Acoustics

It is well known that health injuries are attendant upon traffic noise. Yet the compliance with noise limits continues to be a contested issue along highly frequented roads and railways.

The conventional noise protection measures such as noise barriers and noise protection windows already meet their limits at times. Therefore the reduction of noise directly at the source gains in significance. Besides the noise of the engine and the gear, the noise of tyres on new cars becomes dominating over almost the entire speed range, on new trucks from approximately 50 km/h onwards. This fact is taken into consideration in national as well as in international projects by the active participation of arsenal research with its experience in measurements of rolling noises according to ISO/CD 11819-2 and RVS 11.066 IV.

The measuring methods used in the field of acoustics are appropriate to characterize different parts of the road infrastructure with regard to acoustical phenomena and in particular with regard to the noise situation. The noise development of road surfaces and tyres can be established by measuring the rolling noise and pass-by noise. The efficiency of sound insulation and sound absorption of noise barriers and noise protection elements is shown at the use of the Adrienne Method.

Secondary airborne sound, however, results from the vibrational excitation of infrastructure components. The measuring method in this area shall be improved in order to identify possibilities for the reduction of the noise pollution emerging from the transport routes.