A new base of wind turbine noise measurement data and its application for a systematic validation of sound propagation models

Abstract. Extensive measurements in the area of wind turbines were performed in order to validate a sound propagation model which is based on the Crank–Nicolson parabolic equation method. The measurements were carried out over a flat grass-covered landscape and under various environmental conditions. During the measurements, meteorological and wind turbine performance data were acquired and acoustical data sets were recorded at distances of 178, 535 and 845 m from the wind turbine. By processing and analysing the measurement data, validation cases and input parameters for the sound propagation model were derived. The validation includes five groups that are characterised by different sound propagation directions, i.e. downwind, crosswind and upwind conditions in varying strength. In strong upwind situations, the sound pressure levels at larger distances are overestimated because turbulence is not considered in the modelling. In the other directions, the model reproduces the measured sound propagation losses well in the overall sound pressure level and in the third octave band spectra. As in the recorded measurements, frequency-dependent maxima and minima are identified, and losses generally increase with increasing distance and frequency. The agreement between measured and modelled sound propagation losses decreases with distance. The data sets used in the validation are freely accessible for further research.