An experimental and numerical study of a noise barrier

The sound field around a small, freely suspended noise barrier has been studied both experimentally and numerically. The experimental results revealed that, as expected, a complex sound field existed behind the barrier at all frequencies due to diffraction around and transmission through the barrier. The numerical results were seen to compare well with the experimental results and allowed an in-depth study of the sound field behind the barrier to be conducted. The contribution of the directly transmitted and diffracted components of the sound field behind the barrier were quantified, and a maximum possible sound insulation calculated.