A survey was carried out in a residential area near a busy road to gain information about the propagation of traffic noise between buildings. The area chosen was Marienhagen, part of the Groenhagen district of rotterdam IJsselmonde, situated next to national highway 16. The equivalent noise level in dB(A) resulting from the traffic on the road was measured at various points. Comparable figures were obtained with the aid of a mathematical model and a 1:100 scale model. The report deals with the three parts of the study (on-site measurements, calculations using mathematical and scale models) and the results are compared with one another. The difference between the real-life measurements and the measurements on the scale model was a maximum of 3 dB(A); that between the real-life measurements and the mathematically calculated values was a maximum of 5 dB(A). the average difference in both cases was less than 1 dB(A). the differences were presumably caused mainly by insufficient awareness of the noise-reducing effect of lawns. The study showed that the effects of noise dispersal by walls of buildings and of deflection over buildings of this type were negligible.
Abstract