Preliminary Study on Technical Standard for Sound
Insulation Renovation of Existing Housing Which is Affected
by Urban Traffic Noise
J Zhu
1
, Y Chen
1
, Z H Li
1, 2,*
, L G Cai
1, 3
and Q Y Zhu
1
1
Shanghai Real Estate Science Research Institute(Shanghai Residential Renovation
Quality Inspection Centre), Shanghai 200031, China;
2
Shanghai House Quality Inspection Station, Shanghai 200031, China;
3
Shanghai Construction Safety and Quality Supervision Center, Shanghai 200003,
China
Abstract. This paper analyzes and puts forward the key technical points for compiling the
standard of sound insulation renovation in existing residences, considering that there is no
targeted standard yet in china.On the aspect of sound insulation control index, it should be
designed based on Code for design of sound insulation of civil buildings GB50118-2010. On
the aspect of safety and usability of project implementation, key points of the content and
process of sound insulation renovation, requirements of survey and inspection, construction,
acceptance and post occupancy evaluation(POE) were analyzed emphatically and the
corresponding suggestions for standards compilation were proposed. Several existing
residences which were influenced by traffic noise of aircraft, elevated road and railway were
taken for application.The results of follow-up investigation and onsite monitoring indicate
that the proposed research results can well regulate and guide the implementation of sound
insulation renovation projects. The research can provide a reference for the standard
compilation of sound insulation renovation of existing housing.
1. Introduction
Traffic noise is becoming one of the most prominent environmental problems with the rapid growth
of city traffic construction. The monitoring results of functional areas acoustic environment in 309
prefecture-level or above cities show that approximately 7.8% day monitoring point-times and 26%
night monitoring point-times noise level are exceeded in 2016[1]. Moreover, noise levels in the
vicinity of traffic trunk lines such as airport, elevated road and railway are more excessive.
Consequently, the control of urban traffic nosies have become a critical issue, and the problems of
noise control of existing residences around traffic trunk lines are urgent to solve especially. In
addition, sound insulation renovation is an effective way to solve the problem of traffic noise
pollution.
Many studies have investigated the traffic noise control technology such as railway environmental
noise control[2], aircraft noise control strategies[3], sound insulation technologies[4-5] and
soundproof products[6-9]. Besides technical standards for noise control have been formulated
Zhu, J., Chen, Y., Li, Z., Cai, L. and Zhu, Q.
Preliminary Study on Technical Standard for Sound Insulation Renovation of Existing Housing Which is Affected by Urban Traffic Noise.
In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Environmental Management, Science and Engineering (IWEMSE 2018), pages 5-12
ISBN: 978-989-758-344-5
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
5

comprehensively in china, which mainly focused on acoustic environment quality evaluation[10-11],
noise monitoring methods[12-13], sound insulation design of residential building[14], and
soundproof components[15-16]. However, there is no specific technical standard for sound insulation
renovation of existing residences in china[17].
Sound insulation renovation project of existing residences is a multi-disciplinary project involving
the fields of environmental science, acoustics, architecture, civil engineering, sociology and so on,
which has the characteristics of obivious contradiction, high social attention and high social
sensitivity. Current standards mainly foucs on acoustic noise level requirements, while ignoring the
safety, durability, comfort. Furtherly, energy-saving reconstruction and old fitness retrofit havn’t
been considered basically.
In order to regulate and popularize the sound insulation renovation of existing residences, it is
necessary to carry out the research on technical standards of sound insulation renovation of existing
residences and to analysis its key technical difficulties. The standard not only specificates the
requirements of acoustic environment quality after renovation, but also puts forward the requirements
of construction safety and relevant provisions of whole process management. Therefore, the objective
of this study is to analyze the key technical issues of sound insulation renovation for existing
residences, and to provide a technical reference to standard compilation.
2. Research on the key technical issues for compiling the standard of sound insulation
renovation
On the basis of sound insulation design, the standard should also provide relevant requirements of
implementation and management from the perspective of safety and usability.
