IP02 06 Rain Noise
IP02 06 Rain Noise
IP02 06 Rain Noise
lightweight roofing
information paper
C Hopkins, PhD, BEng, CEng, FIOA
BRE Environment
This paper is intended to help designers to assess the likely effect of rain
noise from lightweight roofs and roof elements on the indoor ambient
noise levels in rooms. It contains results from measurements of the sound
intensity levels caused by artificial heavy rainfall on roof glazing,
polycarbonate roofing and ETFE roofing, the latter with and without rain
suppressors. The measured sound intensity data allow comparison of
products and estimation of the reverberant sound pressure level in a room
due to rain noise.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) the room due to rainfall on the roof or roof element
design guide on school acoustics, Building that is of primary interest. This paper shows how
Bulletin 93 (BB93[1]), sets out the performance rain noise from roofs and roof elements is
standards for the acoustics of new school described and briefly explains why the preferred
buildings, and one of these performance standards type of roof element excitation is used for
is the indoor ambient noise level in unoccupied laboratory measurements. The full report[2]
spaces. This noise level excludes contributions containing the data from the measurements with
from rain noise, but the guidance states that it is the four types of roof element is on BRE’s website.
essential that rain noise is considered in the design
of lightweight roofs and rooflights as it can Rain noise: measurement standard
significantly increase the indoor ambient noise
level. The intention is that in the future, At the time of writing, the ISO Standard for the
consideration will be given to including a measurement of rain noise in the laboratory is at
performance standard for rain noise in BB93. the drafting stage. The current draft is ISO/CD
Until this time, it is appropriate for design teams to 140-18 (ISO TC43/SC2 N 0751)[3].
provide evidence to the Building Control Body The measurement of rain noise radiated by a
that the roof has been designed to minimise rain roof element is quoted in terms of the sound
noise. So the DfES commissioned BRE to carry intensity level LI, in dB re 10–12 W/m2. This can be
out sound intensity measurements of rain noise either calculated from sound pressure level
from roof glazing, polycarbonate roofing and measurements in a test room beneath the roof
ETFE roofing in the BRE Rain Noise Laboratory. element, or measured directly beneath the roof
In design work, it is the sound pressure level in element using a sound intensity probe. For this
2
project, a sound intensity probe was used to measure the In this project, measurements were taken using Heavy
radiated sound intensity in accordance with BS EN ISO rainfall. The main reason for choosing Heavy rainfall is that
15186-1:2003[4]. previous experience has shown that it can be difficult to take
The draft rain noise standard describes two types of measurements using lighter rainfall on some roofs because
artificial rainfall that can be used: Intense and Heavy. The the levels of radiated sound are often too low to allow the
artificial rainfall parameters that affect the noise generated by measurement of all frequencies between 100 Hz and
roof elements are controlled in the laboratory and are 3.15 kHz. Another advantage of using Heavy rainfall is that
described in Table 1. At present, the intention is that Heavy as manufacturers begin to publish measured data in the
rainfall shall be mandatory for the comparison of products, coming years, these can be compared with the results from
but that other types of artificial rainfall such as Intense rain this project.
could also be measured using the same measurement set-up A diagram of the test set-up is shown in Figure 1.
and procedures described in the Standard. Measurements were taken on:
● 25 mm thick polycarbonate sheet – five layers (3.4 kg/m2)
Table 1 Parameters for artificial rainfall from ● 6–12–6.4 (laminate) glazing (6 mm toughened glass,
ISO/CD 140-18 (ISO TC43/SC2 N 0751)[3] 12 mm air space, 6.4 mm laminate glass)
Rainfall Rainfall rate Volume median Fall velocity ● ETFE pillow: 150 micron layer taped to a 50 micron layer,
type (mm/h) drop diameter (mm) (m/s) air gap (200 mm cushion dip), 150 micron layer (air
pressure = 180 Pa) – with and without rain suppressors
Intense 15 2 4 Types 1 and 2
Heavy 40 5 7
Further details of the manufacturers of the roof elements and
Unlike the artificial rain defined in the Standard, real test set-up are contained in the full report[2].
rainfall consists of drops of different sizes where the drop size
depends on rainfall intensity as well as on temperature and Findings
humidity. In temperate climates such as the UK, the upper
size limit for rain drops is 5 to 6 mm. Above this size the To allow comparison of the different test elements, the sound
drops break up into smaller drops. In tropical climates, where intensity levels in third-octave bands between 100 Hz and
the temperature and humidity are higher, larger drop sizes can 5 kHz are shown in Figure 2. For the 6–12–6.4 glazing and
occur. Rainfall data based on meteorological statistics are the ETFE without a rain suppressor, it was not possible to
often presented in the form of the maximum amount of rain measure the 100 Hz third-octave band because the sound
that will fall within a specified time period and with a intensity measurements did not meet the criteria in BS EN
specified probability of occurrence, often described as the ISO 15186-1[4].
return period. A rainfall rate of 40 mm/h has a return period The tabulated measurement data are contained in the full
of about 50 years, and a rate of 15 mm/h has a return period of report[2]. The main findings were as follows.
about 2 years. ● The 6-12-6.4 (laminate) glazing had the lowest sound
During a rain storm the rainfall rate is rarely constant, with intensity levels.
the most intense rain falling for only a few minutes followed ● The ETFE roof element without a rain suppressor had the
by more gentle rain. Even when the rainfall rate is highest sound intensity levels.
approximately constant, the short-term intensity will vary ● The polycarbonate roof element radiated the highest sound
because the larger drops will fall fastest. intensity levels above 1.6 kHz.
