Towards the Determination of Acoustic Characteristics of Ventilation Plastic Ducts in the Built Environment

In recent years there has seen a surge in the use of plastic ducts in residential ventilation systems as an alternative to galvanized sheet ducting. This is mainly owed to cost, installation and other practical benefits afforded by plastic ducts. However to date there is no information on the acoustic characteristics of this type of ducts to enable accurate prediction of duct borne noise levels received in residential and other noise sensitive indoor spaces. This lack of accurate information often leads practitioners to make crude estimations or base their calculations on galvanized ducting acoustic data. These approximations can result in over attenuated designs which use unnecessary silencers introducing additional cost, regenerated noise and inefficiency. Designs that result in under attenuated systems will require costly retrospective mitigation measures. The aim of the research is to determine the acoustic characteristics of plastic ducts and their connections mainly used in residential ventilation. The experimental scope will cover a wide range of duct physical features, fluid dynamic parameters and acoustical performance indicators. This papers presents the research design, literature review, the devised test methodologies and expected outputs.