Working
Group 1.73
Room Acoustics
Round Robin
In construction planning architects make to an
ever increasing extent use of the computer to predict the acoustic qualities of a room,
for instance of a concert hall. No software has however so far been in a position to
replace a qualified and experienced acoustician. For developers and users of computer
simulation software it is therefore of great interest to learn the differences of their
results to those being measured on the same object.
That was the reason why the PTB as an
independent and neutral institution started in 1994 the first international "round robin 1" with 16 participants from 7 countries. The
object of examination was the auditorium of the PTB at its then condition and the
parameters T30, EDT, D50, C80
TS, G, LF and LFC had to be calculated in the 1 kHz octave band. The results showed such
strong discrepancies between the different participants that a safe prediction of the room
acoustical parameters for this room seemed to be impossible.
In 1996-98 the PTB organized another
international "round robin 2" with 16 participants
from 9 different countries and use of 13 different computer programs. This time the object
under examination was a concert hall in Jönköping/Sweden named ELMIA-hall. The results
of this round robin had been much better than those of Round Robin 1 but the complex
design of this hall generated many troubles.
That's why in 1999 the PTB decided in agreement
with most of the leading room acousticians in the TC of the EAA to start another "round robin 3" with a relatively simple structured room.
This is the PTB studio which was intended to be examined in 3 phases. In phase 1 the
studio had only plain walls, ceiling and floor with uniform absorption data, in phase 2
the real absorption coefficients were added without changing the simple geometry and in
phase 3 all design details and geometrical data had to be regarded. This round robin is
finished.
Those colleagues who decided not to participate
in round robin 3 but who would like to make the same calculation for their own in a private study can get all needed information here.
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