● Use of the rain suppressors Types 1 and 2 with the ETFE
roof element resulted in significant reductions in the sound
Water Tank with intensity level.
supply perforated ● Using the A-weighted sound intensity levels, the rank
system base
order from the highest to the lowest levels of rain noise
was:
1 ETFE roof element
2 Polycarbonate roof element
3 ETFE with rain suppressor Type 1
4 ETFE with rain suppressor Type 2
5 6–12–6.4 (laminate) glazing
Roof
element
58 64.6 dBA
56
54 ETFE with rain
52 suppressor
50 Type 1
48
62.9 dBA
46
44
42 ETFE with rain
40 suppressor
38 Type 2
36 55.5 dBA
34
32
30
6–12–6.4
28 glazing
26 52.0 dBA
24
22
20
18
100 160 250 400 630 1000 1600 2500 4000
Third-octave frequency band (Hz)
Figure 2 Measured sound intensity levels for the different roof elements
Step 2
Using laboratory data to calculate the
The next step is to calculate the sound power for the roof
sound pressure level in rooms element when installed in situ. For some roof elements the
In design work it is the sound pressure level due to rainfall in size of the specimen tested in the laboratory will be the same
the room beneath the roof element that is of primary interest. as that installed in the actual building. However, with
In this case the measured third-octave band intensity levels, metal/plastic roofing, membranes and glazed elements, the
LI, for the roof element need to be converted into sound dimensions used in the real building will often be
pressure levels for a specific room. To make this calculation it significantly different from those of the specimen tested in
is convenient to assume that the roof element radiates sound the laboratory. Equation 2 is used to convert the sound
into a reverberant room, so that the reverberant sound intensity level LI(S) in dB re 10–12 W/m2 to a sound power level
pressure level is the relevant parameter. This is appropriate LW(S) in dB re 10–12 W for the in-situ area S(in-situ) in m2.
for most practical applications. However, before making any correction from the dimensions
The parameters that describe the artificial rain used in the of the test specimen in the laboratory to the in-situ
laboratory are: the excitation area, the median drop diameter, dimensions, consideration should be given to the errors that
raindrop velocity on impact, and the rainfall rate. The rainfall will be introduced by using this simple conversion. Most roof
rate (also referred to as the rain intensity) in mm/h is the elements comprise plates with critical frequencies above
height of rainwater accumulated in one hour on a horizontal 2 kHz. Below the critical frequency the radiation efficiency
surface without a drain. In the BRE laboratory this rate is of these plates depends upon the plate dimensions. Hence
calculated assuming the rain to be falling on an area of 1 m2. errors can be introduced by using this simple conversion.
Therefore to calculate the rain noise in situ, the measured
intensity levels from the laboratory test need to be converted LW(in-situ) = LI(S) + 10 log (S(in-situ)) …(2)
to the situation where the rain falls over the entire area of the
test specimen. Step 3
The final step with Equation 3 is to convert the sound power
Step 1 level LW(S) to the reverberant sound pressure level Lp in
The intensity level LI from the laboratory test is converted to dB re 2 × 10–5 Pa in a room of volume V, in m3, and
an intensity level LI(S) using Equation 1, where the subscript reverberation time T, in seconds.
‘(S)’ indicates that there is excitation over the entire area of
the test specimen (S is in m2). Note that the reference value Lp = LW(in-situ) + 10 log (4/A) …(3)
(1 m2) in the denominator is not the excitation area but relates
to the reference area for the calculated rainfall rate. (The where A = 0.16V/T.
Heavy rain tank used in the tests gives 1 m2 coverage when To calculate the third-octave band sound pressure levels in
the test specimen is at an angle of 30°.) a single step, the above equations can be combined to give the
reverberant sound pressure level, Lp, in dB re 2 × 10–5 Pa as
LI(S) = LI + 10 log (S/1 m2) …(1) shown in Equation 4.
4
Lp = LI + 10 log (S.Sin-situ/1 m2) + rain noise from the glazing is considered. The Information Papers summarise
10 log (4T/0.16V) …(4) area of the roof element in situ, S(in-situ), is recent BRE research findings, and
give advice on how to apply this
3.75 m2 (2 × 1.5 × 1.25). The full report[2] gives
information in practice.
where S is area of the specimen tested in the the area of the 6–12–6.4 glazing that was tested
Digests, Good Building Guides,
laboratory (m2) in the laboratory (S = 1.88 m2) and the third-
Good Repair Guides and
Sin-situ is area of the roof element in situ octave band sound intensity data from 125 Hz Information Papers are available on
(m2) to 5 kHz. subscription through BRE Connect.
