A Study on Floor Impact Sound Insulation Performance of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT): Focused on Joint Types, Species and Thicknesses

In this study, the floor impact sound insulation performance of Korean domestic Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) slabs was evaluated according to their joint types, species and thicknesses in laboratory experiments. The sound insulation performance of the CLT has not been investigated before, thus, this study was conducted to quantify basic data on floor impact sound insulation performance of CLT slabs. 5-ply and 150 mm thick CLT panels made of 2 species, Larix kaempferi and Pinus densiflora, were used for the study. The CLT panels were assembled by 3 types of inter-panel joints to form floor slabs: spline, butt and half-lap. And the 150 mm thick Larix CLT slabs were stacked to the thicknesses of 300 mm and 450 mm. The heavy-weight floor impact sound insulation performance of the 150 mm CLT slabs were evaluated to be 70 dB for the Larix slabs and 71.6 dB for the Pinus slabs, and the light-weight floor impact sound insulation performance, 78.3 dB and 79.6 dB, respectively. No significant difference in the sound insulation performance was found between the slabs of the 2 species or among the 3 types of joints. The reduction of 1 dB in the heavy-weight floor impact sound and 1.6 dB in the light-weight floor impact sound per 30 mm increase in thickness were confirmed through the experiments. This study can be viewed as the basic research for the evaluation of floor impact sound insulation performance of CLT.