Noise map of the city of Guimarães: comparison and experimental validation of the prevision methods

Abstract

Human being, especially in urban areas, lives surrounded by noise which causes discomfort and stress and is responsible for a great number of psychological and physical damages. The ever-growing technological development of our cities has been leading to a continuous increase in the sound levels observed in urban areas caused, essentially by traffic and industries. In order to reduce the noise levels in residential and service areas, recent Portuguese legislation in this field, makes mandatory, as a first step, the sound characterization of the different urban zones. Each municipality is obliged to do or to promote the elaboration of noise maps. There are already available several mathematical models that allow the elaboration of these maps. However, there are some limitations in these codes due to the great difficulty in foreseeing and simulate some particular situations. The objective of this work is the comparison and experimental validation of available codes in the elaboration of a noise map of the city of Guimarães. The accuracy and versatility of some existing codes will be evaluated by the comparison of the results obtained by simulation with real values measured in on-site measurement campaigns.