Wind Loads on Noise Barriers
report
The Road and Hydraulic Engineering Institute of the Public Works Department in the
Netherlands (DWW) is responsible for design and maintenance of the noise barriers
aside the motorways in the Netherlands. Due to increased demands for noise protection,
existing noise barriers may not be sufficient. Improvement of the behaviour of these
barriers is possible by increasing the height or mounting a so-called T-top on top of the
existing barrier. Both solutions may, however, lead to increased wind loads, and
therefore to increased forces and moments in the load bearing structure of the barriers.
The existing barriers have been designed according to Dutch guidelines for noise
protection structures near roads (GCW) written in 1986, and updated in 2001. The wind
loading provisions in this document are conservative, if compared to the new prEN
1991-1-4:2004 (Eurocode wind actions). The extra safety, gathered in the original
design, would help the design of the solution with added height or added T-top. The
amount of safety however, is not known explicitly.
Netherlands (DWW) is responsible for design and maintenance of the noise barriers
aside the motorways in the Netherlands. Due to increased demands for noise protection,
existing noise barriers may not be sufficient. Improvement of the behaviour of these
barriers is possible by increasing the height or mounting a so-called T-top on top of the
existing barrier. Both solutions may, however, lead to increased wind loads, and
therefore to increased forces and moments in the load bearing structure of the barriers.
The existing barriers have been designed according to Dutch guidelines for noise
protection structures near roads (GCW) written in 1986, and updated in 2001. The wind
loading provisions in this document are conservative, if compared to the new prEN
1991-1-4:2004 (Eurocode wind actions). The extra safety, gathered in the original
design, would help the design of the solution with added height or added T-top. The
amount of safety however, is not known explicitly.
Topics
TNO Identifier
324326
Publisher
TNO
Collation
26 p.
Place of publication
Delft