Experimental study on reduction of impulsive noise generating at exit of high-speed railway tunnel

As a compression wave is emitted from a duct, an impulsive wave generates and causes an impulsive noise that is at present a serious environmental noise pollution. In order to clarify the acoustic characteristics of the noise and to reduce their pressure levels, a series of model experiments were conducted on the impulsive waves emitted from an open end of a shock tube. The impulsive waves with various intensities were obtained by controlling the operation pressure ratio of the shock tube. Various kinds of silencers such as the exit boxes with baffle plates, were applied to the duct exit to reduce the impulsive noises. The effects of geometry of silencers and shock Mach number on the noise reduction were clarified. From the measurements of sound pressure level, it was found that installing the baffle plate into the exit box is effective in lowering the noise level at far fields, and that the recommendable geometries of silencer are L/D=1, H/D=1 and H/D=0.75.