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Article history: Green noise barriers have become an alternative means of reducing urban trafc noise. In this paper,
Received 2 February 2016 the acoustic performance of a modular greenery noise barrier is evaluated. In situ measurements of noise
Received in revised form 25 July 2016 reection were performed using an experimental prototype to estimate the sound absorption coefcients.
Accepted 26 August 2016
These coefcients were found to have values of approximately 0.7, higher than those previously found
Available online 6 September 2016
in laboratory measurements for a similar system with a lower vegetation density. The obtained values
were input into software for predicting environmental noise to analyse the expected performance of
Keywords:
such barriers, particularly in the case of a pair of parallel barriers. A comparison with the results for
Noise barriers
Predicted noise attenuation
reective barriers indicates a signicant improvement in sound attenuation of up to 4 dBA. The values
Sound absorption are similar and even superior to results reported by other authors regarding the effectiveness of absorptive
Vertical greenery systems treatments applied to parallel barriers, and furthermore, the proposed barriers offer an aesthetic element
for environmental integration.
2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.08.010
1618-8667/ 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
A.M. Lacasta et al. / Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 20 (2016) 172179 173
tested, including the cases of reective and absorptive parallel bar- In Europe, in situ measurements of the sound reection prop-
riers. It was shown that the effect of adding absorptive material erties of noise barriers are currently performed in accordance
to the source sides of parallel barriers was equivalent to that of with CEN standards (2003). The specied method involves the
increasing the barrier height by 0.33 m. averaging of measurements taken at specic angles of incidence.
A reduction in road trafc noise can be achieved through the Rotation can be performed in the vertical or horizontal plane.
optimal use of vegetation (Defrance et al., 2014). The absorptive The results are computed in one-third-octave frequency bands
and scattering properties of greenery make it a potentially suit- and describe the extent to which the device under test reects
able alternative to classical barriers, in addition to presenting an a sound wave back towards its source. Recently, in the frame-
aesthetic effect (Ekici and Bougdah, 2003). Moreover, interaction work of the European QUIESST project, this method was thoroughly
with green spaces has a benecial impact on noise perception revised (Guidorzi and Garai, 2013; Garai et al., 2014). The method
(Dzhambov and Dimitrova, 2015). Although vegetation barriers are requires a minimum barrier width and height of 4 m to avoid the
able to reduce noise, they must be at least 1.5 m thick to achieve effect of ground reections (if vertical rotation is chosen) or post
attenuations higher than 5 dB(A) (Kalansuriya et al., 2009). How- reections (if horizontal rotation is chosen). Because of these geo-
ever, a combination of vegetation and a solid barrier may be an metrical constraints, in most cases, the CEN/TS 1793-5 standard
interesting and effective solution (Dunnett and Kingsbury, 2004; (CEN, 2003) cannot be applied. Moreover, to obtain the reection
Wong et al., 2010; Horoshenkov et al., 2013; Daltrop et al., 2012; index for each band, specular reection properties are assumed.
Hodgson et al., 2013). A recent review paper by Van Renterghem Some authors (Tronchin, 2013) have noted that for this reason,
et al. (2015) shows that there are many methods of reducing traf- the results obtained using this method may not be adequate for
c noise by means of natural barriers between the road and the rough surfaces, as this assumption is incorrect for the scattering
noise-affected region. Increasing the absorption at the surfaces of surfaces. Furthermore, for the in situ measurement of sound absorp-
parallel road-noise-shielding walls by means of planted substrates tion coefcients, the ISO 13472-1 standard is recommended for
is a useful technique. The reective, deective and absorptive prop- road surfaces. Several authors have applied this technique to vari-
erties of the plants and the attenuation effects produced by the ous surfaces (Londhe et al., 2009; Guidorzi and Garai, 2008). In the
air between the vegetation and the wall can increase the acous- study reported in this paper, a procedure based on this method,
tic isolation provided by such a barrier. Furthermore, the plants although with some differences, was used to compare the reection
and the wall represent opposite spectral solutions for noise trans- characteristics of barriers with and without the proposed modular
mission, blocking the sound in the lower and higher frequency greenery system.
