rmp 6142 - calculations of nois e levels from road and

RMP 6142 - CALCULATIONS OF NOISE LEVELS FROM ROAD AND RAIL SOURCES

FINAL REPORT

On behalf of:

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Report No. 21610.05/R1v2 June 2013

RMP 6142 - CALCULATIONS OF NOISE LEVELS FROM ROAD AND RAIL SOURCES

FINAL REPORT

Report prepared by: Hepworth Acoustics Ltd

21 Little Peter Street Manchester

M15 4PS

On behalf of: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

5A Ergon House 17 Smith Square

London SW1P 3 JR

Report prepared by:

Eur Ing Simon Shilton CEng, BEng, MIOA, MIIAV,

Director, Acustica Ltd

Report checked by:

Peter Hepworth BSc FIOA

Managing Director, Hepworth Acoustics Ltd

This Report has been prepared in accordance with the scope of Hepworth Acoustics’ appointment with its client and is subject to the terms of that

appointment and may not be used or relied on by any other person or by the client in relation to any other matters not covered specifically by the scope of

this Report. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the report, Hepworth Acoustics is obliged to exercise reasonable skill, care and

diligence in the performance of the services required and Hepworth Acoustics Limited shall not be liable except to the extent that it has failed to exercise

reasonable skill, care and diligence, and this report shall be read and construed accordingly. This Report has been prepared by Hepworth Acoustics

Limited. No individual is personally liable in connection with the preparation of this Report. By receiving this Report and acting on it, the client or any

other person accepts that no individual is personally liable whether in contract, tort, for breach of statutory duty or otherwise.

COPYRIGHT HEPWORTH ACOUSTICS 2013

DOCUMENT HISTORY

Version Number

(file)

Status Amendment Details Date

1.0 Draft Draft for Comment Version 1.0 28/03/2013 2.0 Final Incorporation of comment from Defra 25/06/2013

CONTENTS

Page

DOCUMENT HISTORY

CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

2.0 OVERVIEW OF R2 STRATEGIC NOISE MAPPING 4

3.0 ROUND 2 STRATEGIC NOISE MAPPING OF ROADS AND RAILWAYS IN ENGLAND 6

4.0 SUMMARY

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APPENDIX I: GLOSSARY OF ACOUSTIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS 18

APPENDIX II: BIBLIOGRAPHY 20

Defra RMP 6142 – Final Report

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 (as amended) (the “Regulations”) set out various

responsibilities associated with the production of noise maps. The Secretary of State is the Competent

Authority charged with the responsibility of producing strategic noise maps for noise sources other than

non-designated airports. Airport operators are the Competent Authorities responsible for strategic noise

mapping of non-designated airports.

1.2 Defra has the responsibility for the production of the strategic noise maps for major roads; major

railways; and inside agglomerations from relevant roads, railways and industrial sites. It can be seen

across the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) that a number of approaches have been taken for

delivery of the strategic noise mapping, from the use of a centralised approach through to devolving

responsibility down to individual local and transportation authorities.

1.3 During Round 1 (R1) in 2005 – 2007, Defra employed a combination of approaches to delivery of the

strategic noise mapping for roads and railways. For the Round 2 (R2) strategic noise mapping of major

roads, major railways and agglomeration roads and railways in England, Defra elected to undertake the

noise model data development and exposure assessment as a single contractor project, and the noise

level calculations as a second single contractor project. This approach reduced the overall process

management burden, whilst delivering increased efficiency, consistency and value for money.

Aims

1.4 Hepworth Acoustics Ltd was commissioned by Defra to carry out strategic noise mapping calculations

under the contract ‘RMP 6142 Calculations of Noise Levels from Road and Rail Sources’ in order to

help fulfil its obligations under European Commission (EC) Directive 2002/49/EC, known as the

Environmental Noise Directive (END), and the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 (as

amended).

E-mail: [email protected] Report No: 21610.05R1v2 Tel: 0161 242 7900 Page 1 of 20


1.5 The Directive requires Member States to produce strategic noise maps and noise action plans every 5

years for urban areas (referred to as agglomerations) and major transport infrastructures, including

roads, railways and airports. The Directive is enacted in England under the Regulations.

