EAEG Aircraft Noise Modelling Task Group (AIRMOD)
EAEG Aircraft Noise Modelling Task Group (AIRMOD) is responsible for maintaining ECAC Doc 29, which offers comprehensive guidance to ECAC Member States on the calculation of aircraft noise exposure levels and the production of aircraft noise contours. It includes:
- an Applications Guide (Volume 1), aimed primarily at noise model users who need a good understanding of the principles and the requirements for noise impact assessments;
- a Technical Guide (Volume 2), for modellers themselves, i.e. those who develop and maintain the computer models and their databases; and
- a Verification Process (first part of Volume 3), for software developers, aimed at assisting them in developing noise models in compliance with the best practice methodology set out in Volume 2.
The current and fourth version of Doc 29, released in December 2016, represents the outcome of four years of work by the ANCAT AIRMOD Task Group, which consisted in:
- incorporating up-to-date science on aircraft noise modelling;
- improving the clarity of the previous third edition and preventing any variations of interpretation; and
- incorporating guidance for noise model developers to support them in developing models that produce results equivalent to those models that adhere to methodologies defined in ECAC Doc 29, Volume 2.
AIRMOD's current work programme is notably focused on:
- further maintaining ECAC Doc 29, 4th edition;
- complementing ECAC Doc 29 with a methodology for modelling helicopter noise;
- developing Part II of Volume 3, which will contain guidance for noise model operators on the validation of noise models using noise measurements of actual aircraft events.
A capacity-building workshop dedicated to ECAC Doc 29, 4th edition was organised on 21 June 2018 in Berlin, Germany.
