Ways of Reducing Tire-Noise on Concrete Pavements Experience and Tests in Austria

Tire-road noise can be reduced considerably by providing a suitable surface geometry. According to the new Austrian specifications pa-vers must be fitted with a longitudinal smootherto eliminate any transverse waves produced by thebeams of the paver. In order to obtain a noise-reducing surface a longitudinal texture (e.g.. a burlap drag) isspecified instead of a transverse broomfinish or the exposed aggregate technique (e.g. a3cm thick top layer of concrete with 8mm maxi-mum aggregate size) is used.Fig. 4summarizes the different waysto reduce tire-noise in building new concrete pavements, thenoise reduction to be expected and the necessaryadditional costs.For existing concrete pavements a special surfacedressing technique (epoxy and chippings 3/4) isavailable that isconsidered equivalent to a porouswearing course.