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Journal of Air Transport Management 31 (2013) 15e17

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Analysis of airport noise exposure around Viracopos International

Airport using geographic information systems
Flavio Maldonado Bentes a, *, Tarcilene Aparecida Heleno b, Jules Ghislain Slama b
a
Jorge Duprat Figueiredo Foundation for Occupational Health and Safety, Av. Presidente Antnio Carlos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
b
Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

a b s t r a c t
Keywords: This paper analyses airport noise exposure around Viracopos International Airport by quantifying the
Viracopos airport proportion of highly annoyed people in surrounding zones using simulations, integrated noise models
Airport noise
and geographic information systems.
Brazilian airports
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Airport noise is long standing and a major problem for
surrounding communities. The characteristics and impact of
aircraft noise vary but are generally inuenced by factors such as
the number of ights, their timing, the type of aircraft, and the
ight path (Sancho and Senchermes, 1983). According to Grampella
(2012), the technological development has brought signicant
improvements to reduce the noise of a single event but the noise
still remains a problem of major importance.
To counter the problem, governments, at both national and local
levels are imposing a variety of noise management measures
ranging from noise abatement procedures on the ground to limits
on the noise allowed by individual aircraft.
Airport noise generally has its origin in discrete events such as
a landing or takeoff, as well as the procedures of the aircraft on the
ground (Morais et al., 2008). The main sources of aircraft noise are
propulsion systems, which include engines and turbines, and also
the aerodynamic noise as a consequence of the structure being in
direct contact with air at high speed. Each aircraft component
considered as a noise source contributes signicantly to the landing
or takeoff, and its intensity may vary according to the procedures
adopted; e.g. the runway used or immediate ight path. Morrell
and Lu (2007) also nd that differences in aircraft operations,
engine types, emission rates and airport congestion are also inu-
encing the damage level. Aggregate noise nuisance is also inu-
enced by human (especially the number of residences near an
airport) and physical (the land contours around the airport)
geography.
Here we focus on quantifying highly annoyed populations
(HAP) at Viracopos International Airport (SBKP) in Brazil using
the INM1 software tools and geographical information systems
(GIS). The airport is selected because of the growing number of
passenger and cargo ights, many displaced from Congonhas
Airport (SBSP).
2. Noise exposure in communities
Following Schultz (1978), we consider the relationships
between noise levels, using the dayenight sound level (DNL)
metric, which has been adopted in many countries for airport
zoning, and the percentage of highly annoyed people. This metric is
based on the average sound energy produced by all aircraft
occurring events over 24 h. To the sound levels between 10 pm and
7 am, 10 dB (A) are added to reect the greater sensitivity of indi-
viduals to noise during the night. Equation (1) describes the DNL
metric.

1
INM is a computer model developed by the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) that evaluates aircraft noise impacts in the vicinity of airports. It is based on
* Corresponding author. an algorithm from the Society of Automotive Engineers e Aerospace Information
E-mail addresses: avio.bentes@fundacentro.gov.br, avio.bentes@gmail.com Report 1845 standard (Procedure for the Calculation of Airplane Noise in the
(F.M. Bentes). Vicinity of Airports).

0969-6997/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.11.001
 Author's personal copy

16 F.M. Bentes et al. / Journal of Air Transport Management 31 (2013) 15e17

8 2 22
< Z   Table 1

DNL 10 log 1=244 10LAt=10 dt

Viracopos International Airport logistics data.
:
Airport site 17,659,300 m2
7
39 (1) Aircraft site 86,978 m2
Z7   = Runway dimensions 3240  45 m
10LAt10=10 dt 5 Passenger capacity (per year) 6.8 million
; Passenger terminal area 30,000 m2
22
Parking lot (number of vehicles) 2010 places
Number of check-in counters 72
Schultz developed DNL metrics for road, rail and airport, that for
Logistics terminal area of import and export cargo 81,000 m2
the latter is; Aircraft parking positions 41 positions
%HAP 0:8533DNL  0:0401DNL2 0:00047DNL3 (2) Source: Infraero (2012).

