A NON-DESTRUCTIVE TEST METHOD TO ASSESS THE COMPOSITION OF EXISTING FLOATING FLOORS

As a consequence of the proliferation of low frequency sound sources, the number of complaints on low frequency noise has increased even in recent constructions. In these situations, field measurements then are required for characterisation of vibration and sound transmission through construction elements in order to define adequate rehabilitation strategies. Unfortunately, current sound transmission measurements are not useful to identify the composition of construction elements although this is fundamental for an adequate designing of sound insulation solutions in the scope of rehabilitation. Simple and non-destructive test methods then are required. As the problem described above often is associated to impact sound transmission through floors, which, in many European countries consist of reinforced concrete slabs with floating covers, in this paper, a non-destructive test method for assessing the composition of such floors is proposed. Particularly, the method is useful for field assessment of the dynamic stiffness and loss factor of elastic interlayers used in floating floor systems available in the market. These properties seldom are provided by manufacturers and field measurements on applied systems offer a cheaper alternative to laboratory tests.