Laboratory investigation on influence of mixture parameters on noise reduction characteristics of porous asphalt concrete

ABSTRACT

To investigate the influence of PAC mixture type and parameters on noise reduction performance and their variation patterns. This study investigated: the mixes’ gradation characteristics parameters, the coefficient of uniformity (CU) and coefficient of curvature (CC); the nominal maximum size (DT), the material’s composition parameter; the void ratio (VV) and thickness (H), the mixes’ structural composition parameters, and finally, the surface density (BD). PAC specimens’ sound absorption coefficient was measured indoors by the standing wave tube method, and the variation law were observed under different PAC parameters. PAC parameters’ degree of influence on noise reduction performance was investigated through grey correlation theory and correlation analysis. The results indicated that increasing the void ratio and thickness improved the peak absorption coefficient and enhanced PAC’s noise reduction performance effectively. Increasing the nominal maximum particle size weakened the noise reduction performance. In addition, the mix type and thickness had a greater influence on the basic trend in the absorption coefficient spectrogram. PAC’s noise reduction effect was reflected primarily in the middle and high frequency band, and moved to the high frequency band gradually as the thickness increased. Overall, VV, H, and DT had a relatively large effect on PAC’s noise reduction performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Porous asphalt concrete
• mixture parameters
• standing wave tube
• grey correlation theory
• sound absorption coefficient

Acknowledgements

Our deepest gratitude goes to the anonymous reviewers for their careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this paper substantially.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51408287, 51668038 and 51868042), the Distinguished Young Scholars Fund of Gansu Province (1606RJDA318), the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province (1506RJZA064), Industry Support and Guidance Project by University and College in Gansu Province (2020C-13), and Foundation of A Hundred Youth Talents Training Programme of Lanzhou Jiao tong University, and ‘Innovation star’ project of excellent graduate students in Gansu Province in 2021 (2021CXZX-630).