Shrieking Panels - Parking Garages
Client
Many
Industry
Architectural Acoustics / Environmental Noise
Scope of Work
MD Acoustics was retained to investigate and resolve a high-pitched, shrieking noise phenomenon generated by wind excitation on perforated metal panel facades at parking facilities in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fort Worth, Texas. The primary objective was to determine the correlation between the noise and architectural variables such as perforation size, wind impact angle, and panel corrugation, and to test an effective acoustic mitigation strategy.
The technical execution involved replicating wind conditions by towing panels on a trailer at speeds of 30-60 mph. MD Acoustics utilized acoustical beamforming techniques with a digital MEMS microphone acoustic camera to visually map the noise sources and record the acoustic spectrum and spectrograms in real time. Additionally, the team employed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to analyze how varying wind speeds and impact angles interacted with the corrugated panel designs.
Outcome
The testing and modeling program provided the project team with the data necessary to isolate the root causes of the tonal noise. The CFD models and acoustic mapping revealed that panel corrugations caused the effective wind speed to increase, channeling narrow streams of high-velocity wind that exacerbated the noise—even at 45-degree wind impact angles.
To resolve the issue, MD Acoustics developed and applied a highly targeted acoustic mitigation strategy directly to the panels. This solution successfully reduced the vibration and fully quieted the tones at wind speeds up to 55 mph , allowing for proactive, in-situ mitigation without the need to remove the architectural panels from the building. Ultimately, this data-driven approach successfully minimized the disconcerting noise impacting nearby residences and established critical design parameters to guide future perforated panel installations.
Scope of Work
MD Acoustics was retained to investigate and resolve a high-pitched, shrieking noise phenomenon generated by wind excitation on perforated metal panel facades at parking facilities in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fort Worth, Texas. The primary objective was to determine the correlation between the noise and architectural variables such as perforation size, wind impact angle, and panel corrugation, and to test an effective acoustic mitigation strategy.
The technical execution involved replicating wind conditions by towing panels on a trailer at speeds of 30-60 mph. MD Acoustics utilized acoustical beamforming techniques with a digital MEMS microphone acoustic camera to visually map the noise sources and record the acoustic spectrum and spectrograms in real time. Additionally, the team employed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to analyze how varying wind speeds and impact angles interacted with the corrugated panel designs.
Outcome
The testing and modeling program provided the project team with the data necessary to isolate the root causes of the tonal noise. The CFD models and acoustic mapping revealed that panel corrugations caused the effective wind speed to increase, channeling narrow streams of high-velocity wind that exacerbated the noise—even at 45-degree wind impact angles.
To resolve the issue, MD Acoustics developed and applied a highly targeted acoustic mitigation strategy directly to the panels. This solution successfully reduced the vibration and fully quieted the tones at wind speeds up to 55 mph , allowing for proactive, in-situ mitigation without the need to remove the architectural panels from the building. Ultimately, this data-driven approach successfully minimized the disconcerting noise impacting nearby residences and established critical design parameters to guide future perforated panel installations.
