Building Acoustics 01: Finite Element Model of an Building Acoustics Test Facility to Predict the Sound Transmission Loss Based on DIN EN ISO 10140

2026-05-19

AI Summary

This study addresses the lack of virtual prototyping tools in early-stage architectural acoustic design capable of predicting sound insulation performance of materials and structures. Building upon the DIN EN ISO 10140 standard, the authors develop a finite element-based virtual prototype of an acoustic test facility to predict sound reduction indices for single- and double-leaf walls, with and without thermal insulation layers. A novel frequency- and region-adaptive discretization strategy is introduced and integrated with the in-house solver elPaSo to enable efficient simulations. Geometries are modeled and meshed using SALOME 9.14, followed by matrix solution via elPaSo, with results validated against COMSOL 6.3. The approach accurately predicts sound insulation across the 8–630 Hz one-third octave bands for three test specimens, showing particularly strong agreement with theoretical curves for the insulated double-leaf wall.

Abstract

In the context of building acoustics, sound transmission loss estimations are crucial to quantify the noise pollution in buildings. When developing building prototypes in the sense of an acoustic-oriented design process, it is desirable to have an virtual prototype, especially in early development stages, to estimate, for instance, the influence of different material or geometry configurations on to the sound transmission loss. This contribution aims to present a simple virtual prototype of an building acoustics test facility in accordance with DIN EN ISO 10140 for the measurement of the sound transmission loss of single- and double-leaf walls with and without insulation. Here, the finite element method is used as the numerical modelling method of choice. In the course of this, geometry and mesh creation was done using SALOME 9.14 whereas the institute's in-house research code elPaSo was utilised for the matrix assembly and solving procedure. At first, elPaSo was verified by the commercial software COMSOL 6.3 considering a small-scale test facility. Afterwards, the large-scale test facility finite element model was created using a frequency- and domain-specific discretisation approach. The sound transmission loss of three different test specimens was estimated in one-third-octave bands from 8 Hz to 630 Hz, where the double-leaf wall with insulation exhibited good agreement to the theoretical sound transmission loss profile from literature.

Problem

• sound transmission loss
• building acoustics
• virtual prototype
• finite element model
• acoustic design

Innovation

• finite element method
• sound transmission loss
• virtual prototype
• frequency-specific discretization
• building acoustics