An easy to implement empirical approach for estimating underwater sound transmission loss during pile driving in Florida

Abstract

Underwater noise data were collected from 84 pile drives during bridge construction at various sites in Florida. These data were used to develop an empirically based model for underwater transmission loss associated with root mean squared, peak, and sound exposure level values. The model was verified using readings from other datasets as well as data from this study, and it appeared to reproduce reported transmission loss coefficient values well when data were curated to match data used in the empirical model's development and limited to situations where robust data were used in model development. As such, the model described here has some limitations, but in the context of pile driving in Florida where most piles are of similar dimensions and driven in similar water depths, especially during impact pile driving concrete piles, it may represent a useful design tool that engineers can use to predict underwater noise due to pile driving without the need to sample sound at multiple locations during driving.