ranges, respectively (Dunnett and Kingsbury, 2004). Wong et al. The noise reduction provided by barriers is often evaluated
(2010) analysed 8 vertical greenery systems. Their results showed through numerical simulations. Numerous software packages are
stronger attenuation at low to moderate frequencies due to the available for assisting in the prediction of trafc noise levels and the
absorbing effect of the substrate, whereas weaker attenuation was evaluation of noise barrier performance, such as CadnaA, Sound-
observed in the high-frequency spectrum. They also observed an Plan, LimaA, Immi or MicroBruit (Boczkowski, 2013; Guarnaccia
increase in the sound absorption coefcients with greater greenery et al., 2014a, 2014b; Carr et al., 2011). In this study, CadnaA (Com-
coverage. Horoshenkov et al. (2013) measured the acoustic absorp- puter Aided Noise Abatement) was used. The general approach of
tion coefcients of ve types of low-growing plants in the presence CadnaA is based on the inverse ray-tracing technique (Guarnaccia
and absence of soil. They found that the absorption coefcients of et al., 2014a). This software enables the analysis of the noise
plants are predominantly determined by the area density and the generated by various sources, such as roads and railways, based
angular orientation of the leaves. The presence of porous soil in on international standard technical parameters. Either localized
which a plant is growing can also affect the ability of the plant receivers or extended areas can be considered; in the latter case,
to absorb sound because of the interaction between the sound the analysis is performed for individuals divisions of a grid of the
waves propagated through the plant to the top layer of the soil desired size.
and the sound waves reected from the porous soil. Yang et al.
(2013) considered various factors such as soil depth, soil moisture
and level of vegetation. Measurements without vegetation revealed 2. Materials and methods
high absorption coefcients, with a signicant decrease as the soil
moisture increased. The absorption coefcients measured in the 2.1. Description of the prototype greenery wall
presence of plants showed a tendency to increase with increasing
vegetation coverage and density. The barrier was constructed from concrete blocks and coated
In previous work, a greenery wall prototype for use in build- with mortar. The dimensions of the prototype barrier are 2.62 m in
ing facades was designed and constructed (Urrestarazu and Burs, width, 2.42 m in height and 0.20 m in thickness. The wall is shown
2012). The system is composed of independent modular units and with and without greenery in Fig. 1.
a support mechanism. Each modular unit is a closed box lled with The green wall system is based on recycled polyethylene
a substrate, in which plant species are cultivated. To analyse the modules; each is an independent hydroponic crop unit (MCU)
possible application of this modular greenery wall for noise reduc- (Urrestarazu and Burs, 2012; Prez et al., 2016). The MCUs are
tion, two different standardized laboratory tests were conducted resistant to UV radiation and are 600 mm wide by 200 mm high
(Azkorra et al., 2015). The main results were a weighted sound by 400 mm thick. Each MCU is a closed box lled with a recy-
reduction index (Rw) of 15 dB and a weighted sound absorption clable and environmentally friendly substrate: a 50/50 vol/vol mix
coefcient () of 0.40. The goal of the present paper is to anal- of compost and coconut bres of 15 cm in thickness. A lower layer
yse the performance of this modular-based greenery system when of recycled plastic (3 mm in thickness), which is environmentally
applied in the design of noise barriers to increase their noise absorp- benecial by virtue of the recycling of the plastic, also provides
tion capabilities and their integration with their surroundings. First, resistance and collects rainwater from the upper layer. Each MCU
in situ measurements of noise reection at a moderate scale were is independent and is held in place by a stainless steel structure. An
performed to estimate the sound absorption coefcients. Then, the irrigation system and vegetal canopy, as described by Urrestarazu
obtained values were input into software for noise prediction to and Burs (2012) and Azkorra et al. (2015), is used. This green wall
evaluate the potential improvement in sound attenuation that can is designed to host any small shrub, although native plants that
be achieved by such greenery barriers. are well adapted to the climate are recommended. In this study,
174 A.M. Lacasta et al. / Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 20 (2016) 172179
Fig. 1. Experimental prototype with and without the modular greenery system.
