Noise evaluation of various pavement textures on new Portland cement concrete

Tire/pavement noise measurements were made on a newly constructed, unopened portion of California State Route 58 that bypasses the City of Mojave. Initially, three different Portland Cement Concrete surface textures were tested including longitudinally tined, burlap drag, and longitudinally broomed. Afterwards, eight test sections of the original pavements were ground and/or grooved to various surface texture geometries and the noise measurements repeated on all eleven pavement textures. Noise measurements were made near the tire/pavement interface using the on-board sound intensity (OBSI) method and at the wayside using limited, controlled vehicle pass-bys. Interior noise testing was also done for comparative purposes. Audible slaps from the concrete joints were also isolated in the OBSI recordings of the test surfaces. Noise from the slaps was also clearly apparent in the vehicle pass-by data. The effect of grooving/grinding operations on joint slap was also evaluated.