1.6 For the second round of strategic noise mapping under the END, Member States were to adopt the

measures necessary to ensure that the estimated numbers of people exposed to various bands of noise

exposure were reported to the EC as required by the Directive. Defra commissioned Hepworth

Acoustics to carry out the noise level calculations for defined road and rail sources in England to help

support that requirement.

1.7 The project was awarded to Hepworth Acoustics following a pre-qualification and tender exercise.

Hepworth Acoustics was assisted by Acustica, DARH2 and Stapelfeldt Ingeneiurgesellschaft acting as

sub-contractors during the project, subsequently referred to as the Consultants.

Objectives

1.8 Under the contract Hepworth Acoustics calculated noise levels for the following sources:

• Road and rail noise sources in 65 agglomerations;

• Approximately 26,000 km of major roads, inside and outside agglomerations; and

• Approximately 5,000 km of major railways, inside and outside agglomerations.

Scope

1.9 This final project report presents a review of the technical work undertaken, details of the calculation

process adopted within the overall approach to the project, and observations on the efficiency of the

overall process.



Report Outline

1.10 This report is set out as follows:

• Chapter 1: Introduction

• Chapter 2: Overview of R2 Strategic Noise Mapping

• Chapter 3: Round 2 Strategic Noise Mapping of Roads and Railways in England

• Chapter 4: Summary

1.11 Further information is set out in the Appendices at the end of the document.



2.0 OVERVIEW OF R2 STRATEGIC NOISE MAPPING

2.1 The overall project to deliver the noise mapping of road and railway sources in England was undertaken

by a delivery team comprising Defra, who retained overall responsibility for the governance of the

project, Defra’s Acoustic Modelling/GIS Advisory Contractor (AMAC), who produced input datasets

and undertook the exposure assessment based upon the noise level results, and the Consultants lead by

Hepworth Acoustics (HAL) who undertook the calculation of noise levels from defined road and rail

sources in England.

2.2 The overall project was undertaken in line with the process illustrated in Figure 2.1. The AMAC

undertook the stages within the GIS environment, and the Consultants undertook the stages within the

noise software environment.

2.3 Each stage of the process was defined by preceding stages such that requirements and specifications

were captured ahead of the datasets. These datasets were then processed and concatenated to develop

the model datasets, which were checked and tested prior to the final assessment of noise levels.

2.4 The data processing was commenced within a GIS environment with data then being passed to the noise

software environment for the assessment of noise levels. The results of this assessment were then

passed back to the GIS environment for post processing, analysis and mapping. Step 5 “Develop Noise

Model Datasets” started within the GIS environment, and was completed within the LimA noise

mapping software as part of a pre-calculation QC process.

2.5 Following the assessment of noise levels the analysis was undertaken using datasets developed by the

AMAC to represent dwelling and population locations in order to deliver the statistics on population

exposure to noise required by the EC for the reporting requirements of the Directive.



Figure 2.1: Overview of Noise Mapping Process

2.6 Within each stage of the process there were definitions to be developed and decisions to be made.

Chapter 3 sets out a discussion of each stage of the process.



3.0 ROUND 2 STRATEGIC NOISE MAPPING OF ROADS AND RAILWAYS IN ENGLAND

Stage 1 - Area to be Mapped

3.1 Under Round 1 of the END in 2005 – 2007, the requirement was to undertake strategic noise mapping

of major roads with more than 6 million vehicles per year, major railways with more than 60,000 train

passages per year, and of agglomerations with greater than 250,000 inhabitants. In England, this

resulted in a requirement to map approximately 10,000 km or major roads, approximately 1,250 km of

major railways and 23 agglomerations.

3.2 Under Round 2 the thresholds determining the extent of the strategic noise mapping changed. The

second round mapping was to be undertaken for major roads with more than 3 million vehicles per year,

major railways with more than 30,000 train passages per year, and with agglomerations with greater

than 100,000 inhabitants.

