Noise Survey and Predictive Noise Modeling of an Industrial Facility

The goal of this study is to predict the overall A-weighted noise levels on the property of of an industrial processing facility after a future expansion at the site is completed. Since the upgraded site configuration is planned to include buildings and industrial equipment from the existing facility, measurements were taken on-site during normal facility operation to characterize the existing noise sources and background noise environment. A noise model for the existing facility was then created in SoundPlan software and sound power levels of noise sources were calibrated to match the measured data. Finally, the SoundPlan model of the facility in post-upgrade configuration was generated and noise sources were built into this model based on the available data and calibrations performed in the pre-upgrade SoundPlan model. The post-upgrade noise model was used to generate the noise contour map of the facility. The predicted noise levels from the simulation gave insights regarding placement of the loud equipment with respect to property boundaries. In addition, the results were useful in determining the noise mitigation measured to be adopted for the upgraded facility.