Damped cylindrical spreading model: Estimation of mitigated pile driving noise levels

Underwater noise caused by impulsive pile driving for the installation of foundations for offshore wind farms is potentially harmful to marine life if not properly mitigated. Several models have been developed over the past years, to accurately predict the underwater sound field from pile driving activities. However, due to the complexity of the problem and subsequently the corresponding models, the use of such models is often restricted to a relatively small group of experts. To enable a wider group of people to estimate at least the sound exposure level (SEL), as one of the key quantities, the Damped Cylindrical Spreading (DCS) model has been developed recently and validated using measurement data from unmitigated pile driving. The paper at hand now aims at extending the DCS model to the case of mitigated pile driving noise, using corresponding measurement data from five offshore sites in the North Sea. Furthermore, the potential of the model to predict noise levels in close vicinity of the pile is investigated. Based on the available data sets, it is shown that the approach can indeed be extended to mitigated pile driving scenarios including short range levels as well as different noise mitigation techniques and foundation types, while still producing results that are more accurate than the currently most widely used approach for sound decay estimations.

Subjects

Damped cylindrical spreading

DCS Model

Noise mitigation

Pile driving

DDC Class

620: Ingenieurwissenschaften

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Damped cylindrical spreading model: Estimation of mitigated pile driving noise levels