Environmental and Building Acoustics

Code:

EC0065

Acronym:

AAED

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Building Construction

Instance: 2013/2014 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	http://www.fe.up.pt/~carvalho/aae97.htm
Responsible unit:	Building Division
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Civil Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIEC	22	Syllabus since 2006/2007	5	-	5	60	133

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

This course aims to endow students with:
- personal and professional skills, so that they can solve problems and make experiments efficiently;
- essential skills, so that they can design in this area;
- essential knowledge on Acoustics, so that they can understand and correctly apply the Portuguese regulations on the area of Environmental Acoustics and Building Acoustics.

Learning outcomes and competences

Knowledge: To describe the key concepts of environmental acoustics and buildings.
Comprehension: To interpret and manipulate the elements and numerical data. To identify the characteristics (acoustic) of the  construction elements and assign them to parameters indicative of its performance in terms of efficiency and acoustics.
Application: to establish procedures and analysis algorithms to identify the most acoustically efficient.
Analysis: to rank the results of the application of the valuation methodologies.
Summary: to understand and to be able to propose new solutions to improve the building construction.
Evaluation: Evaluate the methodologies used and to forecast the evolution that they may follow.

 

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

None

Program

0- Introduction to the course 1- Historical background 2- Basic concepts and terminology - pressure - intensity - sound power - sound pressure level dB - frequency - bands - sound level dB(A) - time - Leq, SEL, Ln 3- Hearing system - physiology - effect of noise - protectors 4- Outdoor acoustics - theoretical concepts - noise barrier - traffic noise (road, railroad, air, naval) - noise in construction sites - noise in power lines - noise in wind parks 5- Building Acoustics - Acoustic correction (sound absorption, reverberation time, direct field and reverberated field) - Sound isolation and noise control of airborne noise (sound transmission coefficient, sound reduction, sound isolation index, mass law, marginal transmission, single wall, double wall, windows), of percussion noise (sound isolation index, marginal transmission, floating tiles) - Installation and equipment noise (water and sanitary installation, HVAC, electric equipments, lifts, garages) - Noise curves (NC, NR, NCB, RC) - Speech intelligibility (voice characteristics, parameters SIL-AI-AC-RASTI, open spaces, privacy) 6- Architectural Acoustics - variable acoustics - diffusion/reflection/scattering - auditorium design - modeling (mathematics and physics) - Electroacoustics 7- Community noise - social aspects - Regulations (RGR- Regulamento Geral do Ruído - Portuguese Noise Code; RRAE- Regulamento dos Requisitos Acústicos dos Edifícios – Code for building acoustics; workers protection; etc) - Environmental impact studies - Normalization and accreditation 8 - Acoustic Rehabilitation in Old Buildings 9- Vibrations [only if available time] 10- Measurement and Analysis Instruments - microphones, sound-level meters, dosimeters, analysers, etc 11- Conclusion

DEMONSTRATION OF THE SYLLABUS COHERENCE WITH THE CURRICULAR UNIT'S OBJECTIVES:
At a time that exist innumerable legislation on Acoustics is crucial that students (and future engineers) have the ability to read, understand and apply it. The acoustic comfort is also, increasingly, one requirement demanded by users of most diverse spaces.

Mandatory literature

Carvalho, António Pedro Oliveira de; Acústica ambiental e de edifícios
RMV & Associados; Ruído, Porto Editora, 2008. ISBN: 978-972-0-01350-7

Complementary Bibliography

Carvalho, António P. O.; Catholic churches, sound-reinforcement systems and RASTI
Jesus Arizmendi, Luis; Tratado Fundamental de Acustica en la Edificacion
Harris, Cyril M.; Manual para el control del ruido. ISBN: 84-7088-097-7
Recuero Lopez, Manuel; Acustica arquitectonica. ISBN: 84-604-0285-1
Everest, F. Alton; The master handbook of acoustics. ISBN: 0-07-136097-2
Kinsler, Lawrence E. 070; Fundamentals of Acoustics. ISBN: 0-471-09410-2
Egan, M. David; Architectural acoustics. ISBN: 0-07-019111-5
Lord, Harold W.; Noise control for engineers. ISBN: 0-89864-255-3
Jones, Robert S.; Noise and Vibration Control in Buildings. ISBN: 0-07-006431-8
Carvalho, António; The Use of agglomerated cork as underlay for improvement of impact sound insulation in buildings

Teaching methods and learning activities

This course will be based on the oral presentation of the themes (with many audiovisual supports), where examples of real situations will be given. Practical classes will be based on problem solving, practical experimentation of measurements, as well as application of regulation (in the FEUP Lab. of Acosutics). Students who are 10 or more minutes late cannot attend the theoretical classes, and the Attendance Sheet will be given only up to 15 minutes after the Practical classes have begun. .

DEMONSTRATION OF THE COHERENCE BETWEEN THE TEACHING METHODOLOGIES AND THE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Establish process and algorithms of concept and constructive analysis to identify the most efficient from the desired point of view. Rank the results of the application of assessment methodologies and strategies to choose solutions. Understand and propose new solutions to improve the quality construction. To evaluate the methodologies used and predict directions of evolution that they may follow.

Software

fornecido programa PORTHOS feito especialmente para esta disciplina.

keywords

Technological sciences > Engineering > Sound engineering
Technological sciences > Technology > Sound technology
Physical sciences > Physics > Acoustics

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	50,00
Frequência das aulas	46,00
Total:	96,00

Eligibility for exams

Achieving final classification requires compliance with attendance at the course unit, according to the MIEC assessment rules. It is considered that students meet the attendance requirements if, having been regularly enrolled, the number of absences of 25% for each of the classes’ types is not exceeded.

 

Calculation formula of final grade

100% Exam

An excelent attendance to classes will be taken into account in a positive more favorable rounding in the final grade.

 

 

Examinations or Special Assignments

None

 

Internship work/project

None

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

SPECIAL RULES FOR MOBILITY STUDENTS:
Proficiency in Portuguese;
Evaluation by exam and/or coursework(s) defined in accordance with student profile.

 

Classification improvement

 

 

Observations

In the exams students cannot use mobile phones (or even have them on the table). If students attend classes (theoretical and practical) regularly (100% attendance), this will be taken into account. Estimated working time out of classes: 4 hours/week