3.3 In line with the Regulations, Defra identified the sources to be mapped as the following:

• Major roads: Motorways and A roads with a flow of greater than 3 million vehicles per year in 2011;

• Major railways: Railway corridors containing Network Rail (NR) and/or Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1) lines with a flow greater than 30,000 train movements per year in 2011;

• Agglomerations:

1) Roads: All relevant motorways and A roads affecting locations inside agglomerations; and

2) Railways: All relevant rail corridors containing NR and HS1 lines affecting locations inside agglomerations.



3.4 This resulted in a significant increase in the extent of the strategic noise mapping for R2 in England,

compared with R1, to an estimated 26,000 km of major roads, approximately 5,200 km of major

railways and 65 agglomerations.

Stage 2 – Area to be Modelled

3.5 The area for which complete input datasets were required was not necessarily the same as the area for

which noise calculations were required.

3.6 The area to be modelled differs from the area for which calculation results were required in situations

when a receptor based assessment was being undertaken. In such cases it was necessary to consider

sources from outside the calculation area which contributed to noise levels at points within the

calculation area. This additional model area was defined by adding a fixed distance around the outside

of the calculation area, a buffer, which defined the extent of the model area. For major roads the buffer

extent was set at 3.0 km, for major railways the buffer extent was 1.0 km and for agglomerations the

buffer extent was 1.0 km.

3.7 The combined buffer areas for major roads, major railways and agglomerations defined the extent for

which model input data was supplied by the AMAC. The coverage of this total model extent was

approximately 79,000km2, or approximately 59% of England.

Roads

3.8 The total coverage of the model area, for the calculation of noise from roads in England, was the

combination of the “major roads” extents buffered by 3 km, plus the agglomeration extents buffered by

1 km. This coverage resulted in a total area of approximately 77,000 km2 for which noise level

calculations were processed within the calculation software.



Railways

3.9 The total coverage of the model area, for the calculation of noise from railways in England, was the

combination of the “major railways” extents buffered by 1 km, plus the agglomeration extents buffered

by 1 km. This coverage resulted in a total area of approximately 20,000 km2 for which noise level

calculations were processed within the calculation software.

Stage 3 - Define Noise Calculation Method

3.10 The Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 (as amended) sets out the methods of assessment

in Schedule 2:

Assessment method for road traffic noise indicators

2. For road traffic noise indicators the assessment method shall be “Calculation of

road traffic noise” (CRTN) (Department of Transport, 7 June 1988, HMSO), adapted

using the report “Method for converting the UK traffic noise index L A10,18h to

EU noise indices for road noise mapping” (DEFRA, 24 January 2006), (the so-

called back-end correction)

Assessment method for railway noise indicators

3. For railway noise indicators the noise assessment methods –

(a) “Calculation of railway noise” (CRN) (Department of Transport, 13th July 1995,

HMSO); and

(b) (in relation to railways to which it is expressed to apply) “Calculation of railway

noise 1995 Supplement No. 1 Procedure for the calculation of noise from Eurostar

trains class 373” (Department for Transport, 20 October 1996, Stationery



Office) must be used, adapted as shown in Figure 6.5 of the report “Rail and wheel

roughness – implications for noise mapping based on the Calculation of Railway

Noise procedure” (DEFRA, March 2004)

Roads

3.11 The road traffic source model was delivered by the AMAC with the relevant road traffic flow and road

surface information pre-assigned to enable the Consultants to undertake the calculation of CRTN Basic

Noise Level (BNL) for the LA10, 18hr emission level, prior to undertaking the primary noise level

calculations.

3.12 The primary noise level calculations were undertaken in line with the Regulations. The CRTN 1988

methodology generated a result for the LA10, 18hr, which was then to be used with the back-end correction

to derive results for the Lday, Levening and Lnight indicators. Within the primary noise calculation process,

these were combined in line with the approach set out within the END to derive the Lden, and the Lday

and Levening, were combined in order to derive the LAeq, 16hr.

