Cooling and purification effect of permeable pavements

Abstract

Abstract Permeable pavement is a widely used stormwater runoff blocking technology in sponge city construction. Its application to urban motorized/non-motorized roads is expected to reduce runoff and pollution loads. This study aimed to analyze the nutrient pollution, thermal pollution reduction efficiency and removal pathways of cement permeable bricks (CP-B-Cement), steel slag permeable bricks (SP-B), ceramic permeable bricks (CP-B-Ceramic) and permeable asphalt pavement (PAP) under different pollution loads and rainfall intensities by simulating the different stormwater runoffs. Results indicated that the effluent concentration of different permeable pavements increased with the extension of rainfall duration. Compared with impermeable pavements, the infiltration and water storage capacities of permeable pavements could effectively remove typical pollutants from stormwater runoff. However, the effluent concentrations of all pollutants did not reach the threshold of Class V according to the Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water except for TP and Zn. Meanwhile, the thermal pollution removal capacity of the permeable pavements ranking from the highest to the lowest was SP-B > CP-B-Cement > CP-B-Ceramic > PAP. The findings in this study provide references for the selection of stormwater source reduction facilities and the development of surface source pollution countermeasures.