The equivalent translational compliance of steel studs and resilient channel bars

A number of recent papers have determined the compliance of steel studs for use in a model for predicting the sound insulation of cavity stud walls. Previously, the steel studs have usually been modelled as line connections. In this paper, they are also modelled as point connections where the points are the screws attaching the wall leaves to the steel studs. The compliance of the combination of resilient channel bars and wooden or steel studs, modelled as point or as line connections, is also presented. The values of compliance which make a theoretical model agree with the experimental data have been calculated. The experimental sound insulation data were measured by the National Research Council of Canada. There were 126 steel stud walls, 78 resilient channel bar and wooden stud walls, 15 resilient channel bar and steel stud walls and 4 walls with resilient channel bars on both sides of wooden studs. Linear regressions of the logarithm of the compliance against the logarithms of frequency, reduced surface density, cavity depth and number of point connections or stud spacing, were conducted in a low frequency range and in a high frequency range. The equations produced by these linear regressions can be used in sound insulation prediction models.