Acoustical Selection of Class 8 Truck Floormats

Class 8 truck manufacturers use a wide variety of materials for cab floor construction. These include traditional steel and aluminum plate as well as aluminum honey-comb and balsa wood core composites. Each of these materials has unique transmission loss properties. The acoustical performance of the floor system, (cab floor, decoupler, and barrier) depends not only on the acoustical performance of the decoupler and barrier, but also on the cab floor material. This paper outlines an experimental technique for selecting an acoustical floormat system utilizing vehicle and laboratory tests that takes these factors into account.