sonARMS

sonARMS is a calculation model for shooting noise, developed by Empa together with Merz Technik and financed by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment FOEN. The model has been designed for civil as well as military applications and allows for assessments according to the Swiss ordinance on noise protection, annexes 7 and 9.

sonARMS represents three types of sound sources: muzzle blasts, sonic booms as well as detonations (the latter however only for military weapon systems). The propagation model is based on sonX with specific extensions for barrier attenuations at horizontal and a run-time analysis for direct as well as reflected sound paths.

The calculation scheme yields sound exposure levels LE in octave bands as well as an A-weighted maximum sound pressure level with time weighting FAST LAFmax for distinct source-receiver combinations. The calculation of assessment levels according to the Swiss ordinance on noise protection is performed in separate step.

The model has been published in 2012 in the Noise Control Engineering Journal, vol. 60,p. 224-235 (J.M. Wunderli, R. Pieren, K. Heutschi, “The Swiss shooting sound calculation model sonARMS”).

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The graphical user interface (GUI) of sonARMS