International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 10, Issue 04, April 2019, pp. 1346-1353, Article ID: IJCIET_10_04_140
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=10&IType=04
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
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DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF NOISE
SHIELDS
Nikitin Nikita Alekseivich, Tereshko Yulia Sergeevna, Danilovich Iuliia Borisovna,
Alexander Nikolaevich Zheleznichenko, Ivankina Maria Sergeevna,. Bykova Zlata
Sergeevna, Mosolova Anastasia Sergeevna, Sarro Alexandr Alekseevych, Kuzin
Alexandr Aleksandrovich, Grigoryan Sevada Saakovich
Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU) National Research University, 26,
Yaroslavskoye Shosse, Moscow, Russia
ABSTRACT
The article describes the problems resulting from the absence in the Russian
Federation of the Law on noise, regulating the relationship of stakeholders, carrying
out noise protection measures, determining the area of responsibility, appropriate
penalties, etc.
The main mistakes in the design and construction of noise shields (which are the
most frequently used type of noise protection measures in practice), including mistakes
of developers of design and working documentation, mistakes during installation, poor
quality panels (design defects) are identified and considered in the article.
The result of the described mistakes is the acoustic fragility of noise shields, when
the shield materials are no longer operational and need regular maintenance.
The normative and technical documentation of various levels (state standards,
standards of organizations, guidelines, departmental construction norms) operating in
the territory of the Russian Federation is analyzed, its main shortcomings are revealed
and the directions requiring adjustment are described.
Visual illustrations of the installed noise shields at the existing facilities of the
Russian Federation, which have lost their functionality due to the mistakes in the
design, construction and manufacture of structures are presented in the article.
The idea of the formation of two main groups of noise protection shields was put
forward: unified and individual. Unified designs of noise protection shields at the stage
of implementation and testing are offered to be given the status of “recommended”,
and, later they can be included into the category of “mandatory” with their successful
application and implementation, including the solution of the problem of reducing the
cost and time for the construction of shields.
Keywords: noise shield, design, construction, errors, regulatory and technical
documentation.
\http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp
1346
editor@iaeme.com
Nikitin Nikita Alekseivich, Tereshko Yulia Sergeevna, Danilovich Iuliia Borisovna, Alexander
Nikolaevich Zheleznichenko, Ivankina Maria Sergeevna,. Bykova Zlata Sergeevna, Mosolova
Anastasia Sergeevna, Sarro Alexandr Alekseevych, Kuzin Alexandr Aleksandrovich,
Grigoryan Sevada Saakovich
Cite this Article: Nikitin Nikita Alekseivich, Tereshko Yulia Sergeevna, Danilovich
Iuliia Borisovna, Alexander Nikolaevich Zheleznichenko, Ivankina Maria Sergeevna,.
Bykova Zlata Sergeevna, Mosolova Anastasia Sergeevna, Sarro Alexandr
Alekseevych, Kuzin Alexandr Aleksandrovich, Grigoryan Sevada Saakovich, Design
and Construction of Noise Shields. International Journal of Civil Engineering and
Technology, 10(04), 2019, pp. 1346-1353
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=10&IType=04
In the period from the end of the 90s to the present, noise protection shields have developed
significantly and have firmly taken their place in the mandatory infrastructure of roads and
railways of the Russian Federation. Since they not only allow to cope with traffic noise, but
can also give architectural expressiveness to the section of the road [ 11, 12, 13].
Nevertheless, the amount of noise protection shields of the length of settlements is only
1.3% on federal roads, and about 0.07% on regional ones [10, 13].
The extreme smallness of these figures (including in comparison with international
experience, for example, with the countries of the European Union) indicates a very high
percentage of settlements that are not subject to protection from increased acoustic exposure.
The reason for this is, in particular, the absence of the Law on Noise, which regulates the
relations between the parties concerned, the conduct of noise protection measures, the
definition of the area of responsibility and the corresponding penalties [14, 15].
Another problem is often the lack of proper attitude of designers, builders, manufacturers
or customers directly to similar structures, which leads to the opposite phenomena; the shield
not only does not perform its noise reduction functions, but also causes discomfort for both
road users and residents of adjacent residential buildings.
