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Virginia Tech

Exploring Novel, Hard, Acoustically Absorbent, Materials

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

At the turn of the 20th century two contemporaries in their respective fields teamed up to develop a solution to an acoustic problem with the hard-surfaced vaulted ceilings being installed in many large spanning rooms being built at the time. In the spirit of their ingenuity, this research explores a 21st century solution to a similar problem in contemporary buildings; the desire for a durable, hard surface wall or ceiling material treatment that is more sound absorbent than other common surface treatments. To find a material answer to this desire an impedance tube was used to analyze the mid-frequency octave band absorption coefficients of various re-purposed existing materials and tiles created utilizing 3D print technology and Helmholtz resonators. Additionally, an empirical study of Helmholtz resonator geometry was performed by analyzing the sound absorption of resonant cavity shape changes. Finally, plots of the absorption coefficients for each material tested were created to provide a visual comparison against two common surface treatment materials, tectum and gypsum wall board.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Architecture
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Architecture
Department dc:contributor.department
Architecture
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2018

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Rehfuss, Randall Jay
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Ermann, Michael G.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Sullivan, Martha Lynn Luttrell
  • King, Jonathan Lee

Subjects

dc:subject × 11

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:12226
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/94606

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Rehfuss, Randall Jay. Exploring Novel, Hard, Acoustically Absorbent, Materials. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/94606