Design Considerations for Enhancing Sound Insulation Characteristics of Window Glazing for Traffic Noise Abatement

The work reviews the design aspects related to window glazing constructions for combating the low frequency noise radiated by vehicular traffic and assimilates them in a cause and effect diagram. An experimental investigation is conducted in Reverberation chambers on various window glazing configurations to ascertain the performance of various parameters viz., depth of air space and effect of lamination on sound insulation characteristics. A pronounced dip attributed to mass-air-mass resonance consistent with theoretical formulation is observed when air gap is less that 30 mm in double glazings. Significant increase in (Rw+Ctr) value is observed in a sandwich constructions with 85 mm air gap or in sandwich constructions with either one double glazing or both are double.