Subsequent papers by Fidell et al. (1988) and Miedema and Vos

(1988) sought to establish more sensitive relationships between 4. Results
the percentage of the highly annoyed population and the DNL
metric and yield equations (3) and (4). The noise curves calculated are seen in Fig. 1.
2 The 55 dB (A) noise curve covers Campinas, Valinhos and
%HAP 78:9181  3:2645DNL 0:0360DNL (3) Indaiatuba municipalities, while the other noise contours only
include Campinas. Using GIS we quantify the HAPs in different
%HAP  1:395$104 DNL  423 4:081$102 DNL  422 ranges, by overlapping layers (Table 2).
0:342DNL  42 4 Allocating the number of noise related HAPs to a band depends
not only on their percentage of the population, which is calculated
as a function of DNL, but also on the number of people in the
3. Methodology respective noise contours, identied through the use of Transcad.
Fig. 2 shows the values calculated.
Viracopos International Airport, operated by Infraero and We see in gure, that for the 60e65 range, the relative number
a Consortium Aeroportos Brazil (a group of private companies), is of HAP converges to the same value for all three calculation
located in Campinas, one of the most important technology growth methods. Although noise levels are higher in the latter ranges, there
poles in Brazil around the University of Campinas-Unicamp and is a lower noise exposure because there are restrictions on land use,
several high technology companies. In recent years, the airport has with controls over the building of schools, hospitals and homes,
increased its air cargo capacity (it is now the second busiest cargo according to Brazilian Civil Aviation Regulation 161. In 55e60 range,
airport in Brazil), being developed as part of the express lane the relative number of HAP found using the Schultz model is
logistics chain into and out of Brazil (Infraero, 2012). Table 1 considerably lower than for the others. This is due to controls over
provides some details of the airport. It has an infrastructure allow- night ights; night ight restrictions and curfews, night quotas, and
ing the operation of all types of aircraft serving a growing network of
domestic and international passenger and cargo markets.
To generate noise curves for the DNL metric using INM software
data relating to aircraft model, routes, takeoffs and landing proce-
dures were collected and applied to equations (2)e(4) to estimate
the percentage of highly annoyed people by aircraft noise.
Initially, layers are imported from INM, and the noise curves
exported to layers and imported by Transcad. Using GIS, it was
possible to quantify the number of people within each noise curve.2
Using census information, the number of people in a census sector is
found and the noise curves superimposed on the census layers
allowing the calculation of the number of people in each noise curve.
To determine the number of people exposed to different noise
levels within ranges that can be analyzed individually, we quantify
by noise exposure bands that identies HAPs in groups with
various characteristics in terms of airport noise exposure. Equation
(5) shows, for example, the calculation of highly annoyed people in
the range 55e60 dB (A). Fig. 1. Viracopos International Airport noise curves. Source: Study Group in Airport
Noise e GERA (2012).
HAP5560 %HAP55 *IP55  %HAP60 *IP60 (5)

where HAP5560 is the number of HAPs for the noise range 55e60 dB Table 2
Highly annoyed people for different noise ranges.
(A), %HAP55 is the percentage of HAPs by noise calculated using
equations (2)e(4) to DNL 55, IP55 is the Transcad estimate of people Band DNL Calculated Identied HAP for range
(dB(A)) area (km2) population
for noise curve DNL 55, %HAP60 is the percentage of HAPs calculated Schultz Fidell Miedema
(people)
using equations (2)e(4) to DNL 60, and IP60 is the Transcad esti- et al. and Vos
mated number of people associated with noise curve DNL 60. 1 55e60 24,075 30,919 204 1615 1794
2 60e65 10,032 13,617 603 1233 1799
3 65e70 4182 5677 649 890 1335
2 4 70e75 1656 1501 276 330 487
Transcad works in vector form, enabling the use of various layered les
5 75e80 0.38 520 156 164 233
provided by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (2012) and can be
6 80e85 0.16 228 120 110 147
freely accessed.
 Author's personal copy
F.M. Bentes et al. / Journal of Air Transport Management 31 (2013) 15e17
Fig. 2. Relative number of highly annoyed people by noise ranges.
noise charges and penalties that are embodied in different ways in
the three metrics.
5. Conclusions
This paper has quantied the people exposed to aircraft noise
around Viracopos International Airport using computer simulation
and GIS data. It has found that the size of the population that is
highly annoyed by noise around the airport is sensitive to the
metric of noise that is used, and in particular to the way that
nighttime air trafc noise is treated.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for
Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering (COPPE/UFRJ), the
National Council for Scientic and Technological Development
(CNPq), Foundation for Research Support in Rio de Janeiro
(Faperj) and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher
Education Personnel (Capes). Furthermore, we thank the Jorge
Duprat Figueiredo Foundation for Occupational Health and Safety
(Fundacentro), Laboratory of Acoustics and Vibration (LAVI) and
17
the Study Group in Airport Noise (GERA), that supported the
study.
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