Sound scattering at building façades

Abstract

The state-of-the-art models of soundscape planning and noise mapping are based on geometrical acoustics. Numerical wave models are possible but they exceed acceptable computation times for acoustics in practice by orders of magnitude. In geometrical acoustics, the sound is propagated either assuming Lambert’s diffusion or specular reflections, which applies to randomly corrugated surfaces and to flat surfaces, respectively. For specific architectural surface design, however, no appropriate simplified sound reflection model exists. In this paper, architectural façade shape typologies are categorized, and a directional scattering coefficient concept will be introduced and applied in an example simulation and auralization of complex sound scattering phenomena.