Clogging and maintenance evaluation of pervious concrete pavements with recycled concrete aggregate

Abstract

Pervious concrete surfaces are being used more frequently these days because of their environmentally beneficial properties. These include allowing water to infiltrate into the ground and reducing the impact of urban heat island effects. Despite the benefits, these structures also present limitations. The main one comes from the process of pore clogging, reducing their drainage potential and the effectiveness of their hydraulic properties. To circumvent this problem and contribute to the dissemination of the use of pervious concrete paving, this work aims to analyze the loss of infiltration capacity over time, also analyzing cleaning and maintenance methods. Unlike other works available in the literature, the focus of this study is permeable concrete produced with recycled concrete aggregates (RCA). Therefore, periodic infiltration rate tests were performed on an experimental paving subject to the natural clogging process, and five cleaning methods were tested: high pressure water jets with subsequent vacuuming, high-pressure water jets, wetting with subsequent sweeping, sweeping followed by vacuuming, and the application of vacuuming. Through the analysis of the results obtained, it was evident that periodic cleaning is necessary to maximize life of the paving, which should start as soon as the pavement is ready. In addition, it was found that the corrective maintenance needs to be compatible with the types of particles that caused the clogging. Finally, an analytical model was used in order to predict the loss of infiltration capacity over time. This model, based on works available in the literature, allows estimating the suface's residual infiltration rate as well as predicting when the paving will reach a rate considered inadequate.