2.1. Implementation content and process
According to engineering practice experience and investigation, sound insulation renovation
management should include five processes, including acoustic environment noise monitor, survey
and inspection, program design, implementation, acceptance and POE. Diagram of implementation
process of sound insulation renovation for existing residence is showed in figure 1.
 Acoustic environment noise monitor: acoustic environment noise and indoor noise level of
noise-sensitive buildings should be monitored strictly accordance with the relevant technical
standards according to different characteristics of traffic noises.
 Acoustic environment noise monitor: acoustic environment noise and indoor noise level of
noise-sensitive buildings should be monitored strictly accordance with the relevant technical
standards according to different characteristics of traffic noises.
 Survey and inspection: basic knowledge of the existing residence should be acquainted, and
damaged condition should be diagnosed.
 Program design of sound insulation renovation: the implementation contents need to be
determined, and parameters of soundproof components should be determined appropriately
according to the monitoring values of outdoor-indoor nosie levels
 Implementation of sound insulation renovation: construction should be carried out based on
designed program, including production and installation of soundproof windows and doors,
reinforcement or renovation of roofing, balcony and wall, and others such as repairation of
facade, remediation of residential environment.
 Acceptance and POE: completion acceptance and POE should select typical houses to
monitor their indoor and outdoor noise levels, besides of launching resident interviews,
resident questionnaires and seminars.
2.2. Sound insulation index control standard
Acoustic environment quality requirements, sound insulation evaluation criteria and test method have
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been clearly defined in current technical standards. Table 1 shows the allowed noise level limits of
bedroom and living room. So in the standard of sound insulation renovation of existing residences, it
only need to put forward the principle of noise control target design , that is to say, noise control
objective should be designed reasonably according to noise source characteristic, outdoor acoustic
environment quality and housing features.
 For indoor allowed noise level, it should be designed based on GB50118-2010.
 For the evaluation criteria of components for sound insulation renovation, it suggest to be
designed by followling the principle of equal sound insulation index[18].
Main soundproof components’ evaluation criterias including facade windows, doors, balcony
railing and walls are showed in Table 2. Among it, R
w
is refers to weighter sound reduction index, C
is refers to pink noise spectrum adaptaion term, C
tr
is refers to traffic nosie spectrum adaptation term.
project approve and initiating
site survey
range of renovation housings
define
acoustic environment quality
monitor
house quality inspection
program design of sound insulation
renovation
professional
institutions
implementation content design
noise level monitor of noise-
sensitive buildings
parameter design of soundproof
windows and doors
program design of balcony
reinforcement
design Program establish
N
construction drawing design
Y
construction implementation
completion acceptance
POE, END
other
production and installation of
soundproof windows and doors
reinforcement and renovation of
balcony
repair of roofing, wall
other
program design of renovation of
rooof and wall
accreditation
modify
N
Y
draw up
Preparation
Phase
Design phase
Construction
stage
Acceptance
stage
accreditation
modify
Figure 1.Diagram of implementation process of sound insulation renovation.
Preliminary Study on Technical Standard for Sound Insulation Renovation of Existing Housing Which is Affected by Urban Traffic Noise
7

Table 1. Allowed noise level of bedroom and living room(unit:dB(A)).
room type
common residence
high standard residence
day-time
night-time
day-time
night-time
bedroom
≤45
≤37
≤40
≤30
living room(hall)
≤45
≤40
Table 2. Evaluation criteria of components for sound insulation renovation(unit:dB(A)).
room type
sound insulation evaluation criteria of components
bedroom window
R
w
+C
tr
≥30
living room(hall) window
kitchen window
R
w
+C
tr
≥25
bathroom window
facades, balcony railing
R
w
+C
tr
≥45
doors or windows facing the corridor or aisle
R
w
+C
≥25
2.3. Survey and inspection
Onsite survey is an indispensable part for sound insulation renovation of existing residences. On the
one hand, basic knowledge of the existing residences could be acquainted through site survey, such
as the numbers, structural forms and using condition of windows and doors, damage state of balconys
enclosure. On the other hand, illegal affairs including illegal construction and changing of the use
purpose of house could be checked and recorded.In addition, a template of onsite survey report or
record sheet should be provided in the standard.
