TRAFFIC NOISE IN URBAN AREAS

Although environmental factors are known to play an important part in controlling urban noise levels, the exact effects of processes such as scattering and absorption, and their complex interactions, are not well understood. Most research has concentrated on problems involving propagation in only one or two well defined streets. In these cases, the problem of describing sound propagation may be studied usng discrete image-source techniques. However, over larger distances, the number of image sources necessary to describe multiple reflections of sound from even a single source becomes very large. In these circumstances, it would seem reasonable to adopt a statistical treatment of the problem. In this paper, propagation over large distances from a dense traffic noise source is considered, and is described by a random walk model. The resulting expression for sound level arising from road traffic is given preliminary verification by comparing its predictions with the results of a traffic noise survey conducted in Copenhagen. The level of agreement between predicted and measured sound levels suggests that this approach may be useful in describing urban sound propagation on a large scale. (Author/TRRL)

• Record URL:
  • http://arrbknowledge.com
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00050164
• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • BULLEN, R
  • FRICKE, F R
• Publication Date: 1979-12

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 11-15
• Serial:
  • Australian Road Research
  • Volume: 9
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: ARRB
  • ISSN: 0005-0164

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Mathematical models; Reflection; Static loads; Traffic noise; Urban areas
• Old TRIS Terms: Propagation; Static loading
• ITRD Terms: 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 2755: Highway; 6473: Mathematical model; 6136: Measurement; 6748: Sound; 6747: Sound level; 755: Traffic; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00312302
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Dec 30 1980 12:00AM