Portishead Branch Line (Metrowest Phase 1)
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Portishead Branch Line (MetroWest Phase 1) TR040011 Applicant: North Somerset District Council 6.25, Environmental Statement, Volume 4, Appendix 13 Series, Noise and Vibration The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009, regulation 5(2)(a) Planning Act 2008 Author: CH2M Date: November 2019 Notice © Copyright 2019 CH2M HILL United Kingdom. The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of CH2M HILL United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jacobs. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of Jacobs constitutes an infringement of copyright. Limitation: This document has been prepared on behalf of, and for the exclusive use of Jacobs’ client, and is subject to, and issued in accordance with, the provisions of the contract between Jacobs and the client. Jacobs accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever for, or in respect of, any use of, or reliance upon, this document by any third party. Where any data supplied by the client or from other sources have been used, it has been assumed that the information is correct. No responsibility can be accepted by Jacobs for inaccuracies in the data supplied by any other party. The conclusions and recommendations in this report are based on the assumption that all relevant information has been supplied by those bodies from whom it was requested. Where field investigations have been carried out, these have been restricted to a level of detail required to achieve the stated objectives of the work. This work has been undertaken in accordance with the quality management system of Jacobs. Document history Project Portishead Branch Line (MetroWest Phase 1) Development Consent Order Scheme Planning Inspectorate Scheme TR040011 Reference Part and Application Document 6, 6.25 Reference Document title Environmental Statement, Volume 4, Appendix 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8 and 13.9 Regulation Number Regulation 5(2)(a) Applicant North Somerset District Council Lead Author RS at CH2M Version Date Status of Version Rev: 01 08/11/19 Application Issue Appendices Appendix 13.1 Introduction to Noise Appendix 13.2 Approach to Significance Appendix 13.3 Assumptions and Noise Model / Input Data Appendix 13.4 Time Period Conversions Appendix 13.5 Noise Survey Results Appendix 13.6 Vibration Survey Results Appendix 13.7 Construction Plant List Appendix 13.8 Noise Assessment Results Appendix 13.9 Rail Noise Management Portishead Branch Line (MetroWest Phase 1) TR040011 Applicant: North Somerset District Council 6.25, Environmental Statement, Volume 4, Appendix 13.1 Introduction to Noise The Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009, regulation 5(2)(a) Planning Act 2008 Author: CH2M Date: November 2019 APPENDIX 13.1 PORTISHEAD BRANCH LINE DCO SCHEME INTRODUCTION TO NOISE ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT, VOLUME 4 SECTION 1 1 Introduction to Noise 1.1 Human perception Noise is commonly defined as unwanted sound and is therefore to some extent subjective. The human perception of noise is influenced by physical, physiological and psychological factors. Physical factors include the sound pressure level at the position of the listener, physiological factors include the acuity of hearing, and psychological factors include acclimatisation to steady noise and the activity that an individual is undertaking while the noise is present. Sound consists of vibrations transmitted to the ear as rapid variations in air pressure which can be measured accurately. The more rapid the variations in air pressure the higher the frequency of the sound. Frequency is defined as the number of pressure fluctuations per second and is expressed in Hertz (Hz). The ear can detect both loudness and frequency of sound. However, the sensitivity of the human ear varies with frequency, and therefore noise is commonly measured using the A-weighted filter network which mimics the frequency response characteristics of the human ear. The ‘A’ notation is used to indicate when noise levels have been filtered using the A- weighting network. Noise levels range from the threshold of hearing at 0 dB(A) to levels of over 130 dB(A) at which point the noise becomes painful. Noise levels over 80 dB(A) are considered potentially damaging to hearing. Table 1.1 presents guide to the A-weighted sound pressure levels in common areas and activities. Table 1.1: Common noise levels1 Sound Average Pressure subjective Situation / noise source Level, dB(A) description 30 m from a military jet aircraft take off 140 Painful, Intolerable Pop concert 105 Night club 100 Pop concert at mixer desk 98 Passing heavy good vehicle at 7m 90 Very noisy Ringing alarm clock at 1m 80 Domestic vacuum clearer at 3m 70 Noisy Business office 60 Normal conversation at 1m 55 1-1 PORTISHEAD BRANCH LINE DCO SCHEME APPENDIX 13.1 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT, VOLUME 4 INTRODUCTION TO NOISE Table 1.1: Common noise levels1 Sound Average Pressure subjective Situation / noise source Level, dB(A) description The reading room of the British Museum 35 Bedroom in a quiet area with the windows shut 30 Very quiet Remote country location without any 20 identifiable sound Theoretical threshold of hearing 0 Uncanny silence 1 Taken from Table 1.1 of Horizontal Guidance for Noise Part 2 – Noise Assessment and Control (Environment Agency, 2004). 