Noise reduction and visual disturbance performances of horizontal facade profiles for a multi-story high-rise apartment building

This paper simulates the noise reduction performance of horizontal profiles installed on the façade to reduce the external noise in high-rise residential buildings. The simulation used commercial software based on the ray tracing method and evaluated the performance by modeling a representative rectangular-shaped 30-story apartment building in South Korea. The simulation assumed a four-lane road traffic noise source parallel to the front of the apartment. The key simulation values were cited from configurations derived in previous studies. The sound absorption points were set at the center of each living room on every floor, and windows facing the road were considered for ventilation, being set to be partially open. Horizontal profiles for noise reduction were placed on the exterior of the building, starting from the 20th floor, with protrusion height and vertical spacing as variables. These profiles were combined with noise barriers to assess their impact. As a result, it was confirmed that the noise barrier only reduced the noise in the lower floors, while the horizontal profiles on the upper part of the building could also reduce noise in the upper floors. Additionally, the paper discusses the visual disturbance of the horizontal facade profiles visible from the living rooms.