Experimental investigation of the effect of speed bumps in sequence on noise emission level from motor vehicles

It is known that speed bumps are devices capable of reducing the speed of vehicles (traffic calming measures). Bumps arranged in sequence are capable of inducing a speed regime almost constant along the road sections in which they are installed. However, the impact of vehicles on the bumps generates noise that is annoying to residents. Many studies in the literature have estimated the production of noise due to the transit of vehicles over isolated speed bumps. Less investigated, however, is the phenomenon of the noise production on the speed bumps arranged in a sequence. In this paper, the authors analyze the effects of speed bumps arranged in a sequence on the production of noise. In order to do this, two urban road sections are selected with several speed bumps placed sequentially. The survey was carried out experimentally using three vehicles (a low-powered car, a high-powered car and a motorcycle). The authors, using sound level meters data, assessed the sound levels produced by these vehicles, considering the conditionings on the dynamics of motion induced by the sequence of bumps.