Acoustic simulation of timber floors performance using numerical models

At present, no consolidated methods for the simulation of the acoustic performance of timber floors, such as cross laminated timber or glulam assemblies, are available. Simulations using combined Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) have been made, predicting the transmission loss with satisfactory accuracy. However, impact sound insulation could not be computed with the same degree of accuracy. The determination of the material's input data of such inhomogeneous, layered and non-isotropic media still remains a significant issue. The Transfer Matrix Method (TMM) is a widely-applicable powerful tool to model wave propagation through laterally infinite media of different nature, including isotropic or orthotropic, elastic, viscoelastic, poroelastic solids and fluids. This study investigates the applicability of a homogenisation approach developed within the TMM framework, already used to evaluate the sound insulation of massive building walls, to compute the acoustic performance of cross laminated timber (CLT) floors. In order to validate the proposed model, a comparison was carried out between numerical and experimental results