Measurement of mobility and damping of floors

Point mobility and damping (loss factor) were measured for different types of wooden and concrete floors in occupied buildings. A vertically applied excitation force was used. Various types of woodworking machines and workshop equipment were present during the tests in order to give a practical measure of floor damping. For comparison, the characteristics of a free concrete slab with point supports at each corner, a newly constructed unfurnished office building, and an experimental floating floor were also measured. Measurements were made in three frequency bands in the range from 5 to 1600 Hz. For concrete floors maximum point mobility was typically in the region 10^?4–10^?7 m/N s, and for wooden floors, typically 10^?2–10^?4 m/N s. Loss factors were typically in the region 0.01–0.6, depending on floor construction and frequency.