Prediction and mitigation of construction noise in an urban environment

Abstract

A growing number of construction projects are performed in congested urban areas. Often, the surrounding community finds these projects annoying because of noise, vibration, dust, light, and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper focuses on one type of irritant, noise. Common noise generators on construction sites are identified, and the elements of a generic program for mitigating construction-related noise are outlined. Mitigation strategies including source control, path control, and receiver control are discussed. A deterministic model based on the Monte Carlo simulation technique is used. It is capable of predicting the magnitude and frequency of noise levels generated by construction equipment at receptor locations around a construction site during each construction stage. The utilization of the model as a planning tool for optimizing the composition, geometry, and location of noise barriers around a construction site is demonstrated via a case history, namely the construction of an eight-storey parking garage in London, Ont. The model is validated by comparing its predictions to field measurements undertaken during various construction stages. Predictions agree favourably with field measurements.Key words: construction, noise, mitigation, barriers, modeling, Monte Carlo simulation.

Noise emission evolution on construction sites. Measurement for controlling and assessing its impact on the people and on the environment

“…This permits the observation of the noise emission characteristics of each stage of the construction process and to carry out comparisons among them. This fact is very important as a first step to suggest noise control measures based on this characterisation, the identification of the noisier tasks and the location of the noisier sources so that the control plan could be the most effective [10].…”

“…This procedure has been created in order to obtain the maximum information about the noise emissions of the construction activities, so that the noise pollution and the risks for the workers could be assessed. Also it may allow to carry out an analysis of the emitted noise during the construction process in order to characterise the construction set as a noise source and, based on this, appropriate noise control criteria could be established [7][8][9][10].…”

Probability Approach for Prediction of Construction Site Noise

“…It might be completely off for A% of the working day, on idle for B% of the working day, and operate at full power for C% of the working day (Waddington and Lewis, 2000; Gilchrist et al, 2003). If an item of machinery operates at full power for 100% of the working day the PDF obtained is called PDF100% on.…”

A Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming Model for Minimising Construction Site Noise Levels through Site Layout Optimisation

“…Thus, noise, propagated from a construction site surrounding different communities, may lead to a disturbance in several ways. For example, manufacturing industries relying on precise measuring equipment could potentially be disrupted when exposed to high levels of sound [3]. Productivity of employees in buildings adjacent to noisy highways has been reported to be adversely affected [4].…”

“…The results were compared to those derived using the methodology outlined in BS 5228 [12]. Gilchrist et al [3] implemented Monte Carlo simulation to predict noise mitigation in urban environments. Their method relied on specifying a value to represent the probability of each operating state of the equipment in use (i.e.…”