92‐455 Environmental Effects‐Noise 

 
Laboratory # 2 
 
Prepared for 
 
Dr. Colin Novak 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Faisal SIDDIQUI 
Student ID 101963673 
rd
3  year Candidate for BASc. Mechanical Engineering 
Department of Mechanical Automotive and Materials Engineering
Introduction
Noise, defined as unwanted or excessive sound, is an undesirable by-product of our
modern way of life. It can be annoying, can interfere with sleep, work, or recreation, and in
extremes may cause physical and psychological damage. While noise emanates from many
different sources, transportation noise is perhaps the most pervasive and difficult source to avoid
in society today. Highway traffic noise is a major contributor to overall transportation noise. A
broad-based effort is needed to control transportation noise. This effort must achieve the goals of
personal privacy and environmental quality while continuing the flow of needed transportation
services for a quality society.

Objective
To calculate the A-weighted one hour equivalent sound pressure level for the measurement time
period using the ORNAMENT model on the HURON CHURCH road.

Procedure
¾ The Sound Level Meter on the tripod at 26 meters from the pavement of the HURON
CHURCH roadway.
¾ The critical dimensions of the roadway were Measured and sketched
¾ We used the sound pressure level meter to check the calibration of the sound level meter.
¾ In order to measure the A-weighted one hour equivalent sound pressure level measured
over a 10 minute period.
¾ The number of vehicles counted in each direction including the breakdown of the three
kinds of vehicles, during the .measured time period.

Apparatus

¾ B & K Type 2236 Sound Level Meter

¾ B & K Type 2226 Sound Level Meter
¾ B & K Type 4230 Sound Level Calibrator
¾ Measuring Tape
¾ Tripod

Test Conditions
Weather Conditions:
¾ Wind = 6.7 km/h,
¾ Temperature = 25.3 C,
¾ Humidity = 53.0%
Roadway Schematics

26 m 12 m 12 m

48.5 m

32 m 4.5m

Noise Meter

Observations and Results

Vehicle type Per Hour Traffic Volume
Near Side Lanes Far Side Lanes
Cars 576 570
Heavy Trucks 276 258
Medium Trucks 30 42
Evaluation of Results
1. Using the ORNAMENT model, the calculated A-weighted one hour
equivalent sound pressure level for the measured time period was 69 dBA.
Refer to Appendix for ORNAMENT worksheet and calculations.

2. The measured Leq is 62 dBA and the calculated is Leq 69 dBA. The
difference is of 7 dBA, where the calculated is higher than the measured.
There may be many reasons for this difference. However we cannot pin
point the exact reasons, thus the possible reasons may be;
- the difference of speed between the vehicles
- there may have been a counting error in any one type of vehicle
- the assumed elevation in was not accurate enough
- the measured distance from source to receiver may have had some
discrepancy in it
- the absorption characteristic assumed for the road surface may be wrong
- the number of people present during measuring may have altered the
reading since it is not accounted for in the ORNAMENT calculations
- there may have been road grades, curves, corners not taken into account
- types of conditions of muffler engine fans etc could be different than
standard for the ORNAMENT model
- the ground between source and receiver was not concrete alone but grass
as well, whereas in the model the surface is assumed to be concrete for
the whole distance.

Ontario’s requirement for the Leq during the daytime is 55 dBA from the
point of reception being the outdoor living area. If there was a residential
receptor at the place of measurement then the city may have implemented
some sort of sound barrier, since the measured Leq was found to be higher
then 55 dBA.

3. Test conditions could adversely affect the measured Leq . Problems

associated with the measurements may be due to how the length of each
roadway was measured and other methods/practices such as counting the
number of vehicles may have affected the measurement. To obtain more
accurate results, measuring of the roadway must be done in one particular
manner, such as; the measurement of the northbound lanes was taken from
the curb to the white line before the barrier. However, the measurement
should be done from curb to barrier and on the southbound side the same
way. Also, the number of people counting in one direction should be
doubled so the count is more accurate.
Discussion/Conclusion
An experiment was taken on Huron Church, at the time, the weather conditions were
given respectively, Wind = 6.7 km/h, Temperature = 25.3 C, Humidity = 53.0%.the receiver was
1.5 m above and 26 m away from the pavement of Huron Church roadway. There are 3 lanes in
each direction of the roadway and each road was measured to 12m wide. In this experiment both
directions of road were considered in to sound pressure level (SPL) and treated as two sources
for calculation. The distance from the receiver to the shortest noise source (north bound) is 32 m
and longest noise source (south bound) was 48.5m and each road were separated by the distance
of 4.5m.