3.13 For road traffic noise, the following noise indicators were calculated:

• LA10, 18hr, Lday, Levening, Lnight, Lden and LAeq, 16hr

3.14 Outside agglomerations, results were calculated for major roads at each grid point for each noise

indicator. Inside agglomerations, results were calculated for major roads and all roads at each grid point

for each noise indicator.

3.15 In order to confirm that the calculated results produced by the LimA software were in compliance with

CRTN as set out above, the Consultants undertook conformance tests prior to commencement of the

primary calculations.

3.16 The CRTN Annex cases were reproduced where possible within the LimA software and calculations

undertaken to confirm basic compliance with the method. All results for LA10, 18hr were within 0.7 dB(A)



of the values in CRTN, with the majority within 0.1 dB(A). The Consultants then undertook a second

set of tests which independently confirmed the application of the back-end correction, and the

calculation of Lden and LAeq, 16hr. All results from LimA for Lday, Levening, Lnight, derived from the LA10, 18hr,

using back-end correction were within 0.1 dB(A) of independent check values, whilst the LimA results

for Lden and LAeq, 16hr where within 0.001 dB(A) of the independent check values.

3.17 Following the conformance tests the Consultants accepted the results of LimA as being in compliance

with CRTN and moved onto the primary noise calculations.

Railways

3.18 The railway traffic source model was delivered by the AMAC with CRN Basic Noise Level (BNL)

emission levels pre-calculated and pre-assigned to the rail centrelines. The pre-assigned emission levels

included the LAeq, 18hr, LAeq, 6hr night, Lday, Levening and Lnight for each of the of the specific noise source

heights for regular trains, diesel engines on full power and Eurostar fan noise. This resulted in up to 15

pre-assigned noise emission levels for each section of rail line.

3.19 The primary noise level calculations were undertaken in line with the Regulations. Based upon the pre-

assigned emission levels, the CRN 1995 methodology generated results for LAeq, 18hr, LAeq, 6hr night, Lday,

Levening and Lnight.. Within the primary noise calculation process, the Lday, Levening and Lnight were combined

in line with the approach set out within the END to derive the Lden, and the Lday and Levening were

combined in order to derive the LAeq, 16hr.

3.20 For railway traffic noise, the following noise indicators were calculated:

• Lday, Levening, Lnight, Lden, LAeq, 16hr, LAeq, 18hr, LAeq, 6hr.

Outside agglomerations, results were calculated for major railways at each grid point for each noise

indicator. Inside agglomerations, results were calculated for major railways and all railways at each grid

point for each noise indicator.



3.21 In order to confirm that the calculated results produced by the LimA software were in compliance with

CRN as set out above, the Consultants undertook conformance tests prior to commencement of the

primary calculations.

3.22 The CRN Annex cases were reproduced where possible within the LimA software and calculations

undertaken to confirm basic compliance with the method. All results for LAeq were within 2 dB(A) of

the values in CRN, with the majority within 0.1 dB(A). The Consultants then undertook a second set of

tests which independently confirmed the calculation of Lden and LAeq, 16hr. All results from LimA for Lden

and LAeq, 16hr were within 0.001 dB(A) of the independent check values.

3.23 Following the conformance tests the Consultants accepted the results of LimA as being in compliance

with CRN and moved onto the primary noise calculations.

Stage 4 – Develop Dataset Specification

3.24 In general, the calculation of noise levels using the UK methodologies takes place in two stages:

• The assessment of the level of noise emitted from a source, the “source noise emission”; and

• The assessment of the attenuation of the emitted noise from the point of emission to the receptor, the “propagation attenuation”.

3.25 Following this concept, the input datasets required for strategic noise mapping calculations can be

classified into:

• Source data which defines the position and characteristics of the noise sources;

1) for roads the AMAC supplied the road centreline polylines with the data required for the calculation of Basic Noise Level (BNL), in line with CRTN, pre-assigned;

2) for railways the AMAC supplied the rail centreline polylines with the noise emission levels pre-calculated and pre-assigned;



• Pathway data which defines the environment within which propagation of sound occurs. The AMAC supplied the following datasets with the relevant attribute data, required to support the calculations, pre-assigned;

1) Ground height data as polylines;

2) Buildings as polygons;

3) Bridges as polygons;

4) Barriers as polylines; and

5) Ground cover as polygons.

