Project Thesis

The demand for sustainable solutions is increasing in various economic sectors and has also found its way into the construction industry. Whereas customary structural designs are optimized in terms of simplicity, progressive materials such as Carbon Prestressed Concrete (CPC) provide mass reduction given equal properties in terms of static resilience due to sophisticated geometrical arrangements and hence, reduce the carbon footprint of constructions. However, the reduction of material also has negative effects on acoustic performance which has therefore to be investigated. This is where multiphysics simulation tools open up new opportunities. In this project, two- and three-dimensional CPC geometries are investigated in terms of their sound transmission properties using finite element analysis (FEA). Various two-dimensional section views as well as a three-dimensional CPC structure were modeled and evaluated by their sound transmission properties over a frequency range from 1 Hz to at least 720 Hz. The resulting sound transmission loss (STL) curve shows that the CPC structure has, depending on the frequency observed, up to 57 dB lower damping properties in terms of acoustic power than a regular concrete plate with equal outer dimension. The difference between the two geometries is noticeably higher at frequencies lower than the first mechanical eigenfrequency whereas at higher frequencies, the CPC structure performs better than at lower ones. The tool developed in this study provides a reliable base for further simulations, where the geometrical parameters can be optimized. From these results, the measurements of acoustic p erformance of building structures can be predicted without experimental testing.