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This thesis investigates the measurement and prediction of machinery noise in timber-frame buildings. To quantify the structure-borne sound power input from multi-point sources, simplified approaches were assessed that reduce the required data for out-of-plane force excitation. This identified approaches that give estimates within ±5 dB from 20 Hz to 2000 Hz. To investigative the importance of out-of-plane moment excitation, inverse methods were used to determine the power input; these were affected by noise but processing was used to overcome this shortcoming. A series of experimental investigations were carried out on a timber-frame structure undergoing mechanical point excitation. The driving-point mobility showed orthotropic plate characteristics at low frequencies, ribbed-plate characteristics in a narrow frequency band and infinite plate characteristics in mid- and high-frequency ranges. The moment mobility above or in-between studs was similar to infinite beam or plate theory with interpolation between these theories where necessary. The experimental work indicated the potential to use Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) to predict sound transmission. The first experimental finding was that above the mass-spring-mass resonance frequency, the vibrational response of the wall leaves was uncorrelated. The second was a significant decrease in vibration across the wall from the excitation point, with structural intensity showing a decrease in net power flow across successive timber studs. The third was that tongue and groove connections between chipboard sheets significantly reduce the vibration transmission above 500 Hz. This led to different SEA models being used to model a timber-frame wall undergoing mechanical point excitation. A 41-subsystem model was found to be necessary to reproduce the measured vibration levels on both leaves within 10 dB. As there is a significant decrease in vibration with distance in the mid- and high-frequency range, the region close to the excitation point is particularly important and the SEA model has better accuracy in this region. An alternative engineering approach to the prediction of machinery noise in timber-frame buildings was introduced and validated that used measured transmission functions between the injected power and the spatial-average sound pressure level in a receiving room. A field survey and case studies indicate this is a feasible and practical approach.
Beech circular hollow laminated veneer lumber sections for temporary soil nailing applications
(2019)
Beech Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) circular hollow sections for use as temporary geotechnical soil nailing systems are developed within this thesis. Due to their permanent subsoil cement embedment, combined with high water saturation and permanent loading, the timber sections will lose strength and stiffness over time. Taking into account a duration of load factor for permanent loading of two years, it is recommended to reduce the short term tensile and bending strength of beech circular hollow sections to be used as geotechnical soil nails by 80%. In addition to the determination of material properties on small, clear specimens and full-sized cross-sections, an appropriate surface gluing quality between the veneers is fundamental to this subsoil application of the permanently cement-embedded, engineered timber product. The circular cross-section geometry and the permanently high-alkaline environment of the structural member is not covered by presently standardised testing and conditioning methods for examining LVL surface bond line quality. Standardised test methods had to be modified to determine bonding parameters for the circular, hollow LVL sections. As cement grout ensures the bond between the wooden nails and soil for the mobilisation of a soil reinforcement effect, a reliable connection between cement and wood is required. However, soluble wood constituents may inhibit cement hydration in the contact surface between the timber nails and cement. Pull-off tests on clear LVL specimens with different cement and wood surface modifications as well as the results of large-scale push-out tests are therefore presented. But to permanently ensure the contact between the wood and cement, a high degree of saturation above wood fibre saturation is necessary to keep the hollow sections in a swollen state without moisture-dependent wood shrinking. As no publications of wood moisture development in subsoil were available, long-term tests were performed, measuring the moisture content of subsoil-stored LVL in dependence on the soil moisture content, the suction and the precipitation during a time span of one year. Besides a negative cement influence on the material strength, a positive effect of cement coating on subsoil fungal destruction was realised, resulting in a significantly increased lifetime of cement-coated wood compared to uncoated wood. For temporary soil nailing applications, fungal wood deterioration was found to be of minor importance. But the reduced material strength due to a severe alkaline attack of wood demands a re-consideration of current soil nailing design methods, usually based on a mechanical limit equilibrium analysis of a rigid body motion where just tensile forces of the reinforcement elements are considered, and accompanying forces like bending moments and shear forces are neglected. Distributed fibre optic strain measurements of a steel-reinforced soil nail wall during a time span of six weeks reveal considerable nail curvatures, which are negligible in the case of ductile soil nails with low diameters, but are a significant factor for beech circular hollow laminated veneer lumber sections of larger diameters and brittle material behaviour.
The work reported in this thesis addresses the problem of structure-borne sound transmission in buildings. Vibrating sources, such as services plant and domestic appliances, transmit vibro-acoustic power, causing noise complaints by occupants in rooms removed from the source room. There is not yet an accepted practical method of predicting the installed power into floors or supporting walls, and thence the resultant sound pressure in rooms.
This study concentrates on the prediction of the installed power from mechanical installations in lightweight buildings composed of framed and ribbed plates. To identify the characteristics of such receiver elements, a field survey has been undertaken, which involved measurement of the point and transfer mobilities of common wall and floor structures. It is shown that the range of measured values of receiver point mobility is surprisingly small and that the constructions investigated often displayed thin plate-like characteristics, with relatively small spatial variations in point mobility. These field measurements give support to the notion of averaging over contacts.
This single equivalent receiver mobility has been assembled both from measured data and from the approximate method and then used in combination with single equivalent source data, to yield an approximate prediction of the installed power. The agreement obtained between the exact and approximate values allowed consideration of a practical implementation of the approximate prediction method, based on a reception plate method which yields the activity and mobility of the tested machine as single equivalent values.