ISSN: 2168-9717

Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology
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  • Research Article   
  • J Archit Eng Tech 2014, Vol 3(1): 118
  • DOI: 10.4172/2168-9717.1000118

A Parametric Study of the Effect of Building Distributions and Size on the Propagation of Sound in the Urban Environment

Mostafa Refat A Ismail1,2*
1Department of Architecture Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Egypt
2Department of Architecture Engineering, The British University in Egypt, El-Sherouk City, Egypt
*Corresponding Author : Mostafa Refat A Ismail, Department of Architecture Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Egypt, Tel: (202) 26831474, Email: mostafa_ismail@eng.asu.edu.eg

Received Date: Jan 07, 2014 / Accepted Date: Jan 30, 2014 / Published Date: Feb 05, 2014

Abstract

The net effect at a location deep in the urban fabric of noise arising from the operation of multiple distant sources can be expected to be a function of the building density and typical size of buildings in this area. However, little is known as to how these characteristics of the urban fabric affect noise propagation. In this paper sound propagation through a distributed array of medium sized simple building forms has been investigated, assuming that building faces produce perfect diffusion. The method adopted was to calculate the energy exchange between facades assuming hemispherical propagation from a point located at the centre of the illuminated area of a facade. Thus, the energy exchange between faces is replaced by arrays of point sources located on each face.

For the very regular street configuration employed in the model, it was found that there was a strong channelling effect when the source was located between facades lining a street.

The propagation of sound across a more irregular fabric configuration as a function of building density, building ground floor dimensions and building height was investigated. It was found that the sound attenuation rates for each configuration are linear and virtually identical at approximately 52dB per decade. However, for each configuration there are differences in levels at a particular location that can be attributed to the near field effect of local occlusion in the vicinity of the source. The similar attenuation rates suggest that after the initial occlusion effect has determined the amount of sound energy that progresses to the far field, the effect of occlusion for a higher building density is compensated for by reflections from the facades.

Keywords: Urban; Noise; Propagation; Building density; Modelling

Citation: Ismail MRA (2014) A Parametric Study of the Effect of Building Distributions and Size on the Propagation of Sound in the Urban Environment. Archit Eng Tech 3: 118. Doi: 10.4172/2168-9717.1000118

Copyright: ©2014 Ismail MRA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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