An experimental and numerical study of tire/pavement noise on Asphalt Rubber Concrete pavement

Traffic noise is a serious problem disturbing life in urban areas. Many studies prove that tire/pavement interaction noise is a major source of traffic noise. Asphalt Rubber Concrete (ARC) pavement has shown excellent performance in noise reduction in terms of reducing the power of air pumping, absorbing sound power and changing sound reflection geometry.; The research work of this thesis assesses the traffic noise reduction performance of a segment of highway with ARC pavement in Saskatchewan, Canada. Field tests were carried out to study the influence of pavement conditions on the environmental noise. Both 24-hour time averaged and Statistical Pass-By noise levels quantitatively indicate that the ARC pavement has a better sound performance over that of conventional pavement in terms of traffic noise reduction. Close Proximity (CPX) tests were also conducted to analyze the noise generated from the tire-pavement interaction. Both A-weighted equivalent and spectrum noise pressure levels acquired from different positions of the tire/pavement interaction were investigated under different speeds. The noise generation mechanism and the propagation of tire/pavement noise were analyzed. The noise reduction mechanism is also discussed by comparing the noise pressure levels collected from ARC and conventional pavements.; Numerical simulations of environmental noise play an important role in traffic noise analyses. In this thesis work, a multi-physics finite element (FE) model was established to study the noise generated by the tire/pavement noise while considering the impact effects between the tire as well as pavement surface and the influence of pavement surface conditions and tire texture structures. With the variation of the sound absorption coefficients of the pavement and the amplitude of the impact load, the tire/pavement noise propagation conditions on ARC and pavement were investigated. The simulated numerical results were compared with results obtained from the CPX tests on the roads. It is proven with a statistical technique that the simulated results show a good fit with those obtained from the physical road tests.