Building acoustics throughout Europe Volume 1: Towards a common framework in building ...

257 Pages·2014·8.82 MB·English

COST Action TU0901:
Integrating and Harmonizing Sound Insulation Aspects
in Sustainable Urban Housing Constructions
Building acoustics throughout Europe
Volume 1: Towards a common framework
in building acoustics throughout Europe
Chair: Birgit Rasmussen Vice Chair: María Machimbarrena
SBi, Danish Building Research Institute Architecture School; Applied Physics Dpt.
Aalborg University University of Valladolid
Denmark Spain
Australia | Austria | Belgium | Canada | Croatia | Czech Republic | Denmark | Estonia | Finland | France | Germany
Greece | Hungary | Iceland | Italy | Lithuania | Macedonia | Malta | Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway
Poland | Portugal | Romania | Serbia | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | United Kingdom
COST Action
TU0901
ESF provides the COST Office COST is supported COST Action
through a European Commission contract by EU RTD Framework Programme TU0901
Editorial Board:
Birgit Rasmussen and María Machimbarrena
Revisors:
Ed Clarke, Patrizio Fausti, Eddy Gerretsen, Bart Ingelaere, Jian Kang,
Selma Kurra, María Machimbarrena, Rodrigo Ordóñez, Jorge Patricio,
Jeffrey Mahn, Birgit Rasmussen and Sean Smith
Cover design:
Stefano Pedersoli
© COST Office and authors, [2014]
The responsibility and copyright of each chapter belongs to the author(s). When
quoting, it is mandatory to make proper reference to the book and/or the authors of
the quoted chapter. Permission from copyright holder is required in case of
reproducing contents of images, diagrams, tables or other material from other
copyright holders.
Neither the COST Office nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use
which might be made of the information contained in this publication. The COST
Office is not responsible for the external websites referred to in this publication.
This book may be cited as:
Birgit Rasmussen & María Machimbarrena (editors), COST Action TU0901 –
Building acoustics throughout Europe. Volume 1: Towards a common framework
in building acoustics throughout Europe.
This publication is supported by COST
e-ISBN: 978-84-697-0158-4
Layout: DiScript Preimpresion, S. L.
Publisher: DiScript Preimpresion, S. L.
ESF provides the COST Office COST is supported COST Action
through a European Commission contract by EU RTD Framework Programme TU0901
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researchers at European level. It was established in 1971 by 19 member countries and
currently includes 35 member countries across Europe, and Israel as a cooperating
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Preface
Neighbour noise is a significant problem having had insufficient attention
for decades, both for existing housing and new housing. Time had come
to solve the challenges by establishing a common framework in building
acoustics throughout Europe. As a consequence, the research network,
COST Action TU0901 “Integrating and Harmonizing Sound Insulation
Aspects in Sustainable Urban Housing Constructions” was established to
initiate and support a process towards such framework.
COST TU0901 considered the main tool to be an acoustic classification
scheme for dwellings –implying definition of a number of quality classes–
combined with knowledge about housing constructions complying with
the class criteria.
During the four years official lifetime of COST TU0901, close research
cooperation and discussions have taken place between around 90 experts
from 29 European countries and 3 overseas countries participating in
COST TU0901. Most of the work was done in or through the three TU0901
working groups.
The findings from COST TU0901 are presented in two books with the joint
main title “Building acoustics throughout Europe”. Volume 1 describes
the background, the current situation and the main findings from the
working groups. Volume 2 consists of country chapters describing the
national housing stock, construction types and related sound insulation
performance in countries involved in COST TU0901.
We hope all the work presented herein will be used to meet our main
objective, which is no other than providing “sustainable, quieter homes
all over Europe” –and maybe beyond–.
The cooperation initiated in COST TU0901 will continue in many ways,
including standardization groups and research projects, thus supporting
the process towards quieter European homes.
