Conference_programme: 17: Building acoustics
Lecture: Improvements in Acoustical Performance of Lightweight Floating Floors for Gym/Sports Applications
Author(s): Masoumi Hamid, Pinto Paulo, Carels Patrick M.
Summary:
Gyms, fitness spaces and health clubs in general, built within residential/commercial buildings, pose a great challenge for integration into their environment and are a well-known conundrum to acoustical consultants. Multi-disciplinary gym activities (such as running on treadmills, jumping, and weight lifting) generate a large range of noise and vibration in terms of the induced energy level and the frequency content. This makes finding an efficient isolation solution difficult.\nFor gym activities with a combination of structural and air borne-noise, at both low and high frequencies, acousticians may propose a heavy concrete floating floor. However, in an existing building where the extra weight of a new concrete slab/screed or the extra built up height is not feasible, a lightweight wooden floor system may be necessary. Gym floor isolation using lightweight solutions, especially where a variety of impact levels occur, remains quite challenging for acousticians.\nA set of laboratory and in-situ testing has been performed where the isolation performance of different lightweight floor setups have been examined under different drop weight energy levels. In addition, the influence of floor covering and the addition of damping layers have been investigated. The isolation performance was defined in terms of transmission loss by comparing the vibration level in a frequency range from 10 to 2000 Hz measured on the reference concrete slab, with and without the floor isolation systems.\nResults of these tests show that a heavy concrete floor setup performs slightly better at the low frequencies but the damped light weight floor setup results in the best overall performance.
Corresponding author
Name: Mr Hamid Masoumi
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Country: Belgium