T is reverberation time of the room The classroom volume is assumed to be Details at: www.BREconnect.com
below the roof element (s), and 150 m3 with third-octave band reverberation
V is volume of the room below the roof times of 0.8 s between 125 Hz and 630 Hz, and
element (m3). 0.6 s between 800 Hz and 5 kHz.
Using Equation 4 for each third-octave band
Proposed method for demonstrating that between 125 Hz and 5 kHz, then A-weighting
rain noise from lightweight roofs and roof the result gives a reverberant sound pressure
elements has been considered when level of 51.3 dB LAeq,30min. From Table 1.1 in
designing schools BB93[1], the upper limit for the indoor ambient
At the time of writing, no absolute levels have noise level is 35 dB LAeq,30min; hence this rain
been established for acceptable sound pressure noise level would satisfy the rule-of-thumb
levels due to rain noise in schools when guidance for a limit of 55 dB LAeq,30min.
calculations are made using measured BRE is committed to providing
laboratory data with Heavy rainfall. The Example 2 impartial and authoritative
information on all aspects of the
conversions between different types of rainfall The second example assumes that an open- built environment for clients,
can only be carried out using theoretical plan resource area has a section of ETFE roof designers, contractors, engineers,
models for each type of rainfall for each comprising eight ETFE pillows with manufacturers and owners. We
specific roof element. This becomes dimensions 2.23 m × 1.6 m. make every effort to ensure the
accuracy and quality of information
particularly difficult for constructions such as The open-plan resource area volume is and guidance when it is published.
ETFE pillows and membrane roofs. assumed to be 650 m3 with third-octave band However, we can take no
In addition there is the issue of non-constant reverberation times of 0.9 s between 100 Hz responsibility for the subsequent
rainfall rates during real rain storms. and 250 Hz, and 0.65 s between 315 Hz and use of this information, nor for any
errors or omissions it may contain.
Calculation of the indoor sound pressure level 5 kHz. Using Equation 4 for each third-octave
from Heavy rain data represents a ‘worst-case band between 125 Hz and 5 kHz, then BRE is the UK’s leading centre of
expertise on the built environment,
scenario’ for the UK due to the return period of A-weighting the result gives a reverberant construction, sustainability, energy,
approximately 50 years. Hence an assessment sound pressure level of 72.9 dB LAeq,30min. The fire and many associated issues.
based on Intense rain is potentially more application of rain suppressor Type 2 would Contact BRE for information about
appropriate. To aid design teams until further reduce the level to 59.7 dB LAeq,30min. From its services, or for technical advice:
BRE, Garston, Watford WD25 9XX
guidance is developed, a rough rule-of-thumb Table 1.1 in BB93[1], the upper limit for the Tel: 01923 664000
is proposed based on calculations using real indoor ambient noise level is 40 dB LAeq,30min; enquiries@bre.co.uk
rainfall which indicate that Intense rain could hence the ETFE roof with rain suppressor www.bre.co.uk
give A-weighted levels that are approximately Type 2 would satisfy the rule-of-thumb BRE publications are available
20 dB lower than Heavy rain. guidance for a limit of 60 dB LAeq,30min. from www.brepress.com
The proposal is that the reverberant sound or
IHS Rapidoc (BRE Press)
pressure level in a space that has been References Willoughby Road
calculated using laboratory test data with Bracknell RG12 8DW
Heavy rain noise excitation as defined in [1] Department for Education and Skills. Tel: 01344 404407
ISO/CD 140-18[3] should not be more than Acoustic design of schools. DfES Building Bulletin 93. Fax: 01344 714440
London, The Stationery Office, 2004. brepress@ihsrapidoc.com
20 dB above the indoor ambient noise levels in
Table 1.1 of BB93[1]. [2] BRE. Measurement of rain noise on roof glazing, Requests to copy any part of this
polycarbonate roofing and ETFE roofing. Report publication should be made to the
220312. November 2004. Available at website: publisher:
Using laboratory measurement www.bre.co.uk/pdf/BRE_Report_220312.pdf BRE Press
Garston, Watford WD25 9XX
data to calculate the indoor [3] International Standards Organization.
Tel: 01923 664761
Acoustics – Measurement of sound insulation in
ambient noise level in rooms buildings and of building elements – Part 18:
brepress@emap.com
Two example calculations are described below. Laboratory measurement of sound generated by
IP 2/06
rainfall on building elements. International Standard
Example 1 ISO/CD 140-18 (ISO TC43/SC2 N 0751 13 January © BRE 2006
2004). January 2006
The first example assumes that a classroom has ISBN 1 86081 898 6
[4] British Standards Institution. Acoustics –
two rooflights each comprising 6–12–6.4
Measurement of sound insulation in buildings and of
(laminate) glazing of dimensions 1.5 m × building elements using sound intensity. Part 1:
1.25 m. The remaining area of the roof is Laboratory measurements. British Standard
assumed to be a heavy concrete slab, so only BS EN ISO 15186-1:2003.