An integrated control on thermal and noise environment of tropical building material

Abstract

The environmental problems of thermal and noise environment are recently considered the most important contributors to the tropical building in an urban area. The porous tropical materials provide both a solution for cooling and airborne noise problem from the source to receiver when the wind is in the same direction. This research optimizes the integrated control of thermal and noise environment which are directed into building material evaluation. Surabaya is selected as representative of the hotter area of the lowland while Malang is determined as the colder urban area of the highland. An eco-tropical lightweight material, wood, is examined as a case study. The field measurement for surface material temperature and its transmission loss were conducted in order to give information on thermal and acoustical properties of the material. The optimization is conducted by comparing Sound Reduction Index and by Conduction Heat Flow. The results highlighted that for the same material, the thickness that effect on its mass is important for both thermal and noise control. The higher the thickness is, the higher the Sound Reduction Index and the lower the conduction heat flow are. Modifying material by adding the thickness of wood results that by material mass minimum 36.5 kg/m2, the critical lowland building meets the standard of World Health Organization noise limits and has lower heat gain.