Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux

Type de document

RAPPORT DE RECHERCHE

Langue

anglais

Auteur

DESCORNET ; FAURE ; HAMET ; KESTEMONT ; LUMINARI ; QUARESMA ; SANDULLI

Résumé / Abstract

After reminding how important the impact of traffic noise is on the population, particularly in our developed countries, one briefly reviews the not so many means available to abate that pollution and one concludes that, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas, one of the most cost effective approach would be to resort to low-noise road pavements. But how effective are the presently available technologies, structures and materials claimed to be noise reducing? And is there a potential to further reduce the «noisiness» of present road surfaces? To answer these questions, one has collected ail the available information on the road pavement influence on traffic noise. That information is presented in six chapters devoted to the following aspects: - Evaluation of noise - Relevant noise measurement methods - Road surface influence on traffic noise - Influencing road surface characteristics - Physical phenomena - Low-noise pavements 1t is concluded that extending their sound absorption capability as widely as possible throughout the frequency spectrum could develop extra low-noise surfaces. This could be achieved by resorting to two-layer pavement structures. The top layer being porous, including some special aggregates like expanded clay and being texture optimised to avoid tyre vibrations. A lower layer would be a resonant structure, for which some solutions are proposed. A list of research needs have been identified that ought to be met prior to setting out to design new solutions. Those research items pertain to: measurement methods, noise assessment units, influence on tyre noise of rain, of megatexture, and mechanical and acoustic impedance of the pavement, relationship between sound absorption and noise spectrum and, finally, structural behaviour and construction methodology of the envisaged, innovative low noise pavements. The report also includes glossary defining 73 terms and expressions and an extensive bibliography listing more than 500 references relevant to the topic., RAPPORT DE CONTRAT

Editeur

BRRC Belgian Road Research Center