Repeatability and reproducibility of in situ measurements of sound reflection and airborne sound insulation index of noise barriers

In Europe, in situ measurements of sound reflection and airborne sound insulation of noise barriers are usually done according to CEN/TS 1793-5. This method has been improved substantially during the EU funded QUIESST collaborative project. Within the same framework, an inter-laboratory test has been carried out to assess the repeatability and...

Holistic optimization of noise barriers from acoustical and non-acoustical parameters

We present the last results obtained within WP5 "Holistic optimizations" of the QUIESST European Project dedicated to the assessment of Noise Reducing Devices' acoustical performances. A first task was a state of the art of existing methods followed by choices of best solutions for holistic optimizations of complex-shape noise barriers. Results...

QUIESST: Third-term progress report

The research QUIESST (QUIetening the Environment of Sustainable Surface Transport) started in November 2010 for 36 months: it targets a better knowledge about the noise barriers performances, either their intrinsic (product) or their extrinsic performances (works, environment, population). QUIESST objectives and work schedule have been presented...

QUIESST Guidebook to Noise Reducing Devices optimisation

The aim of this guidebook is to become a reference tool for noise mitigation through a better use of Noise Reducing Devices (NRD) (e.g.: Noise Barriers or sound Absorptive Claddings). It targets all the stakeholders involved in NRD projects (designers, manufacturers, authorities, construction companies, maintenance companies...) and who are...

QUIESST: Mid-term progress report

The research QUIESST (QUIetening the Environment of Sustainable Surface Transport) successfully started in November 2009 for 36 months, its objectives and work schedule have already been presented at the INTERNOISE 2010 Congress. This paper will present the progress report at mid-term (18 months): the technical work packages are WP2 ...

The Harmonoise sound propagation model

The Harmonoise model for predicting environmental noise is expected to provide a basis for the development of a future method for environmental noise mapping in Europe. In this article a detailed description is presented of all steps involved in a calculation with the Harmonoise sound propagation model. The description is restricted to point-to...

QUIESST, toward a better knowledge and understanding of how efficient noise barriers could actually be: Noise in the built environment

Since the early 80's, one models noise propagation, in the early 90's one started to standardize how to measure the intrinsic characteristics of manufactured noise barriers: in 1997, the EU funded ADRIENNE research ([1] and [2]) was a first step, but many problems still remained. Since years, all the noise propagation software are still modeling...

Outdoor sound propagation reference model developed in the European harmonoise project

The Harmonoise reference model has been developed in order to predict long-term average sound levels in road and railway situations that are geometrically relatively simple but physically complex. The present paper describes all steps of calculations with this powerful model which includes several advanced numerical propagation methods to...