Effect of the static compressive load on vibration propagation in multistory buildings and resulting heavyweight floor impact sounds

Experiments were performed to identify the mechanism of heavyweight floor impact sound transmission through floors in a high-rise apartment building. Vibration and sound levels on each floor of the multistory building were measured. The vibration generated at a given floor was transferred to multiple adjacent floors with decreasing amplitudes proportional to the distance from the excited floor. This vibration transfer introduced significant sound transmissions. The structural static load varied depending on the floor location due to differences in the weight of the structure above the floor, especially for wall construction buildings. The static load at the wall of the bottom floor was the largest among the different floors. The influence of this static load on the impact sound generation was investigated through tests in the actual building and the scale model, respectively. The results were numerically analyzed using the spectral element method. With the increasing static load, the resonance frequencies of the floor increased due to the change in the vibration modes of the structure. The modulated sound generation from the floor vibrations transmitted to multiple layers with larger magnitudes due to this static load.