Developing Porous Concrete Interlocking Pavement Blocks Utilizing Recycled Concrete Aggregate for Rainfall Harvesting Use

Abstract

Rainwater harvesting and flood prevention in cities are significant urban hydrological concerns. The use of porous pavement is one of the most effective solutions to handle this matter. Thus, this study aims to develop Porous Interlocking Concrete Pavement (PICP) using recycled aggregate from concrete waste. This porous pavement, then later, can be utilized in low traffic areas and parking lots to harvest water by infiltration and reduce surface runoff. First, the physical properties of the porous concrete blocks, such as density (unit weight), absorption, coefficient of permeability, and porosity, were studied. Also, the mechanical properties of concrete mixtures like compressive strength and flexural strength were tested. This study used two types of PICP, the first one with ordinary coarse aggregate (P1) and the second with recycled crushed concrete coarse aggregate (P2), and then compared their performance to the conventional concrete pavement blocks used the two types of coarse aggregate (R1 and R2). The results show that the unit weight (density) of porous types was reduced by 25% and 26%, and the total porosity increases by around 2.4 times and 18 times respectively, as compared to conventional concrete pavement types. However, the compressive strength and flexural strength of porous concrete types decreased by (55% and 71%), respectively, compared to conventional types. Overall, the infiltration test results showed that the infiltrated water through porous concrete increased by about 83% in comparison to conventional concrete. From the results, utilizing porous concrete pavement can be considered a promising material in terms of water harvesting and decreasing rainwater flooding. Additionally, using recycled concrete can bring economical and environmental benefits.