Reducing the visibility of the road, unsightly appearance, partial destruction of shields are
only several of the problems that occur in practice.
At present, a lot of regulatory and technical documentation has been developed, from state
standards to methodological recommendations governing the requirements for the design and
location of noise shields.
In our opinion, the main documents are:
National State Standard 33329-2015 "Acoustic shields for railway transport. Technical
requirements "[1];
Special technical conditions. Noise protection measures for the Moscow-Kazan section of
the Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg high-speed railway. Technical standards and requirements
for design and construction. Snt.-Pb .: Federal State Budgetary Institution of Higher
Professional Education PGUPS, 2016.
National State Standard 32957-2014 “Public roads. Acoustic shields. Technical
requirements "[3];
National State Standard 52766-2007 “Public roads. Elements of arrangement. General
requirements "(p.4.4.2) [4];
Industry-Specific Construction Standards 25-86. Guidelines for the safety of traffic on
highways. (clause 16.2) [5];
Service stations Avtodor 2.9-2014. Recommendations for the design, construction and
operation of acoustic shields on the roads of the State Company Avtodor [6]
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Design and Construction of Noise Shields
Road industrial methodical document 218.2.013-2011. Guidelines for protection from
traffic noise areas adjacent to roads [7]
Studying and analyzing these regulatory documents, one can see how approaches to the
design of such structures evolve; new tasks are posed to solve the problems identified during
the operation.
However, despite such an abundance of regulatory and technical documentation, it is
extremely difficult to achieve consistency between the theoretical and practical effectiveness
of noise protection shields. Correction of technical standards documentation is necessary,
taking into account the main problems and mistakes, which are encountered in practice.
The main reasons for the unsatisfactory condition of shields on roads and railways,
according to the authors, are:
- Mistakes in the design (Pic. 1);
- Installation mistakes (Pic. 2);
- Design defects (low quality of the panels) (Pic. 3).
Pic.1 Gaps under noise shield up to 2 m
Pic.2 Incorrect installation of panels
Pic.3 Deep metal corrosion and dropping of sound-absorbing material
The result of the described mistakes is the acoustic fragility of noise protection shields
when the screen materials no longer work and need regular maintenance.
In Russia, there has been a lurch towards shields with metal panels made of galvanized
steel, which often become unusable after 3-5 years of operation. Often the panels are made of
thin metal (galvanized steel of 0.5 mm), as a result of which they become unusable in one
season. For comparison, in the world market, metal shields are used mostly made of aluminum
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1348
editor@iaeme.com
Nikitin Nikita Alekseivich, Tereshko Yulia Sergeevna, Danilovich Iuliia Borisovna, Alexander
Nikolaevich Zheleznichenko, Ivankina Maria Sergeevna,. Bykova Zlata Sergeevna, Mosolova
Anastasia Sergeevna, Sarro Alexandr Alekseevych, Kuzin Alexandr Aleksandrovich,
Grigoryan Sevada Saakovich
and stainless steel, rather than galvanized steel, since their service life is much longer (more
than 15 years).
In Europe, preference is given to heavy shields made of chip concrete or expanded clay
concrete (about 30% of the total volume of materials used) and shields made of impregnated
wood (also about 30%) that are resistant to any type of corrosion [8, 9].
About 85% of all screens installed in Russia are galvanized steel panels, 10% are made of
aluminum and stainless steel. In our country, there are few screens of impregnated wood (about
3%) and screens of expanded clay concrete and chip concrete are almost never used. The
amount of other materials accounts for 1%.
In Europe, noise protection shields were installed 15 years earlier than in Russia. When
comparing the requirements for noise protection panels in Russia and Europe, the following
can be noted:
1. The thickness of the galvanized metal sheet is allowed 0.8 mm in Russia, in Europe
it is 1.2 mm. With such requirements, at the first stage of manufacturing, the cost
of a high-quality galvanized panel becomes higher than the panels of other
materials. Thus, due to the high cost and low durability of galvanized panels, in
Europe their manufacture becomes extremely unprofitable and it is excluded from
practical application.
2. In Russia, the processing of the material is practically unregulated; in the European
Union, the requirements are imposed on all stages of machining and anti-corrosion
treatment is applied after these stages.
