Relationship between Asphalt Pavement Surface Characteristics and Road Noise

Surface characteristics of asphalt pavement have significant impacts on road noise. However, the quantitative relationship between them is not completely clarified. The objective of this paper is to quantify the effect of asphalt pavement surface characteristics on road noise. Firstly, based on acoustics theory, the authors determined the pavement roughness (IRI) and texture depth (TD) as the factors affecting road noise. Secondly, they conducted a series of field tests, collecting the road noise inside and outside the automobile and measuring the IRI and TD. Finally, they statistically obtained the relationships among interior vehicle noise and exterior vehicle noise, the IRI and ID of the pavement. The result shows that road noise, neither inside nor outside the vehicle, is significant to the TD. Interior vehicle noise is linearly related to the IRI, which rises with the increase of IRI. In addition, exterior vehicle noise can be considered to have a quadric relationship with ln(IRI · TD).