Prediction and simulation of aircraft noise in the international Eskisehir Hasan Polatkan airport (LTBY)

In recent years, in parallel with the increasing air traffic and the number of passengers in air transport, the number of people exposed to aircraft-induced noise has increased significantly. Especially people living in the areas close to the airports are affected by noise emission during the landing, take-off, taxi and ground operations. Negative effects of noise such as sleep disturbance, lack of concentration, anxiety and high blood pressure cardiac diseases were determined directly or indirectly for human health. For this reason, examining the noise effect caused by aircraft and determining the necessary measures to be taken is very important for the sustainable development of aviation. In the International Eskisehir Hasan Polatkan Airport (LTBY), this paper aims to calculate a noise mapping following international standards in line with the directives of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Also, Annex 8, “Airworthiness of Aircrafts” and Annex 16, “Environmental Protection Volume 1 Aircraft Noise”, which were taken at the International Civil Aviation Convention, were proposed to determine the exposure caused by aircraft noise.

In this paper, noise levels for the day (07.00–19.00), evening (19.00–23.00) and night (23.00–07.00) period around LTBY were predicted and calculated by the use of the IMMI software according to the “ECAC Doc. 29-Interim” method for the prediction and computation of the aircraft noise.

According to the calculated/mapped values, in the 24 hours (Lden), the noise level is 65 dB (A) and above. In the day time zone, the noise level is 63 dB (A) and above. When the calculations for the evening time zone are examined, the noise level is above 58 dB (A). When the calculations for the night time frame are examined, it is calculated that there is no dwelling that is affected by the noise level above 53 dB (A).

Along with future improvements, it is recommended to be applied to other civil airports.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no previous research in the literature on aircraft noise mapping of LTBY. Also, unlike the software commonly used in other works in the literature, IMMI software was used in this study. Such investigations should be carried out in other civil airports in the coming years to struggle with noise emissions and noise control. If noise boundary values are exceeded, action plans should be developed for a sustainable aviation concept. Along with future improvements, it is recommended to be applied to other civil airports.