A device for testing the sound insulation of wood panels

In the development of wooden house construction, it is very important to use environmentally friendly materials with economic and technical characteristics that satisfy both the housebuilder’s and tenant’s needs. Recently more attention has been paid to wood panels, which in many respects surpass their counterparts. When using wooden panels of various designs their characteristics are very important, one of the most important of which is sound insulation. During the patent search, inventions were found to determine the sound insulation of materials, but they are not aimed at determining the sound insulation of panels or are intended for large-sized panels, which makes it difficult to use them in laboratory conditions. The article is focused on the installation design to determine the sound insulation of wooden panels (wood slabs) from the air noise. The proposed installation consists of acoustic sound-proofing chambers of high and low pressure levels allowing the installation to be used in ambient noise conditions up to 75 dB and to place a 327x327 mm test panel between them (the active test area with a diameter of 315 mm). The proposed design makes it possible to study samples up to 150 mm thick, both single- and multi-layered ones. Panels made from foam, polyurethane foam, three-layer plywood, isover whose sound insulation properties are known were used as test samples. When comparing the obtained results with the known sound insulation characteristics of these materials the deviation was no more than 8%. which confirms the operability of the installation. The tests were also performed on three-layer wood panels assembled from a pine furniture board with a thickness of 18 mm. The proposed installation characteristics comply with the interstate standard GOST 27296-2012 "Buildings and structures. Methods for measuring sound insulation of enclosing structures". This installation can be effectively used to determine the sound insulation of various panels, including wooden ones. This will allow us to determine the possibilities of their application in various conditions of wooden house construction.