BIM-based simulation for analysis of reverberation time

Abstract

The acoustic condition of indoor spaces is one of the significant indoor environmental factors affecting building occupants' perception and performance. Acoustic analysis of spaces is currently involved in creating a geometric model of a building and infusing it with physical properties (such as absorption coefficients of surface material). This paper aims to evaluate acoustic conditions of building spaces by calculating reverberation time (RT), using the (geometric and physical) information stored by the building designer in the Building Information Model (BIM). We have developed a program to identify rooms, calculate RT for each room using Sabine's formula by retrieving necessary information from BIM and an external acoustics material database (openMAT). Our system also adds the calculated RT values as new attributes to the BIM and visually represents RT values based on seven octave-band frequencies on color-coded floor sheets within the BIM model. The results of the study indicate that BIM combined with acoustical simulation will bridge the gap between the two domains.