According to investigation, house quality inspection is often ignored in the project of sound
insulation renovation of existing residences. In particular, increasing loads caused by sound
insulation renovation of windows may cause insufficient capacity of the balcony, which may trigger
a safety accident in future. Hence it is necessary to stipulate the sampling laws of house inspecting or
balcony special-inspecting. Also the contents, implementation requirements, structural calculation
requirements and precautions of house safety inspection should specified in standard.
In particular, it is obligatory to dispose the security risks timely and promptly when serious
security risks are found during survey and inspection.
2.4. Implementation of sound insulation
Sound insulation renovation of existing residences is generally applied by the characteristic of "house
with people living in it", in accordance with the principle of “construction based on program, safe
and reliable, orderly organization, minimum intervention”. Also implementation process is required
to minimize the interference of residents’ normal life. Meanwhile, implementation process should be
pay attention to the manufacture and installation quality of soundproof components such as doors and
windows with normative, safety and assurance. The standard should provide key points by following:
1) Materials, fittings and equipments used should comply with the relevant standards, and
soundproof doors and windows shall be subject to sampling inspection as required.
2) Soundproof windows and doors should be factory-made, instead of being produced on site.
Also transportation, storage should avoid high temperature and humidity environment.
3) During the installation of soundproof doors and windows, the expansion joints between the
doors or windows should be filled with sound-insulating materials such as sealant or cement mortar.
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In addition, when it is required to carry out the reinforcement of balcony, the reinforcement
method should be choosed reasonablely based on the structural type of balcony, damage degree and
construction conditions. Superimposed plate method, simply supported method, diagonal pull rod
method, chisel (groove) reinforcement method are ordinary methods of balcony reinforcement. For
slab balcony and beam balcony, reinforcement method choosed should be different[19-20], and the
materials used and planting operations should meet the technical requirements of relevant standards.
Structure safety monitoring of balcony should be carried out if necessary.
2.5. Acceptance and POE for sound insulation
It’s found that there is no specific technical standard for the completion acceptance of sound
insulation renovation project of existing residences. Generally, it is in accordance with relevant
current codes such as DBJ15-30,DBJ13-35,GB50550 and other construction standards.
Sound insulation renovation is different from the general renovation or improvement projects.
Apart from the above acceptance standards, it should be carried out sampling monitoring of indoor
and outdoor noise levels, of which sampling houses should be choose in random and sampling
number should be determined according to the actual situation.
The application of POE in sound insulation renovation project of existing residences can help to
find the existing problems and further practical experience summarization, and provide accumulating
datas or feedback informations for subsequent project. However, application of POE in sound
insulation renovation project is still on a preliminary exploration stage currently. Reference[21] takes
the existing residence sound insulation renovation project in the vicinity of an airport in Shanghai as
an example to analyze the basic requirements and implementation flow of POE application.
Therefore, the standard should be involved the provisions of content, implementation process and
data requirement of POE assessment.
3. Study cases: application to sound insulation renovation projects
According to different types of traffic noise, some existing housings nearly and influenced by
Shanghai hongqiao airport, Shanghai central elevated road and Shanghai south railway station are
selected respectively. Based on the above research, renovation is implemented in order as shown in
Figure 1, and indoor and outdoor noise levels are monitored.
