485 Chapter 20 Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Sound and Vibration 20.1 Introduction The HVAC designer cannot neglect consideration of the sound and vibration generated by HVAC equipment. This chapter briefly dis- cusses the fundamentals of sound and vibration control. References for further study are cited at the end of the chapter. 20.2 Definitions Sound is a form of energy, detected as a variation in pressure and stress in an elastic or viscous medium. The traditional concept is that sound is generated by a source and is transmitted through a path to a receiver (Fig. 20.1). Diminishment of the sound during transmission is called attenuation. The receiver is usually a human ear or a micro- phone. The audible range of hearing for humans is roughly between 20 Hertz (Hz) and 20,000 Hz. Many animals have a wider range. Lower frequencies can sometimes be felt. Vibration is a form of energy, detected as cyclic movement in a ma- chine or structure. Sound and vibration are mutually convertible, and many transmission problems and solutions depend on this fact. Noise is unwanted sound. One person’s sound may be another per- son’s noise, e.g., heavy-metal rock music. In general, however, noise is random sound. White noise, used for masking unwanted sound, is ran- dom sound in the speech interference range. Source: HVAC Systems Design Handbook Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. 486 Chapter Twenty Figure 20.1 Sound transmission. 20.3 Methods of Specifying and Measuring Sound There are several ways of describing the characteristics of sound: sound power, sound pressure, intensity, loudness, frequency, speed, and directivity. 20.3.1 Sound power An acoustical source radiates energy in the form of sound. This acous- tical power is expressed in watts. A watts exponential scale of sound power has been developed. A sound power level of 10 Ϫ12 W represents the threshold of hearing for excellent young ears. This is given the value of 0 dB (decibels) and is the reference level for Table 20.1. Table 20.1 lists the decibel value corresponding to a given watts exponential, together with an example of this sound power, over a scale from 0 to 200 dB. 20.3.2 Intensity and sound pressure level Sound power cannot be measured directly but must be calculated from pressure measurements. If an imaginary sphere is placed around a sound source (with the source at the center of the sphere), all the energy from the source must pass through the sphere. Power flow through a unit area of the sphere is the intensity, expressed in watts per unit area. Intensity varies inversely as the square of the distance from the source. The intensity and the sound pressure level are nearly identical numerically if proper units are used. The ASHRAE Hand- book uses watts per square meter and micropascals ( ␮ Pa). The mea- suring system converts the pressure to decibels, corresponding to the sound power levels of Table 20.1. 20.3.3 Loudness and frequency Sound may be visualized as traveling in a wave pattern similar to that of alternating electric current (Fig. 20.2). Variation above and below the reference is called the amplitude and determines the loudness. The Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 487 TABLE 20.1 Sound Power Outputs * With afterburner. † Four jet engines. ‡ Four propeller engines. SOURCE : Copyright 1987, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc., www.ashrae.org. Reprinted by permission from ASHRAE Handbook, 1987 Systems and Applications; 2001 Fundamentals, Chap. 7, Table 2, is similar. Figure 20.2 Wavelength and amplitude of sound. distance from one wave peak to the next is the wavelength, the recip- rocal of which is the frequency or pitch of the sound. Frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps). The term hertz (abbreviated Hz) is used instead of cycles per second. Figure 20.2 represents a pure tone—one single frequency. Most sound is made up of several fre- quencies (tones), with each frequency having a different loudness. For Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. 488 Chapter Twenty example, air noise in a duct is made up of several high-frequency tones generated by turbulence of the air due to fittings and obstructions as well as that due to straight-line flow and friction against duct walls. This air noise will usually be accompanied by sound transmitted from the fan, with a predominant frequency which is a function of the fan speed and number of blades. 20.3.4 Frequency spectrum A good human ear can hear, and distinguish, a wide range of frequencies—from a low of about 20 Hz to a high of about 20,000 Hz. For the purposes of analysis, this range is divided into several octaves. Two tones are said to be an octave apart when the frequency of one is twice that of the other. A common example is the musical octave on the piano or other instrument. On the musical scale, the A below mid- dle C has a frequency of 440 Hz. A sound-level measuring instrument is usually equipped with filters so that the sound level of each octave band, or in some cases 1 ⁄ 3 octave band, can be measured. The com- monly used scale for octave and 1 ⁄ 3 octave bands is shown in Table 20.2. The quality of a sound is determined by the harmonics (other fre- quencies) and their relationship to the dominant frequency. The tonal quality of each of the various musical instruments is determined by the harmonics typical of that instrument. 20.3.5 Speed and directivity The speed of sound varies with the medium used as the path and is a function of that medium’s density and modulus of elasticity. The speed of sound is highest in high-density materials such as steel (16,000 ft/s) and water (5000 ft / s). In air at room temperature and sea level pressure, it is about 1100 ft / s. Directivity means that a real sound source does not generate a uni- form pattern; sound intensity varies with direction and distance from the source. This can be particularly noticeable when the sound is gen- erated as a result of vibration of the source. In the direction of vibra- tional movement, the sound level will be much higher than in other directions. 