Evaluation of noise reduction performance of new steel noise barrier for Shinkansen

Abstract

Since Shinkansen viaducts are aged, a large-scale renovation project has been planned. In this project, aged noise barriers are scheduled to be removed and replaced. In this background, it is required to develop a new noise barrier with high constructability and high effectiveness in noise reduction. Therefore, the authors have developed a steel noise barrier without the decrease of noise barrier performance, of which weight is about 1/3 of existing concrete noise barriers. It is expected that the load on floor slabs by the developed noise barrier is more reduced, and no crane truck is basically needed for installation work. One of the features of the developed noise barrier is that all the surfaces on track side are consisted of sound absorbing materials with steel plates with small holes on it. The sound absorbing material used in the developed noise barriers has suitable sound absorbability for the frequency characteristics of the noise generated during train running. In order to evaluate the noise reduction performance, the developed noise barrier was tested on the Shinkansen track and noise measurement was conducted at the place with certain distance from the Shinkansen viaduct. As a result, the noise generated from the lower part of cars was significantly reduced on the overall level.