INTEC Acoustics
Outdoor propagation
Detailed sound propagation modelling outdoors
The Acoustics Group of INTEC has a lot of experience concerning detailed sound propagation modelling outdoors. Of main interest are the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method and the Parabolic Equation (PE) method. These models allow detailed analysis in complex noise situations as often encountered in the outdoor environment, including meteorological influences...
Sound propagation in urban areas
Noise annoyance in urban areas is a major issue. In a city, there is a combination of a large number of sound sources and a large number of inhabitants. Traffic noise is generally accepted to be the major noise source. Commonly used noise reducing measures for the latter like noise barriers are often not applicable in city centers. Well informed city planning, with knowledge of the factors that influence sound propagation in urban environments, is therefore of major importance...
Trees to improve noise barrier efficiency in wind
The efficiency of common noise barriers under downwind sound propagation conditions is significantly reduced. The wind flow induces large gradients in the wind speed near the top of the screen. As a result, sound is refracted in downward direction, into the diffraction zone behind the barrier...
Efficient noise mapping
Noise mapping tries to tackle increasingly larger areas. Efficient algorithms and datastructures are necessary to cope with the vast amounts of information that is provided to the noise mapping software. 2.5D beam tracing is a technique used to accelerate path discovery in densely occluded regions such as urban areas.
3D Beam tracing
For mountaineous regions or undulating terrain a 2D or 2.5D approach to noise mapping does not suffice . Full 3D-information is then used for the noise mapping. A 3D beamtracer is used to find paths between sources and receiver in a complex 3D world.