Tire-Pavement Noise Prediction using Asphalt Pavement Texture

Implementation of noise as an additional measure in pavement service evaluation has come forth since noise seriously influences on driver comfort. Due to a considerable amount of time and cost for traditional road-side noise measurement such as pass-by method, evaluation of tire-pavement noise based on MPD (Mean Profile Depth) has been attempted by numerous researchers. MPD is a part of texture characteristics that influences tire-pavement noise and it can be easily measured by Portable Laser Profiler (PLP). In general, macrotexture is a pavement surface characteristic having the significant impact on tire-pavement noise. Generally, it can confirm that tire-pavement noise increases by the increase of texture depth and wavelength. However, the theoretical study showed that the influences of pavement texture characteristics including texture depth and wavelength on tire-pavement noise are insufficient. In this study, the statistical analysis on relationship between tire-pavement noise, MPD, and wavelength for asphalt concrete pavement was performed. The collected data of measured tire-pavement noise, MPD, and wavelength on asphalt pavement sections from Donghae Expressway, and National Highway 35 Line of South Korea, were conducted and analyzed. Based on the multiple regression analysis results, it was found that tire-pavement noise is linearly increased due to the increases of MPD and average wavelength. In addition, multiple regression analysis of tire-pavement noise level, MPD, and average wavelength gave a similar trends compared to the single regression analysis between tire pavement noise with MPD and tire pavement noise with average wavelength. This study also showed that aggregate gradation used in asphalt mixture significantly affect the MPD and average wavelength. Therefore, tire-pavement noise would be affected by aggregation gradation used in asphalt mixture.