Comparative analysis of the heavy-weight floor impact noises using various shapes of EVA resilient materials

Abstract

Social issues concerning the floor impact noises are increasing as apartments are being increased in Korea. The present study aims to improve the floor impact noises using various shapes of EVA resilient materials in composite floor structures. In order to this, three different shapes of EVA resilient materials were used including flat plate type, deck plate type, and cavity type of EVA. boards. All the composite structure consisted of PP panel, PET sound absorption materials and EVA resilient materials with a total depth of 40mm. Also, each shape of EVA has two different types according to the use of foothold of EVA materials. For the mount type of structure, the used numbers of EVA foothold was 25, 56, and 41 per 1 m2 of area. All the floor impact noise measurements were done at the recognized testing authority using impact ball as the standard heavy-weight floor impact sound source. The values of L’i, Fmax, and AW were deduced from every measurements. As a result, regardless of the EVA shapes, better performances were drawn when EVA footholds were used, i. e., mount type. It was shown that the average L’i, Fmax, and AW value of mount types was 41–42dB while average value of 47–48 dB for deck plate type. 50–55 dB for flat plate and cavity type were measured. It can be recognized that the good performance of mount type EVA materials is caused by the air layer gap around the EVA footholds as well as the low dynamic elastic modulus of EVA.