Facilities

The Acoustics Research Unit is based in a laboratory complex containing test chambers designed for research and testing. The laboratories are furnished with a full range of instrumentation for measuring sound, vibration and material properties.

For airborne sound measurements there is a large anechoic chamber (internal dimensions: 5 x 4 x 2.6 m). For research purposes there is also a large transmission suite for the measurement of airborne sound transmission (aperture dimensions: 3.7 x 2.5 m). A small transmission suite is available for non-standard testing, research and for short course demonstrations on sound insulation. For the measurement of sound absorption coefficients and sound power there is a reverberant chamber.

For structure-borne sound measurements there is a 'mobility suite' which has facilities for free suspension of structures and machinery. This is equipped with a wide range of accelerometers, force transducers, impact hammers and electrodynamic shakers, as well as multi-channel data acquisition units. The suite has special facilities (believed to be unique) for the measurement of rotational mobility.

Software simulation tools that are available to ARU researchers include AutoCAD, Odeon and Raynoise for room acoustics, ABAQUS and Sysnoise for finite element calculations, Sysnoise for boundary element calculations, Matlab for signal processing, and Fluent for CFD simulations.

B&K PULSE and REFLEX software is available to drive multi-channel data acquisition and signal processing.