3.26 In addition to the source and pathway datasets, there were also:

• Project management datasets supplied by the AMAC;

1) Project area polygons; and

2) Calculation area polygons.

• Results products datasets delivered by the Consultants;

1) Noise level results in ARC/INFO ASC Grid format.

3.27 The AMAC proposed to deliver the datasets to the Consultants in ESRI Shapefile format which was

agreed as being compatible with the Consultants process for undertaking the noise level calculations.

Stage 4 – Produce Datasets

3.28 The AMAC was responsible for the production of the input datasets to be used within the strategic noise

mapping process. The work undertaken by the AMAC in sourcing data and producing the input datasets

delivered to the Consultants was outside the scope of this contract.



Stage 5 – Develop Noise Model Datasets

3.29 The first part of Stage 5 was undertaken by the AMAC, who delivered the noise model input datasets to

the Consultant in the agreed ESRI Shapefile format. This part of Stage 5 was outside the scope of this

contract.

3.30 The second part of Stage 5 followed the transfer of the ESRI Shapefile format model input datasets

from the AMAC to the Consultants. Due to the extensive nature of the coverage of the road and rail

noise mapping across England it was not possible to deliver and process all the data for the country in

one batch. The AMAC proposed that the total project extent could be divided into 92 project areas,

based upon an underlying 40 x 40 km grid. The Consultants accepted this proposal and processed each

project area as a separate sub-project area, and delivered the noise level results back to the AMAC on

the same project area basis.

3.31 Working with 92 project areas enabled the efficiency of having two contractor teams, the AMAC and

the Consultants, to be maximised. The AMAC would work on a number of project areas and deliver a

tranche of data each Friday to the Consultants via upload to an FTP server. The Consultants could then

be processing these project areas in parallel to the AMAC finalising the next group of project areas in

advance of the data delivery the following week. During the project the 92 project areas were delivered

by the AMAC in 21 tranches of data to the Consultants.

3.32 Following receipt of the project area data from the AMAC, the Consultants imported the model input

datasets into the noise mapping calculation system being used, LimA, and prepared them for the

primary noise level calculations to be undertaken in Stage 6.

3.33 The individual ESRI Shapefiles delivered by the AMAC were imported into the LimA software system,

and were subjected to a series of checking procedures within LimA to capture and correct any

anomalies which could interrupt the primary calculation procedure. Any anomalies which were

observed by the Consultants were documented within process logs to provide feedback to the AMAC on

the data preparation process. Each item identified was assigned as low, medium or high risk based upon



the Consultants view on the potential for the anomaly to interrupt the efficient processing of the

preparation of the calculations.

3.34 During the project a total of 404 low risk items were identified, and 50 medium risk items were

identified, whilst there were no high risk items identified. The Consultants addressed all low risk items

directly within LimA, whilst medium risk items often required feedback and support from the AMAC to

resolve. All medium risk items were addressed successfully within 3 working days, and therefore did

not threaten any of the project risk parameters of timescale, budget or quality.

3.35 The number of anomalies identified should be considered as extremely small, in the context of the

AMAC having delivered approximately 1,200 ESRI Shapefiles of data, containing hundreds of millions

of model objects.

Stage 6 – Noise Level Calculations

3.36 The noise level calculations for each project area were undertaken by splitting the total model area into

sub-areas and calculating the central 1 x 1 km area tile on 10m grid spacing. Each project area contained

up to 1,600 tiles. For roads each sub-area was 8 x 8 km, for railways each sub-area was 4 x 4 km. The

multiple calculation tiles generated through this process were then run on multiple calculation

cores/servers simultaneously in order to minimise the total project time spent undertaking the

calculations.

3.37 During the project the Consultants processed over 116,000 tiles of calculations, each providing 1 km2 of

results, or 10,201 receptor points on a 10m grid.

3.38 For the calculation of road traffic sources the Consultants processed over 93,000 calculation tiles, or

almost 950 million grid receptor points, for 6 noise indicators for each of “major roads” and “major

roads plus non-major roads”, totalling approximately 11 billion noise level results.



