Problem 5 from
Reference 001: 1977 FHWA Special Report - Highway Construction Noise: Measurement, Prediction and Mitigation, Pages 25 and 26
Problem:
The project has now progressed to the point where contractors are bidding on the project. The special provisions require that the exterior Leq(h) on school grounds be less than 75 dBA during school hours. A long fill is to be constructed adjacent to a school. One prospective contractor would like to use two dozers and three scrapers to construct this fill. The contractor has collected the data presented in Table B.1 on equipment used in previous projects.
Table B.1 Contractor equipment data.
EQUIPMENT | Lj | Lm-Lb | Ta/T |
---|---|---|---|
Dozer 1 | 86 | 10 | .5 |
Dozer 2 | 88 | 12 | .5 |
Scraper 1 | 86 | 12 | .3 |
Scraper 2 | 84 | 12 | .3 |
Scraper 3 | 82 | 12 | .3 |
Where:
Lj = Sound level measured using the SAE J88a test procedure.
Lm = Maximum sound level.
Lb = Reduced sound level of the work cycle.
Ta = Time spent at the maximum level (Lm) during the work cycle.
T = Work cycle time.
Compute the noise emission level of the equipment and estimate the Leq(h) at the school.
Solution:
Step 1: The noise emission levels (E.L). in Leq(h) at 15.2 m of the equipment is calculated by:
E.L. = Lj + E.F.
Where:
E.F. = Equivalency Factor derived from Table 2 of the 1977 Handbook
The noise emission levels (E.L.) are shown in Table B.2.
Table B.2 Equipment noise emission levels.
Equipment | Lj(dBA) | E.F.(From Table 2 in 1977 Handbook) | E.L.(dBA) |
---|---|---|---|
Dozer | 86 | -3 | 83 |
Dozer 2 | 88 | -3 | 85 |
Scraper 1 | 86 | -5 | 81 |
Scraper 2 | 84 | -5 | 79 |
Scraper 3 | 82 | -5 | 77 |
Step 2: Assign an average location to each piece of equipment. This is shown in Figure B.1.
Step 3: Compute the Leq(h) for each piece of equipment using Equation 3-1 (Page 19 of Reference 001) and the overall construction noise level using Equation 3-2 (Page 19 of Reference 001).
Equation 3.1: Leq equipment = E.L. + 10 log U.F. - k log D/D0
Where:
Leq equipment = A-weighted, equivalent sound level at a receptor resulting from the operation of a single piece of equipment over some time period.
E.L. = Noise emission level of the particular piece of equipment based on its work cycle.
K = Constant that accounts for topography and geometric spreading.
D = Distance from the receptor to the piece of equipment.
D0 = Reference distance at which the noise level was measured for the piece of equipment = 15.2 meters.
U.F. = Usage factor that accounts for the percent time that the equipment is in use over the time period.
n
Equation 3.2: Leq(h) site = 10 log Σ 10 Leq (equipment)/10
i =1
Where:
Leq (equipment) = (E.L. - 20 log D/D0) equipment.
Leq(h) site = One-hour, A-weighted, overall equivalent construction noise sound level obtained by summing the individual equipment noise levels on an energy basis.
N= Number of pieces of equipment included in the summation.
Figure B.1 Construction Site
The results are shown in Table B.3. The construction Leq(h) of 80 dBA exceeds the specified goal by 5 dBA.
Table B.3 Results from Manual Calculation Method.
Phase | Equipment | NoiseEmission Level (dBA) | Distance from Equipment to Observer (meters) | Equipment Leq(h) at Receptor (dBA) | Overall Leq(h) at Receptor (dBA) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Earthwork | Dozer No.1 | 83 | 183 | 61 | |
Dozer No.2 | 85 | 30 | 79 | ||
Scraper No.1 | 81 | 152 | 61 | ||
Scraper No.2 | 79 | 61 | 67 | ||
Scraper No.3 | 77 | 46 | 67 | ||
80 dBA |
The 80 dBA value in the sixth column was obtained by dB addition. The value could also have been determined by:
Leq(h) site = SUM Leq(h) equipment
= 10 log (106.1 + 107.9+ 106.1 + 106.7 + 106.7)
= 80 dBA
RCNM Results
Roadway Construction Noise Model (RCNM), Version 1.0
Report Date: 01/19/2006
Case Description: 1977 Handbook Problem Number 5 (from page 26)
Table B.4 Receptor #1 data.
Baselines (dBA) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Description | Land use | Daytime | Evening | Night | ||
School | Residential | 75.0 | 65.0 | 55.0 | ||
Equipment | ||||||
Description | Impact Device |
Usage | Spec | Actual | Receptor | Estimated |
Lmax | Lmax | Distance | Shielding | |||
(%) | (dBA) | (dBA) | (meters) | (dBA) | ||
Dozer #1 | No | 50 | 86.0 | 183.0 | 0. | |
Dozer #2 | No | 50 | 88.0 | 30.0 | 0. | |
Scraper #1 | No | 30 | 86.0 | 152.0 | 0. | |
Scraper #2 | No | 30 | 84.0 | 61.0 | 0. | |
Scraper #3 | No | 30 | 82.0 | 46.0 | 0. |
Table B.5 Results from RCNM Run (Daytime).
Equipment | Lmax in dBA | Leq in dBA |
---|---|---|
Dozer #1 | 64.4 | 61.4 |
Dozer #2 | 82.1 | 79.1 |
Scraper #1 | 66.0 | 60.8 |
Scraper #2 | 72.0 | 66.7 |
Scraper #3 | 72.4 | 67.2 |
All Equipment | 82.1 | 79.7 |