sonAIR – a GIS-Integrated Spectral Aircraft Noise Simulation Tool for Single Flight Prediction and Noise Mapping

The aircraft noise simulation model sonAIR has been designed to precisely predict single flights with the scope of investigating and optimising noise abatement procedures. With its current implementation it is also possible to do noise mapping for entire airports. The simulation process is based on a time-step approach in which single flights are represented in a high temporal resolution. Several sound emission models are available, from detailed models for turbofan powered aircraft, which describe airframe and engine noise separately with a three dimensional sound directivity pattern, to simplified models for a wide variety of propeller driven aircraft and helicopters. A detailed sound propagation model is used, which for example pays particular attention to air attenuation through a stratified atmosphere. The whole simulation chain is formulated for one-third octave bands within a frequency range of 25 Hz to 5 kHz. The full implementation of the program in a geographic information system (GIS) allows for a user-friendly calculation process. In this contribution an overview of the model and the calculation process is given, and first results of model verifications as well as application examples are presented.