Research

Services

Whether inside buildings or in city centers, sound and vibration waves are key challenges for the quality and comfort of living spaces. The CSTB deploys analysis methods that are both digital and experimental, at all levels (from the microscopic structure of materials to the urban scale) combined with considerable expertise to help all contributors to sustainable development (developers, manufacturers, consulting firms, etc.) deal with their most complex challenges: urban sound environment, inconvenience caused by underground worksites, complex multilayer systems, intelligibility in vehicles…

Expertise

The CSTB has at its disposal a large set of calculations and tests to characterize the acoustic and vibration performance of all types of products and systems of the building industry. It develops software for consulting firms (AcouBAT, AcouSYS and MithraSIG), advanced expertise tools:

  • analysis of complex innovative acoustic systems
    predicting the acoustic efficiency of innovative developments, such as green walls and urban noise-control systems / Developing hybrid methods for complex situations
  • realistic and spatialized rendering (3D) of complex sound environments
    realistic real-time synthesis of engine sounds (internal combustion engine vehicles, airplane reactors, etc.) / Physical synthesis and realistic real-time 3D audio rendering of urban sound environments and indoor environments / Combination with digital models
  • propagation of environmental vibrations and combination with buildings
    vibrations produced by underground transportation channels (tunnels) / Vibratory propagation in the ground / Prediction of the interaction between the ground and the building, using the hybrid method
  • prediction of structure-borne noise in structures
  • acoustic adaptation of performance halls: Carmen electroacoustic system

Resources

  • LABE: acoustic properties of construction components (absorption, weakening, impact sound, rain noise intensity) / Characterization of materials / Vibrations at partition wall joints
  • Advanced digital simulation tools: MithraSON (rendering of urban soundscapes) / MICADO (acoustic propagation near complex obstacles, BEM methodology) / ICARE (3D acoustic propagation in complex environments, beam-tracing/particle launching/radiosity methodology) / MEFISSTO (vibration propagation in the ground and structures, BEM/FEM methodology) / ATMOS (atmospheric effects on the long-distance propagation of sound, GFPE methodology)

References