ABSTRACT
During the rst round of noise mapping in the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END) framework,1 the French method NMPB 96 (NMPB96, 1997) in combination with emission data from Guide du Bruit2
CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................ 55 Emission .................................................................................................. 57
Rolling noise component .................................................................... 58 Power unit component ........................................................................ 61 Starting and stopping segments ........................................................... 61 Spectrum ............................................................................................. 62 Comments .......................................................................................... 63
Propagation ............................................................................................. 63 Sound levels ........................................................................................ 64
Elementary contribution of a propagation path .............................. 64 Long-term sound level .................................................................... 64
Ground description ............................................................................. 65 Mean ground plane ........................................................................ 65 Absorption ..................................................................................... 66
Ground effect ...................................................................................... 66 Diffraction .......................................................................................... 69 Re¬ections on obstacles ...................................................................... 71 Complex congurations ...................................................................... 71
Total cover ..................................................................................... 71 Partial cover ................................................................................... 72
Meteorological conditions .................................................................. 73 Comparison of NMPB with Harmonoise/IMAGINE ............................... 74 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 77 References ............................................................................................... 78
was selected as the interim method for road trafc noise prediction. Interim means recommended before a reference method would become mandatory for the next rounds as foreseen by the END. Interim does not mean mandatory, since the member states are left free to use their national method instead of the interim one for a given noise source, provided that they would demonstrate the equivalence of their national method with respect to the interim one.
