Abstract:

Noise footprints are essential tools for assessing the impact of aircraft noise on communities surrounding airports. However， the widely used Noise-Power-Distance （NPD） empirical formula fails to account for the influence of vector winds on noise footprints during individual flight events， limiting its practical applicability. To address this challenge， a predictive model for noise footprints under vector wind conditions is developed， based on a ray-tracing model for non-uniform atmospheric sound propagation. This model incorporates ground reflection effects and the refractive influence of near-surface wind gradients on noise propagation， enabling accurate predictions of lateral attenuation across different wind directions. Model validation demonstrates strong agreement with experimental data from the literature， while showing significant improvements in computational efficiency compared to traditional grid-based methods. Research findings indicate that vector wind conditions significantly alter the lateral attenuation effect of sound propagation， compared to windless conditions， leading to pronounced asymmetry in noise contours during aircraft taxiing and initial climb phases. The proposed model can become an effective tool for enhancing the accuracy of noise impact assessments for nearby communities and planning land-use around airports under varying meteorological conditions.

Key words: vector wind, noise footprint, lateral attenuation, ray-tracing model, atmospheric refraction effect