1.2 Acoustic descriptors Outdoor noise levels fluctuate rapidly over time, and therefore to describe the acoustic environment it is necessary to collect statistical data on the distribution of noise levels during the period of interest. The nomenclature used to represent acoustic quantities can appear complicated, however once understood it becomes a logical and efficient way of qualifying noise levels. As an example, the level recommended by BS 8233:2014 for noise levels in gardens is LAeq,T 55dB: The above descriptor is comprised as follows: • The first grouping (‘L’) indicates that the quantity is a sound pressure level. Other common quantities are sound intensity level (LI) and sound power level (LW). • The second grouping (‘A’) denotes that the sound pressure level is evaluated using the A-weighted filter network. • The third grouping of characters identify the statistical index. In this example, the letters indicate that the quantity is in terms of the equivalent continuous noise level (eq), which has some similarities with the concept of an average noise level. Numerical values are also shown, and these indicate the level exceeded for n per cent of the measurement (e.g. a value of LA90,T 45 dB indicates that the A-weighted sound pressure level exceeds 45 dB for 90% of the period analysed). • The quantity (‘T’) shown after the statistical descriptor is the duration over which the quantity is evaluated. This is typically represented in minutes or hours, e.g. 15min, 16h. 1-2 APPENDIX 13.1 PORTISHEAD BRANCH LINE DCO SCHEME INTRODUCTION TO NOISE ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT, VOLUME 4 • The fifth term of the statistical descriptor identifies its numeric value. This value is usually given as a whole number or to one decimal place. • The sixth and final group of characters indicate that the units of the sound pressure level are decibels. A variety of statistical indices are used to quantify noise in different situations. The most common are described below. 1.3 Road traffic noise The index adopted by the UK Government to quantify road traffic noise is the LA10,18h, which is the arithmetic mean of the noise levels exceeded for 10% of the time in each of the 18 one-hour periods between 6am and midnight. The LA10,18h index has been shown to have the best relationship with annoyance caused by road traffic noise, which has a strong low frequency content and is often steadier over the course of a day than other sources of environmental noise. 1.4 Rail noise The index used to characterise rail noise is LAeq,18h. This level can be calculated by considering the number, type, speed of trains over a given time period. 1.5 Ambient noise level General environmental noise from commercial, industrial or unidentified sources is often expressed in terms of the equivalent continuous sound pressure level over the time period of interest (LAeq,T). This is the notional continuous constant noise that contains the same sound energy over the period of interest as the actual fluctuating noise. This is not an ‘average’ sound level over a period, but the concept has some similarities and provides a single figure quantity that can be used to compare noise levels which fluctuate with time. 1.6 Background noise level The LA90,T index identifies the noise level exceeded for 90% of the period of interest, and provides a good indication of the background noise level that remains in a location in the absence of any easily identifiable sources. 1.7 Maximum sound level The maximum sound level (LAmax) is the highest time-weighted sound level measured during a period. The time constant of the measure may either be Fast (125 ms), Slow (1 s) or Impulsive (35 ms), and it is usual to identify the time constant in the notation – e.g. LAFmax indicates that the maximum sound level was measured with the fast time-weighting. The longer the time constant over which the measurement is integrated, the greater the smoothing effect of the time-weighting, which gives a lower numeric value of the measurement. If it is not clear which time weighting has been used for a measurement, then it is generally assumed to be the fast time weighting as this is most common. 1-3 PORTISHEAD BRANCH LINE DCO SCHEME APPENDIX 13.1 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT, VOLUME 4 INTRODUCTION TO NOISE 1.8 Vibration Groundborne vibration is typically measured in terms of velocity (millimeters per second) or acceleration (metres per second).