Reducing offshore pile driving noise: Modification of the hammer impulse

Publikationstyp
Conference Paper
Date Issued
2019
Sprache
English
Author(s)
Klages, Elin 
Pein, Jonas von 
Lippert, Stephan  
Estorff, Otto von  
Institut
Modellierung und Berechnung M-16  
TORE-URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11420/4420
Citation
INTER-NOISE 2019 MADRID - 48th International Congress and Exhibition on Noise Control Engineering: (2019)
Contribution to Conference
48th International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, INTER-NOISE 2019  
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85084164381
The foundation of offshore wind farm turbines using driven piles causes high levels of underwater sound emission during construction. The emitted sound levels are potentially harmful to marine mammals and other sea life. In order to protect the marine fauna, several countries have defined limitations for the sound pressure levels. Therefore, pile driving of state-of-the-art piles for offshore wind farms requires the application of noise mitigation systems, e.g. bubble curtains, to assure that sound pressure levels do not exceed official limits. Rapidly increasing dimensions of wind turbines with even higher pile diameters demand additional measures to comply with the official regulations. Therefore, the design of the hammer regarding its acoustic characteristics has recently gained attention. Within this contribution, the driven pile as noise source and possible modifications of the pile excitation, i.e., the hammer impulse, to reduce sound emission, are discussed and first results towards a more silent hammer are presented.
Subjects
Offshore pile driving
Underwater noise
Vibroacoustics