Dynamic properties of damping materials for reducing heavyweight floor impact sounds

The effects of resilient isolators and viscoelastic damping materials on reducing heavyweight floor impact sounds in reinforced concrete structures were investigated using FEM simulations and field measurements. Dynamic properties of the materials were also measured with beam transfer function method to predict vibration characteristics and impedance of the floor structures; results showed that damping materials had larger loss factor and dynamic elastic modulus than resilient isolators. From the field measurement, it was found that the natural frequency of the floor structure increased and its vibration acceleration level decreased by the use of damping materials (heavyweight impact sound levels also decreased below 80 Hz), whereas the sound levels in the structure increased with the same range with the use of resilient isolators.