1 Pr (f )
the Helichrysum thianschanicum species was used. This species is RP (f ) = (1)
widely used in gardening in the Mediterranean climate and partic- Kr Pd (f )
ularly in plant facades because of its high resistance to drought and
high temperatures. Each module contained 24 pre-cultivated plants where Kr is a geometrical factor that depends on the difference
with an average height of 0.4 m. Acoustic measurements were per- between the paths followed by the direct and reected waves, Pr (f)
formed after the irrigation, resulting in a composition of 16.2% solid is the spectrum of the sound pressure wave reected by the bar-
materials, 51.8% water and 23% air (by volume). rier (after the application of the subtraction technique), and Pd (f) is
the spectrum of the direct sound pressure wave. It is worth noting
several potential difculties encountered in both performing the
2.2. In situ measurement procedure
measurements and handling the data. An incorrect determination
of geometrical factors and other corrections can lead to strong dis-
In situ measurements of sound reection were performed on
crepancies in the reection factors. A signicant improvement in
the experimental noise barrier both with and without the modular
the accuracy of the method can be achieved by performing a ref-
greenery system. Although the small dimensions of the prototype
erence measurement using a totally reecting surface for the same
prevented the precise determination of the noise absorption char-
positions of the loudspeaker and the microphones (Garai et al.,
acteristics, a comparative analysis could be performed to quantify
1998). In our case, the wall without greenery is not a totally reect-
the improvement achieved by mounting greenery on the plain
ing surface, but it exhibits a known reection behaviour and thus
concrete wall. A method based on the ISO 13472-1 standard and
can be treated as the reference surface. The relative reection factor
the European CENT/TS 1793 standard, though with certain sim-
Rp,rel (f) is then evaluated as follows:
plications and adaptations to the experimental set-up, was used.
The procedure consisted of generating and analysing the evolu-
tion of a train of very short acoustic signals (pulses) incident on Pr,green (f )
Rp,rel (f ) = (2)
and reected by the barrier. A microphone was placed between Pr,wall (f )
the omnidirectional source and the barrier (Fig. 2). With the selec-
tion of a sufcient short time for analysis, it is possible to assume where Pr,green (f) and Pr,wall (f) are the spectra of the sound pressure
that this microphone received both the directly incident sound waves reected by the barrier with and without greenery, respec-
and that reected by the barrier. In addition, the directly incident tively.
sound was also registered by placing a second microphone at the Once the relative reection factors have been obtained, the rel-
same distance from the noise source but in a location free of reec- ative absorption coefcients can be calculated as follows:
tions coming from nearby walls. The effect of ground reections
is expected to be similar in both recordings. Thus, the subtrac- 2
tion of the two simultaneously recorded signals should yield the rel (f ) = 1 |RP,rel (f )| (3)
A.M. Lacasta et al. / Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 20 (2016) 172179 175
The real absorption coefcients for the greenery wall can then be
estimated from the relative coefcients rel and the known absorp-
tion coefcients of the reference barrier, wall :
2 2
(f ) = 1 |RP (f )| = 1 |RP,wall (f )| (rel (f ) 1)
(4)
= rel (f ) + wall (f ) (1 rel (f ))
Fig. 4. Left panels: The reected sound levels for the reference barrier without greenery (black) and the greenery-covered barrier (white) at three different microphone
positions: h = 100 cm (top), 90 cm (middle) and 80 cm (bottom). Right panels: The corresponding relative absorption coefcients.
imized by the use of greenery barriers, and the objective of this heights. Above 8 m, the improvement is only approximately 1 dB(A)
section is to quantify this improvement. The environmental noise or less. At short distances (d = 20 m), the improvement reaches a
prediction software CadnaA was employed for this purpose, fol- maximum at a height approximately equal to the barrier height
lowing the method explained in Section 2.3. First, the separation (3 m). At longer distances, this maximum occurs at a lower height.