20.4 Sound and Vibration Transmission In HVAC practice, the sound and vibration sources are the elements of the HVAC system: fans, pumps, compressors, air flowing in ducts, and water and steam flowing in pipes. The paths for transmission are Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 489 TABLE 20.2 Center Approximate Cutoff Frequencies for Octave and One-Third Octave Band Series Frequency, Hz SOURCE : Copyright 1997, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc., www.ashrae.org. Reprinted by permission from ASHRAE Handbook, 1997 Fundamentals, Ch. 7, Table 1. (Original source: ANSI Standard 51.6.) the ducts, pipes and the building structure. The receivers are the peo- ple in the building or vibration-sensitive equipment. 20.4.1 Transmission through ducts The sound transmitted through ducts comes from at least three sources: fan room equipment, air noise generated in the ducts, and sound generated outside the ducts and transferred through the duct walls. Some fan room equipment noise is in the third category. Noise from the fan is transmitted directly through the ducts and is dominated by a frequency determined by the fan speed and number of fan blades. Air noise is generated as part of the energy loss due to friction; more noise is generated at points of turbulence such as elbows, transitions Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. 490 Chapter Twenty Figure 20.3 Sound transmission through structure. or branches, and particularly dampers. Poorly constructed lightweight dampers have a tendency to vibrate. Dampers at terminal units, e.g., VAV boxes, may be noisy if the entering air pressure is too high. Sound is always generated when a fluid passes from a high-pressure region to a lower-pressure one. Improperly braced duct sidewalls may flex in resonant motion, creating a rumbling sound. All these things apply also to the return air system, and because the return air path is usually shorter than the supply air path, the return air duct /plenum system is often an acoustic problem. 20.4.2 Transmission through the building structure Most equipment-generated sound—from fans, pumps, and com- pressors—is transmitted through the building structure as vibration and is heard or felt by the receiver. The path may not be obvious and may be complex, as in Fig. 20.3. In this real example, a refrigeration compressor in the basement of a church was properly isolated from the floor. But vibration energy was transmitted several feet through the air to a 12-in concrete wall. The wall had a natural frequency Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 491 which was excited by the compressor vibration, amplified, and trans- mitted upward through the wall. In the nave of the church, the vibra- tion of the wall generated an audible rumble. This is an example of the most common method of transmission through a building structure: The natural frequency of the structural member is often ‘‘in tune’’ with one or more frequencies of the sound source. When this happens, the sound is readily transmitted, and even amplified, over a considerable distance. In a multistory building, often the sound will be heard (or felt) several floors away from the source, while the sound is barely noticeable near the source. In the situation described, the problem was solved by building an enclosure of 2-in- thick acoustical board around the sides and top of the compressor. This eliminated the airborne vibration. A similar classic example identified a flagpole 50 ft away from a building waving in harmony with a hard mounted reciprocating compressor in the basement of the building. Installation of vibration isolators on the compressor stabilized the flagpole. 20.4.3 Transmission through piping systems Any piece of equipment delivering service to, or through, a pipe is a potential source of vibration and noise in the building. Reciprocating equipment is particularly prone to vibration problems. Vibration iso- lation and, sometimes, dampening are used for controlling pipe-borne vibration at the source. 20.5 Ambient Sound-Level Design Goals The ambient sound level which is acceptable in an acoustical environ- ment varies with the function being served in that environment. To design, specify, and construct facilities to these acoustical require- ments, it is necessary to have some standard criteria. The standard criteria used in acoustical design are noise criteria (NC) and room criteria (RC) curves. A minimum level of background sound is often desirable; e.g., in open-plan offices, a fairly high background noise level in the speech interference range (250 to 4000 Hz) will mask crosstalk and afford privacy. 20.5.1 Noise criteria curves Noise criteria curves were the standard for many years, and they de- fine acceptable limits for sound pressure level in each octave band. Figure 20.4 shows the standard NC curves. The actual environment Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. 492 Chapter Twenty Figure 20.4 NC curve. ( SOURCE : Copyright 1997, American Society of Heating, Refrig- erating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc., www.ashrae.org. Reprinted by permission from ASHRAE Handbook, 1997 HVAC Fundamentals, Chap. 7, Fig. 4.) must not exceed the specified curve at any point, but can be at any level below the curve. The resulting sound may be too quiet in some frequencies. A higher sound power level is acceptable at lower fre- quencies. These curves emphasize the fact that high frequencies sound louder than low frequencies when sound power levels are equal. 