By measuring sound level meter for 10 minutes, the Leq was measured to be 62.1dBA and
using ornament worksheet .the Leq was found to be 69 dBA. The differences between both
values might be due to many factors. There could be an error measuring the distances from the
sound level meter to the roads. The ornament model classifies vehicles into cars, medium trucks
and heavy trucks: however, it does not consider the differences between each of them. Also, the
miscounted traffic volume could have cause the error calculating Leq . Other sources of error
might be by test conditions; wind speed temperature and humidity could have caused the
Leq value. Usually the ornament used for a conventional road noise model, has been used to study
the effect the generic changes in road traffic patterns on noise emissions.
Appendix

ORNAMENT Worksheet

1 Lanes/Road Section (Element) Near Side Lanes Far Side Lanes Source 3
2 Volume Automobiles (vph) 576 570
3 Medium Trucks (vph) 30 42
4 Heavy Trucks (vph) 276 258
5 Total Volume (vph) 882 870
6 Posted Speed (km/h) 60 60
7 Heavy Trucks (%) Lines 4/5 0.313 0.297
Adjusted Heavy Trucks
8 Road Gradient (%) 0 0
9 Adjustment Factor Table 1 1 1
10 Adjusted Volume (vph) Lines 4*9 276 258
11 Total Trucks (vph) Lines 3+10 306 300
12 Medium Trucks (%) Lines 3/11 0.098 0.140
13 Total Trucks/Total Volume (%) Lines 11/5 0.347 0.345
14 Reference Sound Level (dBA) Tables 3-6 or Eqn 1 62.502 62.339
Effective Heights
15 Source (s) (m) Table 8 or Eqn 2 2.4 2.334
16 Receiver (r) (m) (1.5 Day, 4.5 Night) 1.5 1.5
17 Elevation Change, e (m) Figure 4 0 0
18 Barrier Height, h (m) Figure 4 0 0
19 Total Effective Height (m) Figure 4 3.900 3.834
Adjustments
20 Volume Av (dBA) Table 2 or Eqn 3 13.434 13.375
21 Distance (m) 32 48.5
22 Ad Table 7 or Eqn 4 -5.374 -8.333
Finite Segment Size
23 Angle, Φ1 (degrees) Table 10 -90 -90
24 Angle, Φ2 (degrees) Table 10 90 90
25 Absorption Coefficient Table 7 or Eqn 4 0.633 0.635
26 Af (dBA) Table 9, 11 -1.5 -1.5
27 Pavement Surface, A p (dBA) Table 12 0 0
28 Woods, A w (dBA) Table 13 0 0
29 Rows of Houses, A h (dBA) Table 14 0 0
30 Barrier Angle θ1 (degrees) Table C1 N/A N/A
31 Barrier Angle θ2 (degrees) Table C1 N/A N/A
32 Finite Barrier Index Table C1 N/A N/A
33 PLD (m) Table C2 N/A N/A
34 Ab (dBA) Table C2 0 0
35 Segment Leq (dBA) 69.063 65.881
36 Road Leq (dBA) 69
 Calculations
For Near Side Lanes
Cars 10min
Volume Automobiles (vph) = 96 ×6 =576 cars/hour
10min 1hr
Medium Trucks 10min
Volume Medium Trucks (vph) = 5 ×6 =30 Medium Trucks/hour
10min 1hr
Heavy Trucks 10min
Volume Heavy Trucks (vph) = 46 ×6 =276 Heavy Trucks/hour
10min 1hr
Line 4 276
Heavy Trucks (%) = = = 0.313 or 31.3%
Line 5 882
Posted Speed = 60km/h Road Gradient (%) = 0%
Adjustment Factor = 1 (for 0 ≤ Road Gradient (%) ≤ 2)
Adjusted Volume (vph) = Line 4 × Line 9 = 276 × 1=276 Heavy Trucks/hour
Total Trucks (vph) = Line 3 + Line 10 = 30+276=306
Line 3 30
Medium Trucks (%) = = = 0.098 or 9.8%
Line 11 306
Total Trucks Line 11 306
(%) = = = 0.347 or 34.7%
Total Volume Line 5 882
( LO ) A = 38.1log ( S ) − 2.4 = 38.1log ( 60 ) − 2.4 = 65.35dBA
