Vibration transmission between coupled plates using finite element methods and statistical energy analysis. Part 1: Comparison of measured and predicted data for masonry walls with and without apertures

Abstract In Part 1 of this paper a study is made to assess the prediction of vibration transmission between masonry walls using Finite Element Methods (FEM) and Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) through a comparison of measured and predicted data. Masonry walls typically have low modal overlap and low modal density at low frequencies, hence FEM is used to predict the large fluctuations in the vibration level difference. The issue of uncertainty in the physical description of masonry walls is addressed by using Monte Carlo methods with FEM. Two types of masonry wall junction are studied, an L-junction and a T-junction. The importance of in-plane wave transmission was demonstrated for L-junctions with apertures and T-junctions. The agreement between FEM, SEA and measured data at high frequencies indicated that the conversion between bending and in-plane waves in the FEM models was correct.