which will give input data for prediction of the sound transmission in heavyweight building situations. By treating the stair system, combined with impact source(s), as an active component, available methods for active sources could be adapted. The component powers of a timber staircase attached to a solid wall in a staircase test facility have been determined in-situ by use of a reciprocal method. It was shown that the force perpendicular to the wall surface is dominant, moments can be neglected. The force induced power can be predicted from contact free velocity and mobility or by the blocked force as stairs constitute high mobility sources in heavyweight buildings. A practical characterisation is proposed that is based on the reception plate method. It is demonstrated that real walls and floors can be used as reception plates along with a power calibration that circumvents problems in estimating the plate mass, mean squared velocity and total loss factor for non-isolated reception plates. The sound transmission is predicted using EN 12354 and it is confirmed that the prediction gives values within acceptable engineering accuracy. A deterministic model that accounts for the modal coupling of structure and room is used to predict the sound transmission at low frequencies. For the case considered, a major difficulty was found in the modelling of the wall vibration field, mainly due to the boundary conditions that do not correspond to idealised conditions, such as pinned or free edges.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy)
Additional Information: Date: 2011-06 (completed)
Uncontrolled Keywords: building acoustics, structure-borne sound, impact sound, sound source characterisation
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 21 Nov 2019 14:05
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2022 00:12
DOI: 10.17638/03062777
Copyright Statement: Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis and any accompanying data (where applicable) are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge.
Digitisation Notes : Slight shadow in upper left corner of title page as per original hardcopy thesis. Pages are skewed throughout (more pronounced on odd numbered pages) as per original hardcopy thesis.
Supervisors:
  • Gibbs, Barry
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3062777