April 2014
Birgit Rasmussen – Chair of COST TU0901
María Machimbarrena – Vice Chair of COST TU0901
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Contents
Preface .................................................................................................. 4
Introduction
Birgit Rasmussen, María Machimbarrena ............................................. 7
Chapter 1. Profiling Existing and New Build Housing Stock
Professor Sean Smith ............................................................................ 12
Chapter 2. Existing Sound Insulation Performance Requirements
and Classification Schemes For Housing Across Europe
Birgit Rasmussen, María Machimbarrena ............................................. 31
Chapter 3. Proposal of Harmonized Sound Insulation Descriptors
Eddy Gerretsen, Philip Dunbavin.......................................................... 55
Chapter 4. How to Translate Sound Insulation Descriptors
and Requirements
Philip Dunbavin, Eddy Gerretsen.......................................................... 65
Chapter 5. Proposal for an Acoustic Classification Scheme
for Housing
Birgit Rasmussen, Eddy Gerretsen ....................................................... 80
Chapter 6. Developing a Uniform Questionnaire for
Socio-Acoustic Surveys in Residential Buildings
Christian Simmons ................................................................................ 101
Chapter 7. Developing a Methodology for Performing Listening
Tests Related to Building Acoustics
Monika Rychtáriková, Marko Horvat .................................................... 133
Chapter 8. Correlating Objective and Subjective Sound Insulation
Herbert Muellner .................................................................................. 157
Chapter 9. Monitoring & Testing Sound Insulation Performance
in New Homes in Europe
Professor Sean Smith, Professor Julieta António ................................. 171
Chapter 10. Common Errors and Good Practice in Design
and Workmanship
Teresa Carrascal, Patrizio Fausti, Wim Beentjes,
Ed Clarke, Chris Steel ........................................................................... 180
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Chapter 11. Design and Acoustic Performance of Building
Constructions for Multi-Storey Housing: Compendium
Patrizio Fausti, Teresa Carrascal García, Bart Ingelaere,
María Machimbarrena, Carolina Monteiro, Andrea Santoni,
Simone Secchi, Sean Smith ................................................................... 213
Chapter 12. TU0901: Conclusions and Research Proposals
Birgit Rasmussen, María Machimbarrena ............................................. 245
Annex. List of COST TU0901 members .............................................. 251
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COST Action
TU0901
Building acoustics throughout Europe
Volume 1: Towards a common framework
in building acoustics throughout Europe
Introduction
Authors:
Birgit Rasmussen1
María Machimbarrena2
1 SBi, Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University (AAU-CPH),
Copenhagen, Denmark. e-mail: [email protected]
2 University of Valladolid /Applied Physics Department, Architecture School,
Valladolid, Spain. e-mail: [email protected]
© COST Office and authors (2014)
The responsibility and copyright of each chapter belongs to the author(s). When quoting, it is mandatory to make proper
reference to the book and/or the authors of the quoted chapter. Permission from copyright holder is required in case
of reproducing contents of images, diagrams, tables or other material from other copyright holders.
Introduction
Most European countries have regulatory sound insulation requirements
for dwellings, and classification schemes exist in several countries.
However, sound insulation descriptors, requirements and class criteria
present a high degree of diversity and, unfortunately, there is no sign of
increasing harmonization, rather the contrary. The diversity causes
confusion for the building industry and is an obstacle for trade,
development and exchange of experience and construction data.
COST Action TU0901 was established to initiate changes to this situation
to the benefit of people in their everyday life and for the building industry.
It is believed that although regulations are a national issue within each
country, if all European countries used the same descriptors and had a
joint acoustic classification scheme for dwellings, each country could
select a class for regulations, and all involved sectors would in the long
run benefit from the harmonization. Furthermore, it is difficult to compare
perceived satisfaction or annoyance related to neighbour noise for people
in different countries, because questionnaires for field surveys differ
considerably.
On top of the above-mentioned challenges, a general focus on energy
savings and sustainable constructions has in some cases led to
development of constructions with potentially significant acoustic
problems. At the same time home entertainment systems have developed
from simple radios and television sets in the sixties to sophisticated home
theatre systems with powerful rhythms and low-frequency musical content,
implying a need for higher sound insulation.
