Épszerk Tanszék

Field of Activity

The Laboratory of Building Acoustics („Épületakusztikai Laboratórium” in Hungarian, abbreviated as ÉAL) is an accredited testing laboratory of the Department of Building Constructions of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The laboratory was opened in 2011 on a new site in building DCS of the University, as a successor of the previous laboratory that had been closed in the same year. The laboratory was accredited to ISO 17025 in 2018.

As a University establishment, the Laboratory is engaged in three main fields of activity: education, research, and consultancy. While its primary focus is on accredited testing, which includes laboratory and in-situ building acoustic measurements, as well as noise and vibration surveys, it also undertakes non-accredited testing, consultancy, and design tasks.

The accredited core activity provides an opportunity for examining and testing a new building element product or group of products as part of product development or qualification, as well as for carrying out the necessary testing during handover procedures of completed buildings or investigating complaints. Therefore, our laboratory's activity covers the entire life cycle of buildings, including expert activities related to product development, design and design verification, inspection, fault finding, and subsequent repairs and modifications. Accredited work processes guarantee high-quality work, and the results of examinations conducted by an accredited laboratory can also be used in legal proceedings, nationally and internationally.

Members of the laboratory have educational, research and professional expertise, all members are registered experts of the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers (MMK).

Testing options

The accredited core activity of the Laboratory includes laboratory and on-site testing of the sound insulation properties of building elements and structures.

Laboratory tests according to the MSZ EN ISO 10140 standard series and MSZ EN ISO 717 standards:
- Measuring the airborne sound insulation of building elements, walls and floor structures, as well as the sound insulation of windows, doors, and other openings
- Measuring the impact sound reduction of floor coverings
- Measuring the standardized level difference of small technical elements (e.g., transfer air devices, airing panels, outdoor air intakes, etc.
On-site acoustic tests according to the MSZ EN ISO 16283 series and MSZ EN ISO 717 standards for measuring airborne and impact sound insulation between rooms in buildings.

In addition to the accredited tests mentioned above, the laboratory's structure and equipment allow for various standardized tests such as:

Measuring flanking sound insulation (MSZ EN ISO 10848 series)
Measuring the sound absorption coefficient of sound-absorbing materials (MSZ EN 354, MSZ EN ISO 11654)
Measuring the dynamic stiffness of materials used under floating floors in dwellings (MSZ EN 29052-1)
Investigating environmental noise and vibration

In addition to standardized tests, the laboratory is also capable of conducting experimental tests related to the research and development of various building structures and elements.

Element / Measurement type	Indicator’s name Frequency range Dynamic range	Standards describing test method
Building elements (wall, roof, window, door and other openings)	Sound reduction index, R f = 80 – 5000 Hz R = 0 – 70 dB	MSZ EN ISO 10140-1 MSZ EN ISO 10140-2 MSZ EN ISO 717-1
Floor covering	Impact noise reduction, ΔLn f = 80 – 5000 Hz ΔLn = 0 – 50 dB	MSZ EN ISO 10140-1 MSZ EN ISO 10140-3 MSZ EN ISO 717-2
Small technical elements (e.g., transfer air devices, airing panels, outdoor air intakes, etc.)	Element normalized level difference, Dn,e f = 80 – 5000 Hz Dn,e = 0 – 70 dB	MSZ EN ISO 10140-1:2016 MSZ EN ISO 10140-2:2011 MSZ EN ISO 717-1:2013

List of accredited in-situ measurements
Element / Measurement type	Indicator’s name Frequency range Dynamic range	Standards describing test method
Airborne sound insulation between rooms of a building	Apparent sound reduction index, R' f = 100 – 5000 Hz R’ = 0 – 70 dB	MSZ EN ISO 16283-1 MSZ EN ISO 717-1
Impact sound insulation between rooms of a building	Standardized impact sound pressure level: L’nT f = 50 – 5000 Hz L’nT = 0 – 70 dB	MSZ EN ISO 16283-2 MSZ EN ISO 717-2

Research & Development

In addition to accredited tests and education, Research & Development also plays a significant role in the life of the Laboratory. The competence of the Department of Building Constructions provides opportunities for complex research and development projects related to building constructions, such as improving the acoustical quality of building constructions and elements taking into account heat-, vapour- and fire safety and structural requirements, as well as developing of new materials, constructions or technologies.

The expertise and decades of experience of our colleagues, as well as the extensive equipment of the laboratory, meet international needs. Our colleagues are members of several professional organizations, regularly participate in national and international standardization and development of professional publications related to acoustics.

