Sound Insulation Performance Test of Hollow Walls in Prefabricated Buildings

The wall is an important component of the interior decoration system in prefabricated buildings, and airborne sound insulation performance of walls is one of the main challenges faced by sensitive buildings. The sound insulation performance of 100–200 mm hollow wall panels (including autoclaved aerated concrete ALC composite walls and lightweight block wall panels) was experimentally investigated; the effects of wall panel thickness, surface density (i.e., mass per unit area), resonance frequency, and other factors on sound insulation were analyzed. Experimental results show that, at the same wall thickness, the hollow wall exhibits a lower surface density than both the ALC composite wall and the single-layer homogeneous block wall; its weighted sound insulation index (R_w) is approximately 8 dB higher than that of the ALC composite wall and about 20 dB higher than that of the single-layer homogeneous block wall. Thus, the hollow wall demonstrates superior sound insulation performance and can satisfy the stringent sound insulation requirements of sensitive buildings. This study provides a reference for the experimental application of hollow walls in prefabricated building partition systems.