( LO )MT = 33.9 log ( S ) + 16.4 = 33.9 log ( 60 ) + 16.4 = 76.68dBA
( LO ) HT = 24.6 log ( S ) + 38.5 = 24.6 log ( 60 ) + 38.5 = 82.24dBA
⎧⎪ ( LO ) A ( LO )MT ( LO )HT ⎫
⎪
Lref = 10 log ⎨ K A PA10 10 + K MT PMT 10 10 + K HT PHT 10 10 ⎬ + 10 log (Vref ) − 10 log ( S ) + 10 log ( Dref ) − 25
⎪⎩ ⎪⎭
⎧⎪⎛ 65.35
⎞ ⎛ 76.68
⎞ ⎛ 82.24
⎞ ⎫⎪
= 10 log ⎨⎜1× 0.65 × 10 10
⎟ + ⎜1× 0.098 × 10
10
⎟ + ⎜ 1× 0.313 × 10
10
⎟⎬
⎩⎪⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎭⎪
+ 10 log ( 40 ) − 10 log ( 60 ) + 10 log (15 ) − 25
= 62.502dBA
Source s = 2.4m Q PHT > 0.30
Receiver r = 1.5m Q Daytime
Total Effective Height (m) = s + r = 2.4 + 1.5 = 3.9m
12
Distance (m) = 26+ =32m
2
⎧ heff ⎫ ⎧ ⎛ 3.9 ⎞ ⎫
Absorption Coefficient α = 0.75 ⎨1 − ⎬ = 0.75 ⎨1 − ⎜ ⎟ ⎬ = 0.633
⎩ 25 ⎭ ⎩ ⎝ 25 ⎠ ⎭
⎛ Dref ⎞ ⎛ 15 ⎞
Ad = 10 (1 + α ) log ⎜ ⎟ = 10 (1 + 0.633) log ⎜ ⎟ = −5.374dBA
⎝ D ⎠ ⎝ 32 ⎠
Af = −1.5dBA ( From Table 11) Ap = Aw = Ah = Ab = 0dBA
∴ Segment Leq = Lref + Av + Ad + Af + Ap + Aw + Ah + Ab = 62.502 + 13.434 − 5.374 − 1.5 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 69.063dBA
For Far Side Lanes
Cars 10min
Volume Automobiles (vph) = 95 ×6 =570 cars/hour
10min 1hr
Medium Trucks 10min
Volume Medium Trucks (vph) = 7 ×6 =42 Medium Trucks/hour
10min 1hr
Heavy Trucks 10min
Volume Heavy Trucks (vph) = 43 ×6 =258 Heavy Trucks/hour
10min 1hr
Line 4 258
Heavy Trucks (%) = = = 0.297 or 29.7%
Line 5 870
Posted Speed = 60km/h Road Gradient (%) = 0%
Adjustment Factor = 1 (for 0 ≤ Road Gradient (%) ≤ 2)
Adjusted Volume (vph) = Line 4 × Line 9 = 258 × 1=258 Heavy Trucks/hour
Total Trucks (vph) = Line 3 + Line 10 = 42+258=300
Line 3 42 Total Trucks Line 11 300
Medium Trucks (%) = = = 0.14 or 14% (%) = = = 0.345 or 34.5%
Line 11 300 Total Volume Line 5 870
( LO ) A = 38.1log ( S ) − 2.4 = 38.1log ( 60 ) − 2.4 = 65.35dBA
( LO )MT = 33.9 log ( S ) + 16.4 = 33.9 log ( 60 ) + 16.4 = 76.68dBA
( LO ) HT = 24.6 log ( S ) + 38.5 = 24.6 log ( 60 ) + 38.5 = 82.24dBA
⎧⎪ ( LO ) A ( LO )MT ( LO )HT ⎫
⎪
Lref = 10 log ⎨ K A PA10 10 + K MT PMT 10 10 + K HT PHT 10 10 ⎬ + 10 log (Vref ) − 10 log ( S ) + 10 log ( Dref ) − 25
⎪⎩ ⎪⎭
⎪⎧⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞ ⎪⎫
65.35 76.68 82.24
= 10 log ⎨⎜1× 0.66 × 10 10 ⎟ + ⎜ 1× 0.14 × 10 10 ⎟ + ⎜ 1× 0.297 × 10 10 ⎟ ⎬
⎩⎪⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎭⎪
+ 10 log ( 40 ) − 10 log ( 60 ) + 10 log (15 ) − 25
= 62.339dBA
Source s = 4 100 PHT = 4 100 ( 0.297 ) = 2.334m Q 0.01 ≤ PHT ≤ 0.30
Receiver r = 1.5m Q Daytime
Total Effective Height (m) = s + r = 2.334 + 1.5 = 3.834m
12
Distance (m) = 26+12+4.5+ =48.5m
2
⎧ heff ⎫ ⎧ ⎛ 3.834 ⎞ ⎫
Absorption Coefficient α = 0.75 ⎨1 − ⎬ = 0.75 ⎨1 − ⎜ ⎟ ⎬ = 0.635
⎩ 25 ⎭ ⎩ ⎝ 25 ⎠ ⎭
⎛D ⎞ ⎛ 15 ⎞
Ad = 10 (1 + α ) log ⎜ ref ⎟ = 10 (1 + 0.635 ) log ⎜ ⎟ = −8.333dBA
⎝ D ⎠ ⎝ 48.5 ⎠
Af = −1.5dBA ( From Table 11) Ap = Aw = Ah = Ab = 0dBA
∴ Segment Leq = Lref + Av + Ad + Af + Ap + Aw + Ah + Ab = 62.339 + 13.375 − 8.333 − 1.5 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 65.881dBA
⎛ 69.063 65.881
⎞
∴ Road Leq = 10 log ⎜ 10 10
+ 10 10 ⎟ = 69dBA
⎝ ⎠