A methodology for impact assessment and acoustic monitoring of quarry activities

The work presents a methodology to assess the acoustic impact around extractive areas, the validation of which was made through the study of a quarry situated in Perugia (Italy). A preliminary analysis was conducted to locate sensitive areas, to characterize all the various noise sources in the quarry and to determine their contribution to the global acoustic climate. Afterwards, a simulation model for the noise sources in the quarry was implemented: through noise measurements, its reliability was verified. A detailed study on the quarry was therefore carried out, simulating different exercise conditions, corresponding to different noise sources at work in the quarry or to different morphologies during all the quarry life. The model allowed the individualisation of the specific contribution of each source to the global noise, to create different noise maps, to assess the effectiveness of the acoustic mitigation. The reliability of the model was also assessed by a one-year noise monitoring of the area of the quarry.