The annual Institute of Acoustics Conference
was held on 5th and 6th September in Kenilworth
and MACH Acoustics’ Chris Jones was honoured to be invited to speak and present
his paper. Chris has been researching “STANDARDISING THE TESTING AND MODELLING
METHODS OF PREDICTING THE SOUND REDUCTION THROUGH OPEN WINDOWS” and this was
extremely well received.
The current approach is to simply
use a 10 - 15 dB reduction across the open window. This does not
account for the window type, open area or angle of incident sound. Whilst
research has been conducted into these factors, the lack of a standard method
of testing, modelling and quantifying the acoustic performance has prevented
the uptake of an improved method by acoustic and facade engineers.
This paper builds upon the research of collaboration with MACH Acoustics
and The University of Bath - Blanco, Nunes and Lo (2014) and Jones (2015) in
summarising the challenges in quantifying the performance by considering
existing test methodologies from British Standards and extensive laboratory
testing by Napier University (2007).
The potential of using FEM and FDTD modelling as a tool of visualising
and understanding sound propagation through an open window is summarised. 2D
FDTD modelling by Jones (2015) has examined the effect of the window variables
and the accuracy of simulations by recreating Napier University (2007) test
data, before using this to propose the concept of a simple mathematical model.
The aim of this paper is not to conclusively recommend a standardised
method, but to present existing information and new research in a balanced
manner that will inspire a discussion within the acoustics industry as to how
such a method might be agreed.
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