OCTOBER 19-20, 2012 - YMCA University of Science & Technology

Proceedings of the National Conference on
Trends and Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad, Haryana, Oct 19-20, 2012
[5]. Guite et al.studied the effects of urban environment over the public health and well being and they concluded
that the environmental noise can affect the mental health [10].
The major objective of the study was to enumerate the spatial and temporal distribution of urban traffic noise in the
city of Ghaziabad and develop suitable noise maps for evaluation of impact.
The investigations were conducted with the intention of assessing and quantify the extent of road traffic noise
distribution pattern under the urban environment. Following objectives will be attained in this study:
• Improve noise management practices in the study area;
• Assist in planning for upcoming developments in the city;
• Increase awareness among the local population to recognize their existing noise environment and
• The potential for use as an benchmark for other cities, particularly in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere
to produce city noise maps
2. MATERIALS & METHODS
A. Study area
Ghaziabad, an urban-industrial city and part of NCR zone situated in Uttar Pradesh state of India, with an area of
1548 km 2 and a population density of 3954/ km 2 has witnessed a sharp growth in vehicular population in the last
five years, ensuing a significant, unrestrained noise pollution across the area The impact identification and
quantification due to such exposure to road traffic noise has been done in such preceding works and it has been
observed that such noise levels in the area are much above the prescribed limits .The situation demands through
investigation, identification and assessment of the cause-effect chain due to traffic generated noise exposure. This is
responsible movement of heavy and medium vehicles across the main road and throughout the day resulting in high
noise emissions. Regarding to the number of vehicles and the traffic load among the rich habitants of the NCR region
and by means of traffic organization and traffic police center data of the mentioned region, the traffic situation and
the number of traffic policemen residing in the area were identified and their location were spotted. Then, the places
that the measurement was supposed to carry out were located by means of available municipal maps taken from the
traffic organization & from the internet. The traffic volume was assessed in terms of Passenger Car Units (PCU). It is
the scale to convert all vehicles into one category, i.e., passenger car. The PCU values for two wheelers, three
wheelers, light commercial vehicles, buses, and heavy commercial vehicles are 0.75, 2, 2.5, 3 and 3, respectively
[16].
B. Data collection
Noise measurement was done at selected locations as shown in fig.1 with the help of A digital sound level meter
(IEC651, ANSI S1.4) with frequency range of 31.5Hz to 8,000Hz and measuring level range between 35–130 dB
was used for the study. All reading were taken on the ‘A-weighting’ frequency network, at a height of about 1.5 m
from ground level and on the ‘Fast’ range time weighting. The ‘A’ weighting characteristic and ‘Fast’ range is
simulated as ‘human ear listening’ response. Sound data were recorded at interval of 15 sec for a continuous
sampling period of 1 minute during working days and under normal climatic conditions. The data collected from
field were recorded in MS excel worksheet and later transferred to Noise Mapping (Get Data and Surfer) software for
further analysis. All noise values were expressed in dB (A) units. For the proper assessment and analysis of the
results, the following noise indices were computed: L eq : A-weighted equivalent sound level during sampling period,
L max and L min : Maximum and minimum noise level during sampling period. Equivalent sound level, ‘L eq ’ is
computed using following equation:
N
L eq (dB (A)) = 10 × log 10 [(1/N) ∑i=1 10
Li/10 ] (1)
Where, L i is the noise level of the i th reading and ‘N’ denotes total number of recorded samples. Such data were
generated for time intervals (8.00 am– 8.00 pm).
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