Acoustics evaluation of vertical greenery systems for building walls

Abstract

After decades of fast growth, the scarcity of land in cities causes many buildings to be constructed very close to expressways, exposing occupants to serious noise pollution. In recent years, sustainable cities have found that greenery is a key element in addressing this noise pollution, giving rise to the popularity of vertical greenery systems (VGS). This research has two objectives. The first involves the study of eight different vertical greenery systems installed in HortPark, Singapore to evaluate their acoustics impacts on the insertion loss of building walls. Experiment shows a stronger attenuation at low to middle frequencies due to the absorbing effect of substrate while a smaller attenuation is observed at high frequencies due to scattering from greenery. Generally, VGS 2, 7 and 8 exhibit relatively better insertion loss. The second objective aims to determine the sound absorption coefficient of the vertical greenery system constructed in the reverberation chamber which is found to have one of the highest values compared with other building materials and furnishings. Furthermore, as frequencies increases, the sound absorption coefficient increases. In addition, it is observed that the sound absorption coefficient increases with greater greenery coverage. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.