ABSTRACT
The noise generated by conventional cement concrete pavements is a major source of environmental noise pollution given a lack of a noise control standards for concrete pavements in China. A program has therefore been initiated in China for establishment of a noise control standard for concrete pavements on the basis of evaluation of the pavement characteristics affecting the tire/pavement noise levels as measured by the on-board sound intensity method. In this study, data were collected from several concrete pavements. The initial textures included longitudinal grooving and transverse grooving of varying depths and spacing, a combination of the two, the exposed-aggregate cement concrete pavement, and a polished concrete pavement. For comparison purposes, the noise levels of some asphalt mixture pavements—NovaChip, asphalt concrete, and stone mastic asphalt—were investigated. Statistical analysis of the data on the noise samples was performed using SPSS. Then, through application of the K-means clustering and threshold analysis methods, this study initially defined the partition ranges of concrete pavement noise levels and ultimately developed referential limit standards for concrete pavement noise.