Considering the situation described above, the TU0901 objectives were
defined as follows:
Main objectives
• P ropose harmonized descriptors for airborne and impact sound insulation.
• P ropose a European acoustic classification scheme for dwellings.
Secondary objectives
• I nclude low frequency range adequately
• P repare a uniform questionnaire on annoyance by neighbour noise
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• D educe some kind of correlation between sound insulation and annoyance
• E stablish a catalogue of sound insulation data for construction solutions
found in the different participating countries
• P roduce an on-line compendium on good workmanship practice
Detailed information on the scope and aims of TU0901 is found in the
Memorandum of Understanding of the Action, which can be found at
http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/tud/Actions/TU0901
The European Action COST TU0901 has been running for 4 years 2009-
2013, stimulating research, collecting experiences from 29 countries in
Europe and 3 overseas countries and joining efforts to find a consensus
proposal both for acoustic descriptors and an acoustic classification
scheme for housing.
The work has been distributed between three working groups, all of them
contributing to the common objectives from different perspectives:
• W G1: Harmonized sound insulation descriptors and classification
schemes in Europe
• W G2: Subjective evaluation of sound insulation - Laboratory tests and
harmonized field surveys
• W G3: Design and acoustic performance of building constructions for
multi-storey housing
Summarizing all the work done, all the information collected and all
achievements in a book is not an easy task. The contents have been
distributed in chapters dealing with the most relevant issues being
addressed during the lifetime of TU0901 and is presented in such a way
that the first two chapters focus on the problems and state of the art prior
to the beginning of the Action and the remaining chapters contain a
description of the work done and main outputs.
Chapter 1 summarizes the “state of the art” concerning building stock in
Europe and gives an overview of the relevance of the “building acoustics”
problem.
Chapter 2 summarizes the “state of the art” concerning existing sound
insulation descriptors, regulatory requirements and acoustic classification
schemes in Europe.
Chapters 3 and 4 deal with one of the two main objectives of TU0901:
Proposed harmonized descriptors and translation between existing national
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criteria to proposed new descriptors. Chapter 5 describes the TU0901
proposal for an acoustic classification scheme that could in the long run be
adopted as a European or even international scheme and summarizes the
work done to prepare the proposal.
The Chapters 6 to 8 deal with subjective perception of neighbour noise in
dwellings. The experience of developing a harmonized questionnaire to
be used all over Europe for assessing annoyance due to neighbouring
noise is summarized in Chapter 6, which also includes findings from the
preliminary use of the questionnaire in some participating countries.
Chapter 7 deals with the task of developing guidelines for performing
listening tests related to building acoustics, and finally Chapter 8 focuses
on the challenge of correlating objective and subjective sound insulation.
Much of the work done in WG3 is summarized in Chapters 9 to 11. Chapter
9 focuses on design and performance of existing building techniques all
over Europe, whereas Chapter 10 summarizes the information provided by
participating countries concerning common errors and good practice at
design and workmanship stages. Chapter 11 provides an overview of the
range of construction types found across Europe.
Conclusions and suggestions for the next steps and for future research
issues are found in Chapter 12.
Although each chapter is signed by the indicated authors, it is important
to mention that most of the outcomes would not have been possible
without the input of the many contributors from all participating countries.
It is fair to give special credit to WG1 members for contents of Chapters 3,
4 and 5, WG2 members for contents of chapters 6, 7 and 8, WG3 members
for Chapters 9 and 10, and all COST TU0901 members for the country
information found in the COST TU0901 e-book, Volume 2.
All members of COST TU0901 are listed in the Annex, and information
about working group members and leaders is given.
Making proposals for harmonized sound insulation descriptors and a
classification scheme is a long process, since acoustics and building
problems and solutions differ widely across Europe. Nevertheless, several
fruitful discussions have taken place, and preliminary consensus has been
established, and –very important– the minds of the involved experts have
been prepared for future changes.
During the TU0901 Action period, there has been contact or cooperation
with three other COST Actions, namely FP0702 (Acoustics for Timber
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