3.39 For the calculation of railway traffic sources the Consultants processed over 23,000 calculation tiles, or

almost 240 million grid receptor points, for 7 noise indicators for each of “major railways” and “major

railways plus non-major railways”, totalling over 3.3 billion noise level results.

3.40 The calculations were undertaken using a cluster of 10 server class computers, each containing 4 CPU

cores. These were attached to a 5 TB hard disk storage array to handle the volume of model input and

results data during the project. The processing time for individual tiles varied significantly, mainly due

to the number of sources and the number of model objects within each tile. Individual tiles could take

between 5 minutes and 12 hours to process, with the 40 core calculation system processing an average

of approximately one tile per minute over the whole project.

3.41 Following the primary noise level calculations, the results underwent post processing, and were

prepared for delivery to the AMAC. The files of LimA results for each of the tiles were combined into a

single results set for the project area, and then exported into ARC/INFO ASC Grid format and delivered

to the AMAC by upload to an FTP site.



Figure 3.1: Overall project progress against profile at project set-up

The overall project progress was tracked by the Consultants by analysing progress through the process

using seven internal milestones. Figure 3.1 shows the Consultants actual progress through the project

against the project profile estimated during the project setup phase, and it shows that the Consultants

completed delivery of the noise level results one week ahead of the schedule.

Stage 7 - Post Processing and Analysis

3.42 The post processing and analysis in Stage 7 was undertaken by the AMAC who were responsible for the

assessment of the area, dwelling and population exposure analysis reported to the EC. This work was

outside the scope of the Consultants contract.



4.0 SUMMARY

4.1 Hepworth Acoustics Ltd, assisted by Acustica, DARH2 and Stapelfeldt Ingeneiurgesellschaft acting as

sub-contractors during the project, were commissioned by the Department for Environment Food and

Rural Affairs (Defra) to carry out strategic noise mapping calculations under the contract ‘RMP 6142

Calculations of Noise Levels from Road and Rail Sources’ in order to help fulfil its obligations

under European Commission (EC) Directive 2002/49/EC, known as the Environmental Noise

Directive (END), and the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

4.2 The overall project to deliver the strategic noise mapping of road and railway sources in England was

undertaken by a delivery team comprising Defra, who retained overall responsibility for the governance

of the project, Defra’s Acoustic Modelling/GIS Advisory Contractor (AMAC), who produced input

datasets and undertook the exposure assessment based upon the noise level results, and the Consultants,

lead by Hepworth Acoustics, who undertook the calculation of noise levels from defined road and rail

sources in England.

4.3 The overall approach to the project was set out as a seven stage process. Each stage of the process has

been discussed.

4.4 The Consultants undertook noise level calculations for over 116,000 km2 of calculation area, for almost

1.2 billion grid receptor points, and delivered almost 14.5 billion noise indicator results. The delivery of

noise level results products was completed one week ahead of the schedule, with no risks encountered at

any stage which threatened any of the project risk parameters of timescale, costs or quality.

4.5 The project approach set out, with Defra, the AMAC and Consultants working in collaboration provided

an efficient means to successfully deliver the noise level calculation results for roads and railways in

England.



APPENDIX I: GLOSSARY OF ACOUSTIC AND TECHNICAL TERMS

Term Definition

Agglomeration Major Continuous Urban Area as set out within the Regulations

Attribute Data A trait, quality, or property describing a geographical feature, e.g. vehicle flow or building height

Attributing (Data) The linking of attribute data to spatial geometric data

CRN The Calculation of Railway Noise 1995. The railway prediction methodology published by the UK Department of Transport.

CRTN The Calculation of Road Traffic Noise 1988. The road traffic prediction methodology published by the UK Department of Transport.

