Mass timber structures offer a remarkable strength-to-weight ratio, meaning they weigh significantly less compared to traditional materials like steel and concrete. This reduction in building mass provides benefits such as lower seismic forces, smaller foundations, and reduced soil requirements.
However, this lightweight advantage comes with a trade-off- acoustic challenges of mass timber structures, as for acoustics, more mass in a building typically means better noise control.
When talking about acoustics, we usually refer to two types of sounds – airborne sound like conversations and music, and impact sound passing through floors/ceiling from people walking or objects falling on the floor.
To address these acoustic challenges, various strategies can be employed. Enhancing acoustic performance might involve adding mass to the structure—such as incorporating a concrete topping layer, by adding noise barriers, or using decouplers and designing acoustically improved connections.
To tackle these acoustic challenges, several strategies can be implemented. One way to minimize impact sound transmission through different structural entities is to ensure that no vertical forces will be transmitted through connections. This can be achieved by using brackets with vertically slotted holes for connecting these entities. That way different part of buildings will be connected only horizontally, ensuring building stability while transmission of vertical forces and vibrations will be avoided.
Other option is to add decouplers to connections. Decouplers are products that break direct contact between structural elements and reduce the amount of noise that can travel directly through the structure. Most common decouplers are resilient soundproofing profiles. These acoustic strips can be added between CLT panels and below brackets used in connections, breaking direct connections between members and significantly improving acoustic performance of mass timber building.
