Underwater bubbles can inhibit sound transmission through water due to density mismatch and concomitant reflection and absorption of sound waves. For the present study, a perforated rubber hose was used to produce a bubble curtain, or screen, around pile-driving activity in 6-8-m depth waters of western Hong Kong. The percussive hammer blow sounds of the pile driver were measured on 2 days at d...

Modelling the sound levels in the water column due to pile driving operations nearby and out to large distances from the pile is crucial in assessing the likely impact on marine life. Standard numerical techniques for modelling the sound radiation from mechanical structures such as the finite element (FE) and boundary element method are not well suited to predict the sound field efficiently at ...

This paper presents science-based, interim noise exposure criteria for the onset of direct physical injury in fish exposed to the impact sound associated with pile driving. This paper provides an objective, scientific assessment of pile driving exposures which are injurious to fish. It does not explicitly consider policies of regulatory agencies which are based on mandated legal requirements an...

Underwater sound generated by pile driving during construction of offshore wind farms is a major concern in many countries. This paper reports on the acoustic stress responses in young European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax (68 and 115 days old), based on four in situ experiments as close as 45 m from a pile driving activity. As a primary stress response, whole-body cortisol seemed to be too se...

There is increasing concern about the effects of pile driving and other anthropogenic (human-generated) sound on fishes. Although there is a growing body of reports examining this issue, little of the work is found in the peer-reviewed literature. This review critically examines both the peer-reviewed and 'grey' literature, with the goal of determining what is known and not known about effects ...

Marine renewable developments have raised concerns over impacts of underwater noise on marine species, particularly from pile-driving for wind turbines. Environmental assessments typically use generic sound propagation models, but empirical tests of these models are lacking. In 2006, two 5MW wind turbines were installed off NE Scotland. The turbines were in deep (>40m) water, 25km from the Mora...

The effects of loud sounds on fishes, such as those produced during impulsive pile driving, are an increasing concern in the management of aquatic ecosystems. However, very little is known about such effects. Accordingly, a High Intensity Controlled Impedance Fluid Filled wave Tube (HICI-FT) was used to investigate the effects of sounds produced by impulsive pile driving on two size groups of h...

A hybrid modeling approach that uses the parabolic equation (PE) with an empirical source model is presented to study and predict the underwater noise due to pile driving in shallow, inhomogeneous environments over long propagation ranges. The empirical source model uses a phased point source array to simulate the time-dependent pile source. The pile source is coupled with a broadband applicati...

The standard penetration test (SPT) has been widely used because of its usability, economy, and many correlations with soil properties among other factors. In SPT, hammer energy is an important factor to evaluate and calibrate N values. To measure hammer energy, an instrumented SPT rod was developed considering that stress waves transferring on rods during SPT driving are the same as stress wav...

Noise produced from a variety of human activities can affect the physiology and behaviour of individual animals, but whether noise disrupts the social behaviour of animals is largely unknown. Animal groups such as flocks of birds or shoals of fish use simple interaction rules to coordinate their movements with near neighbours. In turn, this coordination allows individuals to gain the benefits o...