Steel Frame and the noise?

Submitted by mabrsu on

They should cover the steel with something for noise capturing. If we got a structure, why not make it into a shield for the noise? Will this have any effect without the cover?

 

umfan

August 12th, 2008 at 11:00 AM ^

Although Michigan Stadium is big, it's intimidation factor is low because all the sound in the stadium goes up and out. The steel structure won't do much to help the noise level but I agree with you that we should put a temporary covering on the structure for the season to add noise and increase intimidation

Yahtzee

August 12th, 2008 at 11:35 AM ^

Michigan should take a lesson from Oregon and put a "enclosure" around the top of the Big House (around the end zones to the new suites).  This would bring the noise! 

 This would also help 1/2 my face from being burned on Saturday's, and showing up to work on Monday looking like two-face and getting a couple of weird stares!

Wolverdore

August 12th, 2008 at 12:06 PM ^

I like the idea of covering it up for both noise and appearance purposes.  However, I believe the ongoing construction in between games will be prohibitive.

Does anyone have any updated photos of the construction?

baleedat

August 12th, 2008 at 12:14 PM ^

i got a feeling its not going to be much louder even when the construction is complete. i think the noise (or lack thereof) has more to do with the fans than the architecture.

mjv

August 12th, 2008 at 1:09 PM ^

Bale, the more I think about it, I think the architecture is the driving issue, but there is a negative feedback loop going on.  Given that many fans think yelling makes little difference because we have been told year after year how non-intimidating Michigan Stadium is, how quiet the fans are and that the shape of the stadium is the cause, there is less incentive for the fans to yell. 

Example: In the 1980s, I remember a game that Michigan played at Minnesota in the homer dome.  There was at least one penalty called against the Gophers due to the inability of Michigan to run a play due to fan noise.  (I think Michael Taylor was QB at the time.)  No one has confused Gopher fans with Buckeye fans, but the fact that they were able to make it difficult for the opposition to function seemed to feedback on itself, encouraging them to make more noise.

The opposite of this seems to be the case at Michigan Stadium.  If someone believes that their effort has no effect, they are much less likely to continue that effort.

The idea of some form ofnoise shield is appealing, but the likely negativesfrom the perspective of visual appeal and tradition of the bowl not being covered are likely to kill the idea. Of course, as I recall the story behind the Stadium was that it was styled after the Colosseum in Roman, which had a retractiblefabric roof system.

Atlanta_Blue

August 12th, 2008 at 1:56 PM ^

This is mainly for bale - I can't provide a link, but I clearly remember one of the engineering profs quoted as saying that by his calculations the noise level on-field should be twice as loud when the renovations are complete.  That said, I don't know what, if any, effect the partially completed steel structures would have.  My uneducated guess is that they'd have a small but perhaps noticeable effect on  the noise level.  Don't forget that while the glass may not be there, there are tons of steel up there that's bound to reflect at least a little bit of noise. 

Tacopants

August 12th, 2008 at 3:28 PM ^

I'm not sure what kind of materials you could cover it with that would actually help reflect noise.  Since they plan on working on it, the only coverings they could realistically would be cloth or plastic, which would probably absorb far more noise than they reflected.

mjv

August 12th, 2008 at 3:45 PM ^

Under the Roman Colosseum theory, retractable cloth sections would probably be a modest improvement relative to having nothing (I liken this to a partial fabric dome -- Silverdome, Superdome, etc with a large hole in the middle). 

The Autzen Stadium (Oregon) approach is some type of metal overhang that covers the seating section to a certain degree.  (https://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22175)  At Autzen, it is attached to the top of the press box and only covers the last 10-20 rows and runs roughly from 20 yard line to 20 yard line.  From the articles I have read (I seem to recall Ivan Maisel at ESPN referencing this once or twice), much of the noise on the field is attributed to this over hang. (Writers make this attribution, not engineers.)

Looking at the picture of Autzen, I'm surprised that such a relatively small overhang would have such a dramatic impact.  Maybe that bodes well for our pending East and West structures.