Bringing free weight areas under acoustic control

Fitness studios that are housed in office, residential or hotel buildings are repeatedly confronted with the problem that the strong vibrations caused by dropping weights lead to noise and vibrations in the entire building or even cause damage to existing ceiling structures. For these situations Getzner has developed the g-fit Shock Absorb system with low construction heights and low weight. This is achieved through several layers of polyurethane foam materials including high damping or high elasticity sub-layer. The impact is isolated, the drop energy is absorbed by the material and dangerous rebound of the weights (dumbbell, barbell, kettlebells etc.) is prevented. However, even the best flooring system can hardly be used without a proper prognosis of the isolation effect and the achieved sound pressure level in adjacent rooms. This paper describes the development of a prognosis tool that allows for the prediction of sound pressure level as a function of the impact energy, the type of weight used in the gym and the ceiling mass for all g-fit Shock Absorb floor coverings. The extensive drop tests, evaluation, and development of a prediction function is described in detail and explained by examples.