PURPOSES: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the quiet pavement on reducing a barrier height by using a prediction tool called SoundPLAN.
METHODS: Firstly, the prediction was carried out to evaluate the difference in the maximum noise level at a building facade between the normal and the quiet pavements without a barrier. After calculating the noise reduction effect by the quiet pavement, a comparable barrier height to obtain the same noise reduction effect with it was predicted according to designable factors including road-building distance(10 m, 20 m, 40 m) and road-barrier distance(5 m, 10 m, 20 m, 30 m).
RESULTS: The result showed that within the considered designable factors, the maximum barrier height was 37 m, 52 m, and 55 m to have the same noise reduction effect by the quiet pavement reducing 1 dBA, 3 dBA , and 5 dBA, respectively. It was evaluated that the barrier height increased with the increase of the road-building and road-barrier distances. To simulate the real situation in urban areas and to evaluate the combined effect of the normal/quiet pavement and barrier, the barrier height was fixed as 6 m. It was predicted that the noise level would reduce to as low as 0.2 dBA by the combination of normal pavement and barrier. On the other hand, the combination of the quiet pavement and barrier reduced 1.2 dBA, 3.2 dBA, and 5.2 dBA, respectively, for quiet pavement reducing 1 dBA, 3 dBA, and 5 dBA.
CONCLUSIONS: A guideline needs to be suggested to select appropriate noise abatement schemes by considering factors such as the roadbuilding and road-barrier distances.