Traffic noise changes due to water on porous and dense asphalt surfaces

Abstract

The standards for the environmental quality required by the European Community are very demanding in what concerns traffic noise. The interaction tire/road is undoubtedly one of the main sources of traffic noise. Nevertheless, standards do not account for the increase in the noise level caused by wet road surfaces. Therefore, the aim of this work is to study the effects of water on pass-by noise since the weather is rainy about 25 per cent of the year in Portugal. Thus, it addresses two currently used pavement surfaces, porous asphalt and dense asphalt, constructed in a motorway. A version of the Statistical Pass-By Method was used to assess noise levels with dry and wet surfaces, using a selected set of heavy and light vehicles. The results include analysis of the statistical pass-by index, maximum noise levels and noise spectrum. Noise levels increase considerably with the presence of water, shifting the overall noise by 4 dB(A). The benefits of porous asphalt are very limited for heavy vehicles, particularly at high speeds. © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.