Some significant research and development projects of the laboratory:

2005: Providing acoustical quality of residential and certain types of public buildings with the products of Wienerberger Ltd
2006-07: The research and development of the product range of Ursa Salgótarján Ltd for application of glasswool in drywall partitions considering acoustical and fire safety requirements
2008: Providing the acoustical quality of public buildings with the products of Knauf Insulation Ltd
2009: Providing the acoustical quality of public buildings with the products of Nikecell Ltd
2010-2012: The acoustical quality of low energy buildings
2017-2019: Development of facade shading devices for acoustical purpose (with Krüllung Árnyékolástechnika Ltd)

Laboratory facilities

The laboratory facilities serve to test the acoustical quality of building constructions and also to enable model examination of constructional joints that have become critical recently. The results obtained provide initial data for appropriate application of MSZ EN 12354 standard series.

The laboratory building was designed taking into account the available hall dimensions, its layout enables the multi-purpose use of each chamber for economical operation.

The Laboratory of Building Acoustics is a two-storey building with three test chambers on the first, two on the second floor, as well as a measurement control room.

The laboratory rooms are placed on a reinforced concrete baseplate with elastomer support. The chambers are skeleton framed and constructed between upper and lower reinforced concrete slabs with L-shape reinforced concrete pillars placed at the corners. The rooms on the first floor (chamber I, II and III) have heavy infilling walls between the pillars with mounted lightweight coverings.

The upper rooms (chambers IV and V) are standing on the slabs of chambers II and III. Their external walls are double framed lightweight constructions with double layers of gypsum boards, the external layer is following the external plane determined by the corner pillars.

Rooms I and II are suitable for testing wall and roof constructions which can be built into the reinforced concrete frame between them. Doors and windows can be tested between chambers II and III. Room II and the vertically adjacent room IV is appropriate for testing slab constructions built into the slab aperture between them. The ceiling slab of room I allows testing of floor coverings. Furthermore, rooms IV and V allow testing of flanking transmission.

The floorplan of the laboratory

The section of the laboratory

History of the laboratory

The former laboratory was located on the first floor of Building Industrial Laboratory building (ÉL building, at 2 Bertalan Lajos street). The laboratory was established by the council of the former Institute of Buliding Constructions and Buliding Engineering (ÉSZÉGI) in 1995. The predecessor of the institute, the Institute of Buliding Constructions and Equipment (ÉSZBI), was founded in 1972-73. ÉSZÉGI was established on 1st February, 1995 with modified department names and formation of laboratories at the same time. The founding documents can be found in the Archives of Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The institute was terminated in 2006, whereafter the Laboratory of Building Acoustics became an organisational unit of the Department of Building Constructions. Later on the building that housed the laboratory was converted into a sports center as part of university developments, thus the building of the laboratory was demolished in 2011. The laboratory was lead by Dr. habil. Frigyes Reis until its closure.

The project of laboratory in ÉL building was realized in the framework of „Development of Accreditable Acoustical Laboratory” program, which began in 1992. The realization was enabled by the support of several institutes and companies. The head of the planning program and the acoustical consultant was Dr. habil. Frigyes Reis, the architect was Dr. Zoltán Hunyadi, the engineers were Dr. habil. Á. Ádám Pattantyús and Dr. György Visnovitz, the building engineer was István Egri.

The laboratory building contained five test chambers which were situated side by side on one level. The testing possibilities of this laboratory were:

sound insulation of walls
sound insulation of glass structures, doors, windows, small building elements
improvement of impact sound insulation of floor coverings
normalized level difference of ventilation stacks
flanking transmission of walls with modelling the construction site
impact sound insulation of stairs with modelling the construction site
installation sound pressure level of water supply equipment
dynamic stiffness of floating layers used in slabs
specific flow resistance

The old laboratory in the ÉL building was demolished and the new laboratory was built in the middle hall of DCS building in 2011.

The head of the planning program of the new laboratory and the acoustical consultant was Dr. habil. Frigyes Reis, the chief architect was Dr. Zoltán Hunyadi, architect was Beáta Mesterházy, engineer was Dr. György Visnovitz, electrical engineer István Móricz, the building engineer was János Viczai, occupational safety: Gábor Köbl, fire protection: Lajos Takács.

The Laboratory has been led by Attila Balázs Nagy since 2016, and in 2018 the laboratory obtained accredited status.

Education

Acoustic design of buildings and building constructions
Acoustic design of public buildings
Complex and Diploma consultation

Coworkers

Attila Balázs Nagy (head of laboratory)
Beáta Mesterházy

Contact

Department of Building Constructions
Laboratory of Building Acoustics
Building ’ST’, ground floor 1
Stoczek u. 2.
H-1111 Budapest
Hungary
Phone: +36 1 463 1647

Building Acoustics Laboratory