Alphajet noise certification

Anotec was contracted by The Flying Bulls to obtain the noise certificate for their fleet of Alphajet aircraft. The aircraft certified are a civil derivative of the originally military trainer, designed and manufactured by Dornier and Dassault-Breguet. This is the first time an aircraft of this type is being demilitarized.

The necessary flight tests were performed at Manching airport in Germany in autumn 2004 under supervision of the German Civil Aviation Authorities (LBA).

On March 17, 2005 final approval of all documentation and software was obtained from the LBA.

These Alphajets belong to an impressive fleet of historic aircraft, which can be visited at their hangars at Salzburg airport and at http://www.flyingbulls.com.

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IMAGINE

In June 2002, the European Directive 2002/49/EC on the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise (END) was accepted and has come into force. Under this Directive, member states will be obliged to produce noise maps of the major roads, railways and airports as well as in large agglomerations by 30th June 2007. These noise maps shall express the environmental noise levels caused by the above sources, in terms of the harmonised noise indicators Lden and Lnight. From these noise levels, other indicators such as the total number of seriously annoyed residents shall be derived. This information shall then be submitted to the European Commission and made public. The next step will be to draft Noise Action Plans, which will have to be produced by July 2008.

For the purpose of the production of noise maps and noise action plans, a harmonised assessment method is required. To this extend, the END defines so-called interim methods, which are to be applied as long as the final harmonised methods are not available. The presumption is that the assessment of environmental noise levels for noise mapping is carried out by computation rather than by measurement. Computation methods are available and have been used for a long time in different member states, but these are not always capable to produce the harmonised indicators Lden and Lnight. Therefore a limited set of existing methods has been defined, which – with some adaptations and translations – will be sufficient to be applied for the first mapping exercise. A new and harmonised method will be developed and implemented in order to lign up the mapping and action planning operation from 2012.

In August 2001 the project HARMONOISE was started with the main objective to develop harmonised, accurate and reliable methods for the assessment of environmental noise from roads and railways. The IMAGINE project aims to bridge the possible gaps between the results of HARMONOISE on the one hand and implementation of a complete and practicable method for noise mapping and action planning on the other. The main objectives of IMAGINE are to provide “Improved Methods for the Assessment of the Generic Impact of Noise in the Environment”.

Anotec will provide its experience in the field of aircraft noise predictions and modeling to provide:

• practical guidelines for data management and information technology aspects of noise mapping (Work Package 1)
• a harmonised, accepted and reliable method for the assessment of environmental noise levels from airports, which links well within the methods for noise propagation description developed in HARMONOISE and – at the same time – have large acceptance in the field of future users and other stakeholders (Work Package 4)

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Silence(R)

On April 1st 2001, the largest ever European aircraft noise research program, called SILENCE(R), has been launched. A consortium of 51 companies will collaborate during 4 years to validate noise reduction technologies that will allow as of 2008 quieter aircraft operations by up to 6 decibels. The program is part of the 5th framework program of the European Commission enabling a 50% funding of the total budget of more than 110 million Euro.

SILENCE(R) will address the issue of aircraft noise, a major cause of concern around European airports, through three major objectives:

• Large scale validation of noise reduction technologies whose development was initiated by the European Commission and National projects in 1998.
• Assessment of the applicability of these technologies to current and future European products with minimum cost, weight or performance penalty.
• Determination of the associated achievable noise reduction.

Novel concepts to be validated include low-noise fans, LP turbines, scarfed intakes, novel intake, bypass and hot-stream liners, nozzle jet noise suppressors, active control techniques and airframe noise reduction technologies.

The SILENCE(R) program is linked to X-Noise, a European Thematic Network on External Aircraft Noise. Participating companies consist of all mayor European aircraft, aero-engine and nacelle manufacturers, supported by research establishments and high tech engineering companies and SMEs.

For information: Contact the X-Noise/SILENCE(R) communication manager Dominique Collin.

Anotec is responsible for the development of the Technology Evaluator common software platform with which noise reduction technologies can be assessed on their effectiveness.

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X2-Noise

X2-NOISE addresses the issue of aircraft noise. The noise environment around airports is a major cause of concern within Europe, with many local communities subjected to high levels of aircraft noise. It is quite likely that aircraft fleet growth will be restricted because of these high levels of aircraft noise and such restrictions would impact directly the aircraft industry and indirectly general economic growth. Consequently X2-NOISE responds to societal needs in terms of the impact on the environment around airports and contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the European aircraft industry as well as ensuring the healthy growth of the air transport industry through minimisation of its environmental impact. It will also regroup in one single network organisations involved in all scientific / technical aspects of aircraft noise from emission to to impact management, allowing a more comprehensive view of the problems to solve and better definition of objectives for future research.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the External Noise R&TD objective of 10 dB reduction in 10 years in aircraft external perceived noise. To this end, X2-NOISE will develop Noise Technology Roadmaps and develop synergies with National Programmes in coordination with the activity supporting the Strategic Research Agenda, review the needs and capabilities of European Noise Test Facilities, provide tools and strategies to enhance the assessment of the noise impact of aircraft around airports, advise regulatory bodies on the status of new low-noise technology with support from the US and Japan, promote the exchange of information within the Scientific Community and with the General Public, investigate new collaborations with non-EU states, evaluate the competitiveness of EU Noise Technology and assess novel concepts for potential future investigation.

Aircraft, aero-engine and nacelle component manufacturers, research establishments, small high-tech engineering companies, consultants, and universities are involved in X2-NOISE, each bringing their own specific experience.

Anotec is responsible for the “Evaluation of European Noise Test Facilities” task.

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Study on current and future aircraft noise exposure

In March 2002 the European Parliament and Council approved the Directive 2002/30-EC on the establishment of rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at Community airports.The main objective of this Directive is to respond to the need for a common framework of rules and procedures for the introduction of operating restrictions, as part of a balanced approach on noise management. This includes the assessment of the noise impact at the airport and evaluation of measures available to alleviate that impact.

ANOTEC CONSULTING has been selected by the European Commission to carry out an assessment of the present and future aircraft noise situation at the affected Community airports and the effectiveness of the measures defined in the Directive. In this study various noise scenarios have been assessed for 51 European airports, using a single, harmonised method. New tools were developed to assess possible improvements within the balanced approach concept. The final report was delivered to the Commission early November 2003.

The results of the study will allow the Commission to draw policy conclusions with a view to possibly amend the existing legislation or to make new legislative proposals at a later stage.

You can download the report from the EC website.

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