The Technology of Vibro-Acoustic Floors

Transport vibrations are the subject of many research, mostly their influence on structural elements of the building is investigated. However, nowadays, especially in the centres of large cities were apartments, residential buildings are much closer to the transport vibration sources, an increasing attention is given to providing vibrational comfort to humans in buildings. People who buy apartments in the tourist attractively cities like Cracow expect to be very close to the downtown and at the same time to have quiet place to rest without any annoyance coming from transport vibration. Unfortunately, tourist attractively cities are mostly old cities with old buildings which were not designed for dynamic influences which are now in the neighbourhood. At the same time, old buildings are under the conservator care, who limits the possibility of using some solutions. There are three types of possible protection against vibrations: vibroinsulation in the source of vibration, vibroinsulation on the way of propagation and solutions in the building. The first solution depends on goodwill of infrastructure owner, the second could be complicated in the city centres and the third is the best for apartment owners but it could be expensive. The paper presents three different types of vibro-acoustic floor with different layers' configuration. Their advantages and disadvantages are also shown. In the article the main emphasis was put on the technology of making these three types of floors in terms of the possibility of their assembly in a historic building. Detailed technological parameters have been described. The paper also proposes vibroacoustic materials that can be used as a floor layer which could isolate from transport vibrations