The effect of street canyon design on traffic noise exposure along roads

Abstract

Abating road traffic noise pollution is one of the main urban environmental challenges nowadays.However, architects and urbanists take decisions on urban regulations that define the shape of streets and buildings without taking this aspect into account. Furthermore, there is little information about the influence of urban geometry on traffic noise exposure in streets. In this study, the effect of street canyon design on sound pressure level distribution is numerically studied in high detail with the full-wave finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD). The CNOSSOS equivalent source power spectra were used to approach road traffic noise sources along two traffic lanes. Receivers both along the façades and the sidewalks have been considered in 42 cases. Numerical results demonstrate that building shape, street geometry and the presence of street furniture can have a strong impact on people's noise exposure. Building shape can be responsible for variations of up to 7.0dB(A) at pedestrians. Building-façade design can reduce the average exposure at windows with 12.9dB(A). It was further predicted that street geometry can enhance the positive effect of low barriers to 11.3dB(A) along sidewalks. It was therefore concluded that carefully designing building façades and street geometry could improve the sound climate for people living and walking along busy urban streets and should be considered in future urban street design.

Using Virtual Reality for assessing the role of noise in the audio-visual design of an urban public space

“…This accurate method is capable of computing all physical phenomena involved like multiple diffractions and scattering. This technique has been successfully validated over a wide range of acoustical applications, including sound level predictions in urban streets (Echevarria Sanchez, Van Renterghem, & Botteldooren, 2015). The B-format is decoded in a 3 dimensional reproduction audio system and applied the insertion loss previously calculated.…”

Room Acoustical Parameters as Predictors of Acoustic Comfort in Outdoor Spaces of Housing Complexes

“…In a study of the effect of facade shape and acoustic cladding on the reduction of leisure noise levels in a street canyon, Badino et al (2019) have stated that by adding sound absorbing materials on a geometrically optimized facade, a reduction of up to 10 dB in the A-weighted SPL can be achieved. This includes optimized design of balconies, which can greatly influence the facade noise levels (Echevarria Sanchez et al, 2016;Badino et al, 2019). Generally, balconies on building facades have been found to provide significant protection from a noise source on the ground or on the roadway (Hossam El Dien and Woloszyn, 2005;Tang, 2017), although the protective effect can be weakened by reflective balcony ceilings (Hossam El Dien and Woloszyn, 2004;Wang et al, 2015).…”

A novel vertical greenery module system for building envelopes: The results and outcomes of a multidisciplinary research project

“…This kind of technological solution is able to provide different beneficial effects: during the cooling season, thanks to the shading effect of the leaves and the evapotranspiration of the plants, the entering loads are lowered [10], while, during the heating season, it can contribute to reducing heat losses and improving surface thermal resistance, because of the wind reduction in the vicinity of the wall [11,12], to increasing the sound insulation of the wall [13,14] and reducing the environmental impact of the buildings [15][16][17]. At an urban level, VGSs are able to filter pollution [18], to sequester CO2 [19], to reduce urban sound propagation [20][21][22], to give a pleasant aesthetical aspect to a building, to improve the bio-diversity [23] and to mitigate the urban heat island effect (UHI) [24,25]. The species used in outdoor living walls vary to a great extent, depending on the location, on the exposure to the sun and wind and on the height of the building [26].…”