Relationship between Tire-Pavement Interaction Noise ise and Surface Characteristics in 2009 Pavement Test Track Cycle

摘要

The interest in quieter pavements has been driven largely by public awareness that altering thesurface can affect traffic noise levels. The objective of this research was to utilize two methodsfor measuring tire-pavement noise to assess which pavement surface characteristics have thegreatest influence on noise generation. The National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) testtrack, with four different pavement surface family groups, was used to test and analyze noisefrom tire-pavement interaction. The tire-pavement noise was measured in a novel test approachusing a surface microphone from different types of sections in the Test Track. Testing wasconducted on four major family groups of superpave fine and coarse graded, open-gradedfriction course (OGFC) and stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixes from 2009 NCAT Test Trackresearch cycle to evaluate changes over time. The results show that the noise levels vary widelyaccording to pavement surface type. The effects of pavement properties including the air voidcontent, gradation properties, roughness, texture, pavement stiffness and age have been evaluatedon one-third octave band noise levels. The evaluation confirmed that macrotexture increases thelow frequency noise and higher air void content reduces the high frequency noise level, whileother surface characteristics were found to have less influence on noise levels. The content ofthis study should be of immediate interest to pavement engineers and others concerned withpavement design and construction to determine appropriate quieter pavement surfaces.