Vibration transmission between coupled plates using finite element methods and statistical energy analysis. Part 2: The effect of window apertures in masonry flanking walls

Part 1 of this paper demonstrated the validity of predictions of vibration transmission across junctions of masonry walls using Finite Element Methods (FEM). Part 2 uses numerical experiments with FEM to calculate the vibration transmission between masonry walls with window apertures at different positions in the flanking wall(s). Results from the numerical experiments are used to assess a simple “rule-of-thumb” estimate for calculating the change in the coupling parameters due to the introduction of an aperture into a flanking wall. Conclusions are drawn concerning use of the “rule-of-thumb” estimate for the coupling loss factor in Statistical Energy Analysis and the vibration reduction index in European standard EN 12354.