Isolation of Buildings from Ground-Borne Noise Using a Sand Stratum

Abstract

The effect of an elastic stratum in reducing ground-borne sound transmission in buildings to be built above railway tunnels is investigated, by considering a sand layer between the bedrock and load bearing elements of the building. It is assumed that the initial vibrational energy that propagates from the foundation is in the form of quasi-longitudinal waves. The complete model as presented by the author in a previous paper is considered. Calculated results are compared with previous results for a typical building and it is shown that a sand layer can considerably reduce upward sound transmission in the building. The results of a parametric study to investigate the influence of the type of load-bearing elements and the thickness of the layer, on transmission of structure-borne sound in the building, are presented.