ARCH 5710

ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE IV
  Environmental Factors

 Human Comfort

Environmental Scientific
Application
Factors Analysis

Our comfort in the interior environment depends on the

external environmental factors
 Environmental Factors and Human Comfort

Therefore, good building design considers such environmental factors

besides the basic thoughts of form, function and structure
 LIGHT HEAT SOUND
 has color and visible  invisible  Invisible
 pass through  pass through medium  medium necessary for
transparent medium and vacuum its propagation
and vacuum  electromagnetic wave  Non electromagnetic
 electromagnetic wave  “global warming” wave
 glare effect greenhouse effect and  Source of Noise
 cannot be stored physical damage  Cannot be stored.
 direct (major ) concern  Can be stored (loss  Indirect (secondary) –
for a piece of and gain) i.e. comfort – function.
architecture  Indirect (secondary)
 aesthetical i.e. comfort – function
appreciation of
form
 quality of space
Their common characteristics:

 Carry energy (All are form of energy)

 Controllable (glare, heat, noise)

 Measurable quantities (lumen, calorie, dB, Watt)

 Their propagation is in the form of wave motion.

 Share Phenomena of reflection, absorption and transmission

 Physiological damage (eye, body, ear)

 Affect a psychology of human being living in the interior environment

 Natural and/ manmade cause of production

More noise intrusion
Better day
lighting

Larger heat gain in Greater heat loss in

summer cold season

Large window (glazing)

Design solution (Integrated design approach)

• To minimize their effect and create suitable interior environment

Acoustics:
 branch of Science that deals with the study of Sound

 deals with the production, propagation, and detection and

perception of sound
 The word “sound” is often used to describe two different things:
 an auditory sensation in the ear, and
 the disturbance in a medium

Architectural Acoustics:
 the study and application of the principles of Sound in architecture

 understand and optimize the sound environment in rooms

“if you don’t like the view, you can close your
eyes. But if you don’t like the sound…??’’

Unknown
Sound is always there!
 Advancement of technology
 people and machineries
 Motorized transportation

 Urbanization
 urban way of life
 dense living condition

 Changing pattern of urban land use

 paradigm shift in planning
 Mixed use function (building, Neighborhood)
Common Topics of Concern in Architectural Acoustics :

 exclusion of noise

 reduction of sound passing between rooms

 Quality of sound inside rooms

Two stages for solution to acoustical problems can be thought:

 Acoustical design (before construction): actual design of shape,

height and surface characteristics

 Acoustical treatment (after construction): correction by material

and technical treatment
SOUND:

 vibration in an elastic medium such as air/gas, water/liquid, and

solid

 form of energy whose sensation is perceived by stimulation of the

auditory nerves of the ear by any vibrating body
 SOURCE
RECEIVER
Path/ Medium

•Air, water,
walls, ...
•Mechanical • Human ear,
•Various
equipments animals,
materials
•Electronic except • Sensitive
equipments vacuum medical or other
•Human speech electronic
•Animal sounds equipments
and other ambient
sounds of nature
Sound Production and Propagation:

Sound production:

 Moving objects/ vibrating objects:

 Moving air:

 changing air flow

 Time-dependent heat sources
 Supersonic flow
Sound Propagation:
 Longitudinal wave movement:

 particles vibrate in the same direction as the travel

direction of the wave.
Sound Production and Propagation:
Characteristics of sound wave:

 Non-electromagnetic; mechanical

 Longitudinal

 Spherical divergence

 Directional

 Subjected to reflection, refraction, diffraction and interference

 Simple harmonic & Complex sounds

Wavelength, Frequency, and Velocity:

 Wavelength:

 distance a sound wave travels during one cycle of vibration

 measured between successive peaks or between any two

corresponding points of a cycle

 λ= 344m/s/f where, f= frequency (1/s); 344m/s = speed of sound

in air; λ= wavelength (m)

 Amplitude:-

 the pressure difference between the –ve and positive extremes,

( compression and rarefaction)
Wavelength, Frequency, and Velocity:
 Wavelength:
Wavelength, Frequency, and Velocity:

 Frequency:
 rate of repetition of a periodic event

 frequency of vibration is the number of cycles completed per second

 Tp= 1/f or f=1/ Tp ,Where, T = time period/cycles (s), f= frequency

 measured in a unit called the hertz Hz

Wavelength, Frequency, and Velocity:

