Ultrascreen: Sight and Sound Barrier
Panels have been
widely used for many years to act as sight and sound barriers in most of the
highways and in residential areas where visual privacy is needed. Also, panels
are used by persons living close to roadways and where it is desirable to
minimize distractions caused by noise. The need of privacy fencing around
commercial property and residential areas most of the times can be satisfied
with cement or wood panels among others.
The United States
Gypsum Company, early in the 1980's started developing technologies to improve
and reduced costs using lightweight cement panels. Recently, USG along with AFM
Corporation introduced ULTRASCREEN: Sight and Sound Barrier. This lightweight
panels require no special equipment for installation, maintenance, or
replacement making them beneficial. This latest development also creates a
system with good acoustical performance and excellent strength to weight ratio.
The USG (United
States Gypsum Company) pioneered major advances in the development of Durock
Cement Board, which is an aggregated portland cement board reinforced with a
polymer-coated glass fiber mesh. These panels have been of wide acceptance for
a huge number of systems used to clad the exteriors of residential and
commercial structures all over the North America.
The Sight and Sound
Barrier panel are sold under the name ULTRASCREEN. The panels consist of a
perform guard termite, mold, and mildew resistant EPS foam core with DUROCK
cement board laminated to both sides. The panel may contain steel strip or
similar structural reinforcement sandwiched between the Durock and foam. The
panel can be engineered to resist a specific design wind load by varying the
panel thickness, reinforcement or number of cement board layers. The Sight and
Sound Barrier (SSB) is pre-finished with a number of finishes including Stone
or Exterior Texture Finish.
The SSB panels are
designed to be slid into place between steel or pre-cast concrete wide flange
columns, and stacked to the desired height. Standard panels are approximately 4
feet tall and 12 feet long, but can be customized to suit specific project
requirements. Panel edges interlock, and are factory coated at this horizontal
joint. The top panel is then finished across the top of the EPS Form core. Due
to their light weight (a panel of 4' x 12' weighs 450 lbs.) the panels are
lifted using a conventional boom truck and a function clapping jersey - wall
lifting unit.
This system is
typically designed to be used without a panel to post connection. For the more
typical case where the panels is friction-fit between the columns, a high
density polyethylene or hard rubber shim is used to close the small gap between
the panel and the column. In the absence of this panel to post connection, the
system is designed to ensure that all the loads are adequately transferred from
the panel to the post, and that there is no possibility of slipping out. Also,
this system has many features that withstand the harsh environment in which it
will be placed. For example, the exterior of the panels include: perform guard
top panel is finished, the EPS foam at the panel ends is coated with a weather
resistant elastomeric finish. All of the above to protect it from ultraviolet
degradation, exposure to road salts, corrosion, etc.
§ These light weight
panels, can be quickly and easily installed using a boom truck. It takes much
less time to install than masonry, therefore reduces traffic interruption for
construction.
§ All the components
of the panels, are made from abundant raw materials and have recycled
ingredients, such as fly ash, and recyclable products such as plastic and
steel.
§ ULTRASCREEN acts as
a sound barrier because panels are sound-reflective and can be designed to
provide even greater noise reduction by adding additional Durock Cement Board
face layers.
§ Another attractive
feature of the panels is its low cost, because they are more inexpensive than
current systems of screens. The costs are also reduced because of the system's
rapid speed of installation.
§ With the field
installations it was demonstrated that signage can be bonded to the system
successfully and how curved walls can be created to enhance design
possibilities.
The performance
assurance of ULTRASCREEN Sight and Sound Barrier was put to the test at USG
Research Center in Libertyville, Illinois and at the USG plant at Santa Fe
Springs, California.
The next step in
the development process was to have the system evaluated by an independent
engineering firm. Thus, ULTRASCREEN underwent a two year evaluation by the
Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center (HITEC) of the Civil
Engineering Research Foundation (CERF). Five trial installations were inspected
during or immediately following the installation by the HITEC consultants. The
installations range in size from four test panels erected in Toronto, Canada,
to a 110 panel installation installation on a bridge along State Route 17 in
Courning, New York. The sites were selected to cover a broad range of geography
and site conditions.
