Quarry Noise Model

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) commissioned the development of a tool to help predict noise exposure in areas surrounding ODOT quarries by the USDOT's Volpe Center. The Quarry Noise Model (QNM) has three inter-communicating components: the QNM GIS Module, the Noise Database and the Acoustic Engine. The GIS Module represents the Graphical User Interface for QNM and harnesses both custom and existing built-in tools within ESRI's ArcGIS interface to streamline the process of analyzing quarry noise scenarios. Noise data parameters are required to accurately model noise emissions and propagation. Two types of parameters are included in the noise database: classification parameters, which are used to identify the source, and emission parameters, which characterize the emitted noise. The Acoustic engine leverages the Advanced Acoustic Model (AAM) updated to include attenuation due to surrounding foliage, the ability to model operations from equipment distributed over a quadrilateral area, and a simplified blast model for prediction of initial blast overpressure. This paper and accompanying presentation will review the QNM model, describe the development of the acoustic database, and overview the enhancements and adaptations that were made to the Advanced Acoustic Model. Example use cases for this model will also be presented.