 Velocity:

 rate of transfer of sound energy through a medium

 distance traveled per sec in a fixed direction

 at normal temperature and atmospheric pressure, the velocity of

sound is approximately 339m/s

 V= λ/T = λ x 1/T = λ x f; V= f. λ; for an ideal condition

 Unit of measurement is m/s

Attributes of sound
Frequency is perceived as pitch and the ‘strength’ of sound is
measured either by its pressure, p (in Pa), or by its power
density or intensity, I (in W/m2).
 Sound power ( W/m2).
◦ Acoustical energy emitted by the sound source
◦ Unaffected by the environment
◦ Correlates to bulb wattage

 Sound pressure (pa)

◦ Pressure disturbance in the atmosphere
◦ Affected by strength of source, surroundings, and distance
between source and receiver
◦ Correlates to brightness

sound pressure depends not only on the sound power emitted

by the source, but also on the characteristics of the surrounding
environment.
Speed of Sound in Different Fields

 depends on the physical properties of a medium;

 elasticity,
 density, and
 atmospheric effect (Temperature/humidity/wind
direction)

 Faster in solid than any other media

 Depends on Atmospheric effect (free field)

 In building/solid materials the speed of sound depends

on density or elasticity than temperature change
Speed of Sound in Different Fields
 Examples:
Sound fields

A sound field is the volume of space where vibrations

emitted by a source are detectable.

 Free field
 Near field
 Far field
 Direct field
 Reverberant field
 Sound fields

 Free field condition (no reflective surface)

Attenuation of sound level is observed due to:
 Absorption by air
 Distance effect- where the energy spreads
spherically and drops off 6db for each doubling of
distance from the source.
 Atmospheric effects (wind and Temperature
gradient)

 Reverberant Field Condition (bounding surfaces)

 Total absorption
 Total reflection
 Some absorbed/reflected/transmitted
 Sound fields
Near field
 region close to a source where the sound pressure and particle velocity are
not in phase.
 sound field does not decrease by 6 dB each time the distance from the
source is increased (as it does in the far field).
 The near field is limited to a distance from the source equal to about a
wavelength of sound.
Far field
 Begins where the near field ends and extends to infinity

 In the far field, the direct field radiated will decay at the rate of 6 dB each
time the distance from the source is doubled

Direct field
 The direct field of a sound source is defined as that part of the sound field
which has not suffered any reflection from any room surfaces or obstacles.
 Acoustic quantities

• Range of sound pressures that can be heard by a human ear is very

large.
• A range of this magnitude makes using linear measurement scale
cumbersome, so logarithmic scale is used instead.
 decibel

 unit of relative loudness:

 As an approximation of auditory response, a logarithmic scale
has been devised: the sound level.
 For sound, the decibel scale runs from zero for the least
perceptible sound to 130 for sound that causes pain.

 It is defined as ten times the logarithm to the base ten (log10) of

the measured quantity divided by the specified reference
quantity.
 The measurement of sound level is expressed in terms of
decibels (dB), a dimensionless quantity.
 Sound level in Decibel (Db) can be calculated as

1. Sound power level

2. Sound pressure level

3. Sound intensity level

 The sound pressure is a measured root mean square
(r.m.s.) value and the internationally agreed reference
pressure:

When this value for the reference pressure is substituted

into the previous equation, the following convenient
alternative form is
obtained:
 A sound intensity level, LI, may be defined as
follows:

An internationally agreed reference intensity is ,

in which case the previous equation takes the following
form:
The sound power level, Lw (or PWL), may be
defined as follows:

The internationally agreed reference power is .

Again, the following convenient form is obtained when
the reference sound power is introduced into the above
equation:
Addition of decibel
 nomogram

Measuring sound using a logarithmic scale means that decibel values

cannot be added arithmetically. Instead, logarithmic addition must be used
Example
Reading Assignment

Read on the following from the course book; chapter 2

 Reflection, Absorption & Transmission of Sound

 Air Born, Impact and Flanking Sound Transmissions

 Masking Effect and Resonance

Always remember to refer and read your course book for better understanding, it’s
prepared for your reference and further reading.