Use of Date Palm Waste Fibers As Sound Absorption Material Publisher



Taban E¹ ; Amininasab S² ; Soltani P³ ; Berardi U⁴ ; Abdi DD⁵ ; Samaei SE⁶ Show Affiliations
Source: Journal of Building Engineering Published:2021

Abstract

An increasing interest in the possibilities of converting agricultural wastes to value-added products has emerged. Annually, 200,000 tons of date palm waste are generated, which are charred or released as agricultural wastes. This work describes the efforts to fabricate low-cost sound-absorbing panels from date palm waste fibers and assess their performance for sound absorbing applications. Samples of different thicknesses (25, 35, 45, and 55 mm) and densities (125 and 175 kg/m3) were produced. The normal-incidence sound absorption coefficient was measured using the impedance tube and was modeled using both the Johnson-Champoux-Allard and the Attenborough models. The findings show that the samples with a thickness of 55 mm and a density of 175 kg/m3 have the highest sound absorbing performance. The acoustic behavior of this new material was investigated in a reverberation room. Moreover, the acoustic performance of the panels in a conference hall was modeled, assessing the improvements in its reverberation time (RT), early decay time (EDT), speech transmission index (STI), clarity (C80), and definition (D50). Finally, this paper shows that the acoustic performance of this material can be used to enhance room acoustics properties. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd