Evaluation on the Effect of Railway Noise Barriers

Yoshio MORITOH, Toshiki KITAGAWA
The experimental studies concerning the effects of various types of noise barriers are presented. Models with a scale of 1 to 20 are used. The results are not explained by usual simple estimating methods, and it is found that the location of noise sources should be replaced from the center of track. Further, in case of no barriers, the effects of imaginary sources are necessary to be considered. The multiple reflections between the barrier and the rolling stock are estimated, which reduces the effects of barriers without sound absorbing materials considerably, especially when the heights of barriers are smaller than the heights of the rolling stock. The effects of inverted-L type barriers, barriers with windows, and track with absorbing materials are also discussed briefly.