Case study for the assessment and mitigation of community noise for proposed residential units atop a fire station

摘要

As communities grow, the assessment and abatement of environmental noise impact forresidential developments has become increasingly extensive and complex. Living units placedatop a functional fire station, which are also exposed to airport, railway, and roadway noisesources present such a case study. The purpose of this project was to evaluate environmentalnoise impact upon multi-family living areas and offer practical, effective, and cost-efficientmitigation measures. To reduce transportation and fire station noise impact within these spaces,on-site noise measurements in conjunction with traditional and computer-based acousticalanalysis tools were employed. Noise barriers and building shell materials were specified toaddress transportation noise that will impact outdoor activity areas and all facades of theresidential building area. A floating concrete floor-ceiling system was designed to attenuatenoise and vibration from emergency vehicles, mechanical equipment, and sound amplificationand alarm systems. Four-fold bay doors powered by an electric motor were recommended in lieuof conventional overhead chain-driven rolling garage doors to minimize airborne and structurebornenoise to residential units. As demonstrated by this study, the analysis and mitigation ofcommunity noise is continually proving more complicated, thereby challenging themethodologies, materials, and criteria acousticians utilize to solve problems.