An optimized floor design for heavy-weight impact vibration reduction in apartment buildings

Abstract

In this study, finite element method (FEM) models were used to calculate the reduction of floor impact vibrations in the floor structures of apartment buildings constructed with reinforced concrete. Field measurements were performed in heavy-weight floor structures, such as reinforced concrete slab, in order to analyze the characteristics of floor impact sound and vibration generated by heavy-weight impact sources. The results showed that floor impact vibrations produced dominant peaks at low frequencies below 100 Hz, and that floor impact sound levels were highly related to the levels of floor impact vibration in the structure. In addition, the finite element method was applied to predict the vibration characteristics; three types of finite element models with different shapes and boundary conditions were considered, and the predicted results were compared to field measurements. The results show that the simple two-dimensional model could also produce an accurate prediction of floor vibration. Through the Taguchi optimization method using an orthogonal array, the effects of dimensional factors in a living room design were investigated in terms of floor vibration reduction. Finally, a living room design was optimized to reduce floor impact vibration by around 40% in the maximum acceleration level.