Lucimara L. Santos, Ícaro S. Pontes, Leopoldo P. Bastos, Gustavo V.

de Melo, Márcio
Barata,
Acoustic performance of social housings in Brazil: Assessment of lightweight
expanded polystyrene concrete as resilient subfloor,
Journal of Building Engineering,
Volume 41,
2021,
102442,
ISSN 2352-7102,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102442.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352710221002990)
Abstract: The vast majority of multi-story buildings in Brazil are not designed
with acoustic treatment for impact sound insulation due to the high cost of
floating floors, applied only in housings for medium and high-income populations
and neglected for social housings. The use of EPS in lightweight concrete to
insulate impact sound could become an extremely viable alternative in technical,
economic and environmental terms. However, few studies have investigated the
properties of lightweight concretes as acoustic insulators and none has
investigated the lightweight concrete performance under mechanical stresses in the
construction and use phases of buildings. The research aimed to investigate the
equilibrium between mechanical resistance and acoustic insulation for lightweight
concrete with different contents both in the laboratory and in the field. In the
laboratory tests, a lightweight concrete with incorporation of 50% of EPS and
density of 1100 kg/m3 achieved this optimum equilibrium, especially at frequencies
above 500 Hz. In the real building, the EPS lightweight concrete with density of
1100 kg/m3 reached only L'nT,w of 74 dB, but this value is still within the minimum
performance level according to Brazilian standard. The system showed no reductions
in sound pressure levels at medium and high frequencies mainly because it was
adhered to reinforced concrete slab, increasing sound transmission at high
frequencies by reducing sound insulation of the mass-spring-mass system provided by
the EPS lightweight concrete. The research results were promising, giving viability
signs of applying EPS lightweight concrete subfloors in social housing in Brazil at
a low production cost.
Keywords: Lightweight concrete; Tack resistance to traction; Compressive strength;
Impact sound; Airborne sound; Social housing