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Project Leader
Mohamed Sultan
Phone: 613-993-9771
Fax: 613-954-0483
Email: Mohamed.Sultan@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Fire and Acoustical Performance of Floor Assemblies
In recent years, there have been many changes affecting the performance of residential buildings in North America. New construction materials and systems have been developed and many construction practices and product specifications have changed. Such changes may have altered the fire resistance and noise reduction provided by typical floor assemblies listed in the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC), creating a need for new listings.
Floor specimen and loading frame being lifted from the fire resistance furnace at completion of a fire test.
First Phase:
In response to these concerns, the National Research Council of Canada in collaboration with 18 industry and government partners carried out a major research study from 1995 to 1998, to measure the acoustical and fire resistance performance of floor assemblies. Over 200 acoustical tests, plus 32 full-scale and 41 small-scale fire resistance tests were carried out in this first phase.
Schematic of acoustics test facility. The frame holding the floor specimen (which matches those for the adjacent fire resistance facility) is inserted between the reverberation chambers
For fire resistance tests, the issues studied include:
- the effects of gypsum board screw spacing from board edges (10 mm and 38 mm)
- wood-I joist type (narrow and wide flanges)
- type of screws (Type G versus Type S)
- method of fastening gypsum board butt ends (with and without fasteners)
- insulation type (glass, rock and cellulose fibre)
- number of gypsum board layers, joist spacing (400 mm and 600 mm)
- resilient channel spacing (400 mm and 600 mm)
- super-imposed load
Parameters investigated in the acoustic study included:
- joist type, joist spacing, joist depth
- sub-floor type, thickness and number of layers
- resilient metal channel spacing and arrangement
- sound absorbing material, type, disposition and thickness
- gypsum board thickness and number of layers
- as well, a few concrete floors were measured
The results of these tests were used as the basis for assigning sound ratings for 742 generic floor assemblies, and fire resistance ratings for 177 generic floor assemblies. This information was incorporated in a proposed set of revisions to update and expand Table A-9.10. 3.1.B in the 1995 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC); this proposal was submitted to the NBCC Standing Committee on Housing and Small Buildings. It is anticipated that the assemblies will be included as tabulated information for designers in the next edition of the NBCC.
Team
Dr. Russ Thomas is Chair of the Steering Committee, which includes participants from all participating organizations. Other members of the IRC team include:
Acoustics Laboratory
- Nathalie Brunette, Testing Coordinator
- Brian Fitzpatrick
Fire Resistance Laboratory
- Dr. Mohamed Sultan, Team Leader for fire resistance study
- Dr. Noureddine Benichou
- John Latour, Testing Coordinator
- Yves Seguin
- Roch Monette
- Patrice Leroux
- Jocelyn Henrie
- Richard Rombough