3. In Europe, the minimum density of sound-absorbing material is 120 kg / m3, in
Russia it is at least 90 kg / m3, but manufacturers often use 60 kg / m3 and even
less.
4. The requirements for sound insulation in our country are determined only by
certificates and test reports, while in Europe there are restrictions on the surface
density of the panel.
This trick allows unscrupulous manufacturers to make light panels with low sound
insulation, hiding behind overestimated values in certificates. Thus, on the panel of the same
construction (the same thickness, density of the material, the size of the air gap, etc.), the
insulation noise index of different manufacturers differs by 7-9 dB and reaches 36 dB for a
galvanized panel with 0.7 mm sheet thickness.
Thus, in our opinion, the main problems that require high-priority solutions in an integrated
approach to the construction of shields are the following:
No requirements for noise protection panels.
There is an absence of clear and unambiguous requirements for noise protection panels,
obliging manufacturers to deliver quality products to the objects, which would preserve without
loss their acoustic, strength and aesthetic properties in the operating conditions of the roads of
the Russian Federation for all the declared service life.
Current regulatory documents oblige manufacturers to provide only quality certificates that
reflect only the acoustic characteristics of panels, or certificates for compliance with internal
production documents (Technical Conditions (TC), Organization Standards, etc.), which, in
turn, cannot be read not only in the public domain, but also when you personally contact the
manufacturer.
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Design and Construction of Noise Shields
They are rarely obliged to provide fire certificates, while there are no established and
regulated forms, and manufacturers as such certificates present documents that do not reflect
the fire hazard products. The absence of clear requirements for certification of products that
are designed to serve for more than a dozen years is unacceptable.
Unfortunately, practical experience has shown that over the past twenty years, no panel has
lasted a full declared service life. Moreover, only units of noise protection panels even
correspond to their warranty service life, for various reasons, from instability to wind loads, to
natural decay caused by corrosion.
Thus, the requirements for the strength characteristics of the panels, corrosion resistance,
should be mandatory and properly fixed in the regulatory documentation.
Unscrupulous manufacturers of noise shields.
The dishonest approach of the manufacturers of noise protection panels and the violation
of production technologies, declared in the promotional products. Often, manufacturers of
noise protection screens in order to reduce the cost of products reduce the cost of raw materials
directly, which excludes the possibility of making a quality product. Unfortunately, the
application of innovative approaches to production technologies or the development of
qualitatively new samples are rarely applicable in Russia.
Lack of requirements for noise protection designs.
The absence of detailed requirements for the supporting structures of noise protection
shields, such as racks and fastening elements of racks and panels.
To date, none of the existing regulatory documents obliges manufacturers to comply with
specific requirements for the supporting structures of shields, but only recommends certain
approaches for design, which makes it difficult to carry out quality control and makes it
impossible to identify illiquid products.
Due to the multi-stage construction of noise protection shields, in which several links take
part, from the customer to the builders, the manufacturer directly in this chain may not take
responsible for poor-quality and unfair products, performed according to the internal standards
of the organization, which it provides in the framework of competition.
As a result, there is an urgent need to establish at least minimum requirements for
supporting structures (for example, a requirement for a wide-I-beam instead of a beam), or a
requirement for the manufacturer’s reporting documentation, which would clearly indicate the
constructive reliability of the proposed supporting elements in specific construction conditions.
Change of design decisions.
Replacement at the construction stage of the adopted design decisions is for more costeffective, but inferior in their functionality, and leading to a decrease in the effectiveness of
noise protection measures.
The reason for these mistakes is the possible shortsightedness of customers requiring the
execution of any design decisions without taking into account the future development of the
road network.
In addition, low financing of such facilities at the design and construction stages forces
customers, builders and designers to limit themselves to standard solutions in the constructive
part, without applying architectural studies and individual approaches to specific conditions of
construction.
One of the possible ways to solve the described problem may be the simplification of the
design of noise protection screens. If they are considered as independent structures,
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1350
editor@iaeme.com
Nikitin Nikita Alekseivich, Tereshko Yulia Sergeevna, Danilovich Iuliia Borisovna, Alexander
Nikolaevich Zheleznichenko, Ivankina Maria Sergeevna,. Bykova Zlata Sergeevna, Mosolova
Anastasia Sergeevna, Sarro Alexandr Alekseevych, Kuzin Alexandr Aleksandrovich,
Grigoryan Sevada Saakovich
development of design, working documentation and passing state examination should be held
in one stage.