It’s found that the application houses are all six-story brick masonry houses, which are built
between 1980~1995, and with the features of 240mm thick brick walls, 60~80mm thick concrete
slabs of balcony with painting outside. Moreover, the facade windows are multifarious and great
different of damage state, including steel window, wooden window, plastic window and aluminum
window.House quality inspection finds that some balconies are lack of capacity when taking into
account structural safety and sound insulation requirements, so reinforcement of slab balconies is put
before installation of soundproof windows [19]. Design of sound insulation control indexs and
soundproof components are based on the test results of indoor and outdoor noise level. For example,
soundproof windows using in bedroom or balcony are all 40dB or above of R
w
with double-glazed
windows. Besides, the facade and community environment are repaired in the same time. Figure 2
shows the comparsion between before and after by sound insulation renovation. Among it,
picture(a),(b),(c) is the initial situation, and picture(d),(e),(f) is the status after renovation
correspondingly.
Preliminary Study on Technical Standard for Sound Insulation Renovation of Existing Housing Which is Affected by Urban Traffic Noise
9

(a)appearance of house (b)balcony (c)community environment
(d)appearance of houses (e)balcony (f)community environment
Figure 2.Comparsion between before and after retrofit of sound insulation renovation.
AWA6228+ multi-function sound level meter is used in monitoring of indoor and outdoor noise
level both before and after the renovation. Figure 3 shows the scene of nosie monitor onsite .Factors
as hour equivalent continuous A-level L
eq
, day-time equivalent sound level L
d
, night-time equivalent
sound level L
n
are measured. The monitor results of the existing residences’ sound insulation indexs
before and after in three types of traffic noise are showed in table 3.
Figure 3. Implementation of nosie monitor onsite.
From the monitor datas, it can be found that the noise levels of outdoor acoustic environment are
similar for both before and after, which both exceed the limits of the functional area’s nosie level.
The indoor noise levels of the tested rooms after renovation are lower than the national regulatory
requirements. The sound insulation indexs of the houses after renovation are all significantly
improved compared with that before.The values of sound insulation indexs of the monitor points are
almost increased by 4.6dB~19.6dB. But there is a difference between different conditions, which is
mainly due to the different types and damage conditions of the exterior envelope components. For
example, test results show that the improvement of sound insulation index of the two test points
influenced by aircraft noise is about 12dB differ because of their different type of windows using in
initial, that is to say, the sound insulation index of room 603 which is of steel windows is about 16dB
before renovation, while room 601 which is of aluminum windows is about 24dB before renovation.
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Table 3.Test results of indoor and outdoor noise levels before and after renovation.
types of traffic
aircraft noise
viaduct noise
railway noise
test location
room 601
room 603
room 201
room 601
room 404
estimating parameters
L
d
L
n
L
d
L
n
L
d
L
n
L
d
L
n
L
d
L
n
before
outdoor
67.1
55.5
72.7
69.1
72.9
67.1
76.3
69.7
68.1
62.9
indoor
42.8
31.8
56.9
53.1
51.7
42.7
51.2
44.8
50.2
46.4
difference
24.3
23.7
15.8
16
21.2
24.4
25.1
24.9
17.9
16.5
after
outdoor
66.2
59.0
72.8
68.8
69.4
64.4
69.7
63.6
64.8
62.5
indoor
36.3
26.6
38.2
33.2
39.1
26.6
32.9
25.0
42.3
35.8
difference
29.9
32.4
34.6
35.6
30.3
37.8
36.8
38.6
22.5
26.7
4. Conclusions
Traffic noise is becoming one of the most prominent environmental problems with the rapid growth
of city traffic construction. Sound insulation renovation is one important way to solve the problem of
traffic noise pollution effectively, while there is no specific standard yet in china. This paper analyzes
the key technical issues for compiling the standard of sound insulation renovation of existing
residences, and puts forward some suggests including design princples of sound insulation control
indexs, safety and usability requirements of project implementation. Ulteriorly, several existing
residences which are influenced by traffic noises of aircraft, elevated road and railway are taken as
application objects.It’s verified that the research is effective by follow-up investigation and onsite
monitoring. This paper can provide a reference for the standard compilation of sound insulation
renovation of existing housing.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Shanghai Real Estate Science Research Institute for permission to use the
noise survey datas and monitoring datas. This work is supported by the research foundation of
Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality under Grant Nos. 14231201100 and
17DZ1203700.
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