CONCRETO & Construções | 61
grinding process and longitudi-
nal grooves are installed. It is de-
scribed as the quietest non-porous
concrete surface. In Europe there
are also plans for trial sections in
order to be able to assess the per-
formance of this technique on an
existing concrete surface.
5.5 The porous surface
of “Modieslab”
“Modieslab” is a modular pave-
ment system, developed in the Neth-
erlands as a part of the Dutch “Roads
to the Future” programme. It con-
sists of precast concrete slabs with
a base layer in conventional concrete
and a surface in double-layered po-
rous concrete. This structure results
in extremely low noise levels: 6 dB(A)
less than the Dutch reference surface
(densely graded asphalt). In addition,
the durability of the noise character-
istics is very good : only 0.6 dB(A)
decrease in noise reduction after
5 years, which is much better than
other comparable surfaces.
In 2007, Dr. Robert O. Rasmussen
from the Transtec Group (Texas, U.S.)
was the leader of a research team that
did measurements all over Europe
and the United States. His conclusion
was clear: “As can be seen, the OBSI
level for the porous concrete surface
on the Modieslab is very low – just
over 96 dB (A). This makes it the low-
est level of all of the concrete pave-
ment surfaces measured so far by the
CP Tech Center team”.
6. CONCLUSIONS
In the past there was hardly any
attention paid to noise and traffic
noise in particular. Today it has be-
come an important criterion in the
design and construction of trans-
port infrastructure.
Modern road surfaces in jointed or
continuously reinforced concrete with
a fine-grained exposed-aggregate sur-
face are competitive in terms of rolling
noise with the dense asphalt surfaces.
The durability of the noise level is an ex-
tra advantage of concrete pavements.
In urban areas with mixed traffic
(passenger cars, buses, vans etc.)
driving at variable speed, the contri-
bution of the rolling noise becomes
secondary. Traffic management
measures may be a better solution
to reduce the environmental noise.
Finally one should keep in mind that
noise is not the only design criterion for
road pavements. Its relevance should
be defined depending on context and
environmental conditions. Road safety
and the closely linked characteris-
tic of skid resistance remain a prior-
ity. In order to make the right choice
of pavement, a global evaluation is
needed taking into account the dura-
bility, the life cycle cost and the surface
characteristics.
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Figure 15
Porous surface of Modieslab
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[03] M. Haider (Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria). Investigation and classification of low-noise concrete roads. Paper at the 11
th
International Symposium
on Concrete Roads, Seville, 13-15 October 2010.
[04] R.O. Rasmussen, R.J. Bernhard, U. Sandberg, E.P. Mun. The little book of quieter pavements. The Transtec Group, Report n° FHWA-IF-08-004, July 2007.
[05] R.O. Rasmussen (The Transtec Group, U.S.), T.R. Ferragut (TDC Partners ), P.D. Wiegand (National Concrete Pavement Technology Center). Comparative
measurements of tire/pavement noise in Europe and the United States : NITE II. Paper at the 37
th
International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control
Engineering, Shanghai, China, October 2008.
[06] S. Riffel (Heidelberg Cement AG, Leimen, Germany). CRCP with ground texture – Experiences and results of the „Geseke access road“ pilot project. Paper at the
12
th
International Symposium on Concrete Roads, Prague, 23-26 September 2014.
[07] L. Scofield (ACPA). Development and implementation of the Next Generation Concrete Surface. Final Report, March 2011.
[08] G. van Blokland, B. Peeters (M+P Consulting engineers, The Netherlands). Modelling the noise emission of road vehicles and results of recent experiments. Paper
at the Inter-Noise 2009 Conference, Ottawa, Canada, 23-26 August 2009.
[09] P.E. van Hinthem (Breijn bv.), N. v Deurzen (BetonSon bv.). Denken in modulair bouwen (Thinking in modular construction). Paper at the CROW Infradays, The
Netherlands, 2012.
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