FEM based prediction model for the impact sound level of floors

Up to now the research and development in the field of building acoustics is based mainly on measurements. The consequence is that the development and optimization of a new building component is a very tedious and expensive task. A considerably reduction of these costs could be achieved, if the optimization relying on measurements would be replaced - at least to some extent - by a computational prediction model. Motivated by these aspects a method is presented for using finite element techniques to estimate the impact sound level from lightweight floors. The overall approach consists of the three-dimensional modeling of the structure and the excitation source (tapping machine), the subsequent modal- and spectral analyses and the computation of the radiated sound from the ceiling.