(Springer Netherlands, 2010) Arana Burgui, Miguel; San Martín Murugarren, Ricardo; San Martín Erviti, María Luisa; Aramendía Santamaría, Emilio; Física; Fisika
The main objective of this study is to analyze
the differences found in the results of noise
mapping using two of the most popular software
techniques for the prediction of environmental
noise. The location selected to conduct the comparative
study is an area encompassed by the ring
road that surrounds the city of Pamplona and on a
grid, with a total of 6 × 105 points, approximately.
In fact, and as the Environmental Noise Directive
points out, it is a major road designated by a
Member State (Spain). Configuration of the calculation
parameters (discretization of the sources,
ground absorption, reflection order, etc.) was as
equivalent as possible as far as programs allow. In
spite of that, a great number of differences appear
in the findings. Although in 95.5% of the points
the difference in the noise level calculated from
the two programs was less than 3 dB, this general
statistic result concealed some great differences.
These are due to the various algorithms that programs
implement to evaluate noise levels. Most
differences pertain to highly screened receivers
or remote ones. In the former, the algorithm of
visibility is the main cause of such differences. In
the latter, differences are mainly brought about
by a different implementation of the propagation
under homogeneous and favorable atmospheric
conditions from both software systems.
