THE EFFECT OF CONNECTION JOINTS ON THE SOUND INSULATION OF WINDOWS

The article explores the hitherto overlooked and under-researched topic of the effect of the connection joint design on the sound insulation of windows. The experimental section proves a major impact of connection joint designs on the (apparent) structural sound insulation of installed windows. Within this section, the measurement results for the attenuation of identical products with a closed and with a simple connection joint are confronted. The theoretical section elaborates on the established by deriving the dependence between the laboratory (declared) attenuation Rw and the structural (apparent) R'w values of windows, in relation to the thickness and design quality of the connection joint. The inconsistence in determining the sound insulation of internal partition structures mainly occurs due to the lateral sound transmission. This kind of transmission is not found in peripheral structures The inconsistence stems from the design and performance characteristics of the functional and connection installation joints; thus Rw' ˜ Rw. The joint sealing method, when ignoring the functional joint, is the decisive attenuation factor for structural openings. Thus, the structural design, the layout and the workmanship quality of the functional joint substantially affects and determines the properties of the entire product. In the laboratory comparison of the connection joint effect, a small, 1,250 x 1,500 mm test opening with stepped adjusting on both sides and an offset of 60 mm at the top was used. Flat float glass panels 5 and 10 mm in thickness (float) were used as reference opening panels, simulating the acoustic properties of the commonly used, simple, double glazed windows. The flat glass panels were selected for the experiment as preferable to windows for their material homogeneity.