Exploiting supporting poles to increase road traffic noise shielding of tree belts

A tree belt bordering a road can be a useful and environmentally friendly noise abatement measure when specific guidelines are followed. However, biological limitations regarding biomass density largely limit their shielding efficiency. Especially in case of recently planted belts with juvenile and thus thin trunks, acoustical efficiencies are small. The current study is a further elaboration on a previously performed large set of full-wave numerical calculations of tree belt planting schemes, where the effect of the presence of supporting poles is numerically investigated. It is shown that such poles can be used to give a juvenile non-deep tree belt a reasonable noise abatement, and that specific configurations of supporting poles in between the trees can further optimize its shielding. Making such poles absorbing could strongly increase road traffic noise abatement.A tree belt bordering a road can be a useful and environmentally friendly noise abatement measure when specific guidelines are followed. However, biological limitations regarding biomass density largely limit their shielding efficiency. Especially in case of recently planted belts with juvenile and thus thin trunks, acoustical efficiencies are small. The current study is a further elaboration on a previously performed large set of full-wave numerical calculations of tree belt planting schemes, where the effect of the presence of supporting poles is numerically investigated. It is shown that such poles can be used to give a juvenile non-deep tree belt a reasonable noise abatement, and that specific configurations of supporting poles in between the trees can further optimize its shielding. Making such poles absorbing could strongly increase road traffic noise abatement.A