Using less material in floors is a viable strategy for improving sustainability in buildings, as it can reduce the structure’s environmental footprint. Prioritizing only this goal, however, can lead to unwanted effects — such as an echo in a room or noise traveling between floors, according to Nathan Brown, assistant professor of architectural engineering. 

Penn State researchers explored a method for optimizing the acoustic and structural properties of concrete floor slabs. Their findings were published online ahead of the March print edition of the Journal of Architectural Engineering.

“The exciting result of our research is that shaped structures can improve sound insulation performance in buildings while reducing the embodied carbon emissions of the structural system,” said Jonathan Broyles, an architectural engineering doctoral candidate and the first author of the paper.

To begin their investigation, the team used 3D modeling software to create shaped concrete slabs made up of many curves connected by movable control points. By providing the program with parameters to follow when moving these points, the researchers allowed the software to generate a variety of possible designs with realistic, customized constraints. 

Continuing the effort to find a favorable design — a process called optimization — the researchers needed to test the generated designs’ performance in two areas. They analyzed structural properties, for meeting building engineering standards, and acoustic properties, for minimizing undesirable sounds.

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