Data Data comprises information required to generate the outputs specified, and the results specified

dB Decibel

DEM Digital Elevation Model

DSM Digital Surface Model

DTM Digital Terrain Model

DVD Digital Versatile Disk

EC European Commission

END Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49/EC)

ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute

GIS Geographic Information System

INM Integrated Noise Model

ISO International Standards Organisation

Metadata Descriptive information summarising data

NA Not Applicable

Noise Bands

Areas lying between contours of the following levels (dB): Lden <50, 50 – 54, 55 – 59, 60 – 64, 65 – 69, 70 – 74, >74 Ld <50, 50 – 54, 55 – 59, 60 – 64, 65 – 69, 70 – 74, >74 Le <50, 50 – 54, 55 – 59, 60 – 64, 65 – 69, 70 – 74, >74 Ln <45, 45 – 49, 50 – 54, 55 – 59, 60 – 64, 65 – 69, 70 – 74 >74



Term Definition

Noise Levels Free-field values of Lden Ld, Le, Ln, and LA10,18h at a height of 4m above local ground level

Noise Level - Ld - Daytime Ld (or Lday) = LAeq,12h(07:00 to 19:00)

Noise Level - Le - Evening Le (or Levening) = LAeq,4h(19:00 to 23:00)

Noise Level - Ln - Night Ln (or Lnight) = LAeq,8h(23:00 to 07:00)

Noise Level - Lden – Day/Evening/Night

A combination of Ld. Le and Ln as follows:

Lden = 10 * lg 1/24 {12 * 10^((Lday)/10) + 4 * 10^((Levening+5)/10) + 8 * 10^((Lnight+10)/10)}

Noise Level – LA10,18h LA10,18h = LA10,18h (06:00 to 24:00)

Noise Mapping (Input) Data

Two broad categories: (1) Spatial (e.g. road centre lines, building outlines). (2) Attribute (e.g. vehicle flow, building height – assigned to specific spatial data)

Noise Mapping Software Computer program that calculates required noise levels based on relevant input data

Noise Model All the input data collated and held within a computer program to enable noise levels to be calculated.

Noise Model File The (proprietary software specific) project file(s) comprising the noise model

Output Data The noise outputs generated by the noise model

Processing Data Any form of manipulation, correction, adjustment factoring, correcting, or other adjustment of data to make it fit for purpose. (Includes operations sometimes referred to as ‘cleaning’ of data)

QA Quality Assurance

Spatial (Input) Data Information about the location, shape, and relationships among geographic features, for example road centre lines and buildings.

WG - AEN Working Group – Assessment of Exposure to Noise



APPENDIX II: BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Environmental Noise Regulations (England) 2006, as amended.

2. Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC), Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 25 June 2002, relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise

3. Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 6 August 2003, Commission Recommendation 2003/613/EC

4. EC Contract B4-3040/2001/329750/MAR/C1 “Adaptation and revision of the interim noise computation methods for the purpose of strategic noise mapping”

5. Department of Transport publication, ‘Calculation of Road Traffic Noise’, HMSO, 1988 ISBN 0115508473

6. Defra, METHOD FOR CONVERTING THE UK ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE INDEX LA10,18h TO THE EU NOISE INDICES FOR ROAD NOISE MAPPING, st/05/91/AGG04442, 24th January 2006

7. Calculation of railway noise” (Department of Transport, 13th July 1995, HMSO)

8. “Calculation of railway noise 1995 Supplement No. 1 Procedure for the calculation of noise from Eurostar trains class 373” (Department for Transport, 20th October 1996, Stationery Office)

9. “Rail and wheel roughness – implications for noise mapping based on the Calculation of Railway Noise procedure” (DEFRA, March 2004)

10. “Additional railway noise source terms for "Calculation of Railway Noise 1995" (DEFRA, May 2004)

11. ISO 9613-2 “Acoustics – Attenuation of sound during propagation outdoors – Part 2: General method of calculation”

12. European Commission Working Group Assessment of Exposure to Noise (WG-AEN), Position Paper, Final Draft, Good Practice Guide for Strategic Noise Mapping and the Production of Associated Data on Noise Exposure, Version 2, 13th January 2006

13. NANR 93: WG-AEN’s Good Practice Guide and the Implications for Acoustic Accuracy, May 2005.

14. NANR 208 – Noise Modelling, Final Report, May 2007.


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