A Comprehensive Study on the Effects of Noise Abatement Departure Procedures on Noise Contours Around Tan Son Nhat International Airport

Abstract

In recent years, accompanied by economic growth, air transportation in Vietnam has rapidly risen with the introduction of many new airlines. This situation has led to an increase in aircraft movement frequency flying in and out of the airports and raised concerns about the effects of increased noise exposure levels on public health and the natural environment in the vicinity of the airports. Vietnam authority has also issued several documents to regulate the establishment of the noise contour maps to evaluate the current noise exposure levels around airports in Vietnam and recognized the noise problem in aviation as a significant issue. One of four measures to reduce the noise around airports introduced in the Balanced Approach to Noise Management of the International Civil Aviation Organization is noise abatement operational procedures. This research is one of the first attempts to provide a comprehensive study on predicting the noise levels and establishing noise contour maps around Tan Son Nhat International airport with the assumption that aircraft take-off following the noise abatement departure procedures 1 and 2 using MATLAB software. The computed noise contours for both procedures show that the day-evening-night equivalent noise levels range from 45 dB(A) to 60 dB(A) around the airport, with the difference in noise levels between the two procedures primarily occurring at the end of the runway due to the difference in stepped departures. These results provide a reference for the authorities to study further in applying suitable noise reduction plans in the vicinity of airports.