When designing noise screens as a part of an integrated project for the construction of a
new road or the reconstruction of an existing road, the selection of separate books for noise
screens in the section "Objects included in the infrastructure of a linear object" should be done
at the design stage.
Lack of detailed solutions for the design of noise protection screens. Detailed solutions,
such as ensuring the integrity of the screen (no gaps) from the ground to the top of the screen,
the device of high-quality drainage system, improvement of lands adjacent to the noise shield
require careful study.
Unfortunately, often, the solutions put up at the “project” and “working project” stages both
have an extremely high cost and are comparable to the cost of constructing the noise protection
shields themselves. That is economically unprofitable, or it does not meet the shield integrity
requirements, assuming the presence of gaps, that significantly reduces the theoretical acoustic
performance of noise protection screens that is assumed in the calculations, or is not feasible
in specific construction conditions, which requires inevitable changes in design solutions.
Thus, in practice, during the construction of noise shields between the base of the screen
and the lower tier of the panels, gaps and cracks remain everywhere, which are explained by
the design features of the screens, namely the presence of a supporting “rack heel” having a
certain thickness and eliminating the possibility of a snug fit.
Due to the inevitability of such gaps, it is necessary to conduct additional experimental and
scientific studies to determine the quantitative characteristics of the effect of these gaps and
gaps in the design of the screen on its acoustic performance in order to consider them when
conducting acoustic calculations at the “project” stage.
Moreover, it is necessary to carry out the development and testing in practice of new
universal designs of drainage facilities, ensuring removal of storm drains from the roadway
without disturbing the integrity of the noise shield and washing out the adjacent landscaped
area.
Unification and cheapening of noise protection screens.
With all the possible diversity of noise screens and their architectural versions, it is
necessary to realize the task of their unification, and thereby cheapening. This problem is
solved in conjunction with the problems described above.
Unified design of noise protection screens at the stage of implementation and testing can
acquire the status of “recommended”, and, later, with successful practical application,
including solving problems of reducing the cost and time of construction of screens, in the
category of “mandatory”. Structures differing from standardized screens will go into the
category of “individual”.
Thus, there will be two groups of categories of screens, each with its own price category
and target audience.
In connection with the above, we can come to the following conclusion.
In Europe, noise protection screens were installed much earlier than in Russia, and therefore
we are currently repeating the mistakes that were made in European countries 15 years ago.
Unfortunately, today we can see many examples when noise protection screens have already
rotted just a few years after installation.
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Design and Construction of Noise Shields
The scientific and technical council of the Federal Road Agency (Rosavtodor) has
repeatedly said about the transition to a 12-year overhaul period.
But, unfortunately, without changing the regulatory framework for noise protection, today,
it is impossible to do it.
Moreover, due to the fact that the first screens in Russia were installed at the end of the
20th century, and massively only 5-7 years ago, due to the poor quality of the installed
structures, in the near future Rosavtodor may face enormous costs for replacing noise screens
(Replacement of 1 km of noise screens is about 60-70 million rubles).
To solve the problems described, to eliminate characteristic errors in the design and
construction, to create standardized, high-quality, but cheap noise shields, it is necessary to
conduct a number of serious studies, experiments and implementations, according to the results
of which the existing regulatory documentation will be significantly modernized in the
considered area.
Taking over foreign experience, it is necessary to develop new technologies, to introduce
noise protection shields made of environmentally friendly materials, for example, from
impregnated wood, chip concrete, and to сchange over from galvanized panels to aluminum or
stainless structures, etc.
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Nikitin Nikita Alekseivich, Tereshko Yulia Sergeevna, Danilovich Iuliia Borisovna, Alexander
Nikolaevich Zheleznichenko, Ivankina Maria Sergeevna,. Bykova Zlata Sergeevna, Mosolova
Anastasia Sergeevna, Sarro Alexandr Alekseevych, Kuzin Alexandr Aleksandrovich,
Grigoryan Sevada Saakovich
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