20.5.2 Room criteria curves Room criteria curves (Fig. 20.5) were introduced in the ASHRAE Handbook in 1980. They provide guidance when a minimum level of background sound is needed for masking or other purposes. According to the Handbook, ‘‘the shape of the RC curve is a close approximation to a well-balanced blandsounding spectrum.’’ Such a background, with Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 493 Figure 20.5 RC curve. ( SOURCE : Copyright 1997, American Society of Heating, Refrig- erating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc., www.ashrae.org. Reprinted by permission from ASHRAE Handbook, 1997 HVAC Fundamentals, Chap. 7, Fig. 5.) no hisses or rumbles, is usually unobtrusive and acceptable, even when at a fairly high level, as long as it is essentially constant. 20.5.3 Design goals Design goals for background noise levels for various environments are given in Table 20.3. These are stated in terms of NC curves. The table omits criteria for concert halls, theaters, and recording studios; these are generally 25 NC or less. Industrial environments are not listed but tend to be higher, due to industrial processes. Government agen- cies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), specify maximum noise levels and duration of exposure for industrial environments. Because most of these exceed the sound level Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. 494 Chapter Twenty TABLE 20.3 Recommended Indoor Design Goals for Air Conditioning Sound Control NOTE : These are for unoccupied spaces, with all systems operating. SOURCE : Copyright 1987, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc., www. ashrae.org. Reprinted by permission from ASHRAE Hand- book, 1987 HVAC Systems and Applications; subsequent edi- tions are similar, i.e., 2001 Fundamentals, Chap. 7, Table 11. of the HVAC systems, the HVAC designer is not generally very con- cerned with sound attenuation in these environments. 20.5.4 A-weighted sound-level criteria The A-weighted sound level (abbreviated dbA) is a simple, single- number method of stating a design goal. Its usefulness is limited be- cause it conveys no information on the sound spectrum—the sound Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. [...]... and the problem was solved 20. 7 Summary This has been a brief overview of a complex subject The HVAC designer must be aware of the possibility of unacceptable noise and vibration being produced by HVAC equipment Proper acoustical design should eliminate these problems References 1 ASHRAE Handbook, 200 1 Fundamentals, Chap 7, ‘‘Sound and Vibration.’’ 2 ASHRAE Handbook, 1999 HVAC Applications, Chap 46,... dissipated in movement Figure 20. 9 Piping with flexible connections Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 200 4 The McGraw-Hill Companies All rights reserved Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 499 An inertia base (Fig 20. 10) is usually made of... similar to those shown in Fig 20. 7 When the sleeve is properly installed Figure 20. 6 Sound plenum panel Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 200 4 The McGraw-Hill Companies All rights reserved Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 496 Chapter Twenty Figure 20. 7 Sound control at wall... but then the engineer sat at the judge’s bench Figure 20. 10 Inertia base Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 200 4 The McGraw-Hill Companies All rights reserved Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 500 Chapter Twenty Figure 20. 11 Providing electrical service to a vibrating machine... pressure loss at a design flow rate, usually 0.10 to 0 .20 in H2O This increase in system pressure may affect fan horsepower selection Ductwork should always be isolated from fans and other vibrating equipment by flexible connections A typical flexible connection (Fig 20. 8) is made of heavy canvas or synthetic fabric with metal flanges at each edge for connection to equipment and duct 20. 6.2 Sound attenuation... because the solid column of water and metal transmits sound Figure 20. 8 Flexible connector for duct Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 200 4 The McGraw-Hill Companies All rights reserved Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 498 Chapter Twenty farther and faster than through air... from ASHRAE Handbook, 1999 HVAC Applications, Chap 46, Fig 30.) and the space between sleeve and duct (or pipe) is packed and caulked as shown, then the only sound transmission will be directly through the duct or pipe This must be attenuated in other ways For very noisy machinery, it is often desirable to provide a separate room, with sound-absorbing walls, similar to a sound-absorbing plenum 20. 6.1 Sound... transmisDownloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 200 4 The McGraw-Hill Companies All rights reserved Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 497 sion This noise may be carried through the duct wall for some distance References 1 and 2 contain details...Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 Engineering Fundamentals: Part 5 495 levels at the various frequencies The measuring device contains a weighting network which deemphasizes the lower frequencies It tells little or nothing about the quality of the sound, which may hiss or rumble or have a dominant tone (frequency) 20. 6 Reducing Sound and Vibration Transmission Sound transmission... in other ways It is preferable to use two flexible connectors at a 90Њ angle to each other, as shown in Fig 20. 9 A single isolator is not always effective Spring hangers are also needed, as shown, for a short distance beyond the flexible connectors; two or three such hangers are usually specified 20. 6.3 Vibration transmission and isolation The simplest way to minimize vibration transmission is to isolate . 1987 HVAC Systems and Applications; subsequent edi- tions are similar, i.e., 200 1 Fundamentals, Chap. 7, Table 11. of the HVAC systems, the HVAC designer. Source: HVAC Systems Design Handbook Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 200 4 The