Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 2938: Asphalt Pavement Acoustic Performance Model (Sustainability)

Low-noise pavements are used as an effective method of traffic noise mitigation. Low-noise pavements reduce the noise that arises due to interactions between tires and road surfaces (tire/road) via the implementation of three main components: low pavement roughness, negative pavement texture, and a high pavement air-void content. The tire/road noise reduction capabilities of the wearing layer vary depending on the aggregate type, gradation, bitumen and air-void content, and density. Consequently, the demand for an accurate tire/road noise prediction model has arisen from the design of asphalt mixtures. This paper deals with how asphalt mixture components of the wearing layer influence tire/pavement noise reduction and presents a model for tire/road noise level prediction based on the asphalt mixture composition. The paper demonstrates that the noise reduction level of low-noise asphalt pavements is dependent on the composition of the asphalt mixture. Asphalt wearing layer mixture composition parameters were tested in the laboratory from cores taken from 18 road sections, where acoustic properties were measured using a close-proximity (CPX) method. The proposed linear model is based on the bitumen amount, the air-void content of the mixture and aggregate shape and involves materials that comply with the general requirements for high-quality asphalt mixtures. The model allows for the prediction of the tire/road noise level at the asphalt mixture design stage using asphalt mixture components and volumetric properties. The proposed model is the first stage in the building of a complex model with a much wider range of low-noise asphalts components, pavement profile depth and CPX-value relationships.