Development of an airport noise model suitable for fleet-level studies

There is growing community awareness of the deleterious effects of aviation. Airport noise and its impact on the surrounding community are important issues in the aviation industry. It will be imperative, for the sustainable growth of aviation, to study these impacts at the fleet-level. Although there are several noise models capable of accurately predicting the noise for a single airport scenario, there is a requirement for a noise model suitable for fleet-level studies. This thesis details the development and validation of a noise model that approximates the Integrated Noise Model (INM)-predicted area within the 65 dB Day-Night Level (DNL) contour around an airport. This model is linear in the number of aircraft operations, allowing it to be used in an allocation problem. This model is flexible enough to incorporate new aircraft and/or technology, is rapidly computable, has a simple formulation, and is well correlated with a standard noise model; thus satisfying all four major requirements of a noise model suitable for fleet-level studies. The model uses the Effective Perceived Noise Level (EPNL) noise data at the takeoff, sideline and approach certification points. The model also accounts for the effect of takeoff gross weight on the takeoff noise levels and the difference between takeoff and approach aircraft operations. The model was tested in several fleet-level aircraft allocation studies to ascertain its usability. The model provided reasonable results and did not exhibit anomalous behavior. The formulation and results of these studies are presented as the final part of this thesis