between the barriers was set to W = 46 m. Several sets of receivers, Finally, we study the dependence on the separation between
located at different distances d from the barrier and at different the barriers, W. Three separations are considered: W = 38, 46 and
heights h from the ground, were considered. Fig. 5 shows the pre- 54 m. Because the barrier height is xed at 3 m, these separations
dicted sound maps, at three different heights, corresponding to correspond to barrier height ratios, W/H, of approximately 12, 15
congurations with a single barrier, a pair of parallel reective and 18, respectively. The results are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. In Fig. 9,
barriers and a pair of parallel greenery barriers. the sound levels for reective and greenery barriers obtained at a
The single-barrier case presented in the gure (left panel) height of h = 4 m for each of the three separations are plotted as
corresponds to a reective barrier, but in fact, the attenuation expe- functions of the distance from the barrier. As expected, when the
rienced behind a single barrier does not depend signicantly on separation is smaller, the effect of reections is more important
the absorption coefcient. The colours in the gure illustrate how and, therefore, the improvement offered by the greenery barriers is
sound is attenuated behind the barrier; sound levels lower than higher. Fig. 10 compares the improvements, as functions of height,
those in front of the barrier are indicated, especially at a height of for a receiver located 40 m from the barrier. Is clearly seen that a
h = 2 m. When a second reective barrier is added on the other side lower separation yields greater improvement.
of the road (central panels), the occurrence of multiple reections
increases the noise level from the road, causing a clear reduc-
tion in the attenuation behind the rst barrier (the green colours
shift to orange tones). However, when a pair of greenery barriers 4. Discussion and conclusions
instead of reective barriers is erected (right panels), the attenua-
tion obtained behind the single barrier appears to be recovered. A modular greenery wall was acoustically characterized to eval-
To better understand the behaviour shown in Fig. 5, the sound uate its potential performance as a roadway noise barrier. First, in
levels at a height of h = 4 m are plotted as a function of the distance situ measurements of the sound reection and absorption coef-
from the barrier in Fig. 6. A comparison of the results for the three cients were performed using an experimental prototype. The
analysed congurations shows that the use of greenery barriers results for the greenery-covered wall and a reference wall with-
considerably mitigates the reection effect, although it does not out greenery were compared, revealing a clear improvement in the
eliminate it completely. The improvement, calculated using Eq. (5), presence of greenery. The in situ measured absorption coefcients
is shown in the inset of Fig. 6. It increases with increasing distance have an average value of approximately 0.7. In general, the values
and is equal to approximately 2.3 dBA at a distance of d = 40 m. For for all frequency bands are higher than those previously obtained
this case (h = 4 m and d = 40 m), Fig. 7 compares the sound levels in in laboratory measurements (Azkorra et al., 2015), which can be
the various frequency bands. attributed to the fact that in these previous measurements, the
In Fig. 8, the improvements achieved by using greenery barriers vegetation in the greenery system was not as highly developed
are presented, as functions of the receiver height h, for distances of as that in the prototype barrier used in this study. In fact, these
d = 20, 40, 60 and 80 m (these positions are marked in the sound ndings reinforce our belief that in situ measurements of this kind
maps presented in Fig. 5). As expected, the difference between are a valuable tool for the realistic evaluation of greenery walls,
using reective or absorbing barriers is less important at greater which exhibit signicant changes throughout the year that cannot
be conveniently evaluated in the laboratory.
A.M. Lacasta et al. / Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 20 (2016) 172179 177
Fig. 5. Predicted sound maps at three heights with respect to ground level, h = 2, 4 and 8 m, and three barrier congurations (shown in white). Left panels: One reective
barrier placed 23 m from the centre of the track. Central panels: Two reective barriers, each 23 m from the centre of the track (W = 46 m). Right panels: Same as the central
panels but with greenery barriers. Colours from red to green indicate a decrease in noise level. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader
is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 7. Predicted sound-level distributions, in octave frequency bands, for a receiver Fig. 10. Predicted improvements for pairs of greenery barriers with separations of
at a height of h = 4 m and a distance from the barrier of d = 40 m. The three different W = 38, 46 and 54 m as functions of height. The receiver is placed at a distance of
barrier congurations are compared. d = 40 m.
Acknowledgements
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