Drainage Capacity and Resistance to Clogging of Porous Asphalt Concrete Based on the Water Penetration Test and Constant Head Permeability Test

Abstract

Abstract Porous asphalt concrete (PAC) can decrease the risk of hydroplaning, reduce splashing and spraying, improve visibility, reduce traffic noise, and improve driving safety, but the clogging of the void affects its durable function. To investigate this, the fine aggregate was chosen as a plugging agent, and the permeability coefficients and water permeability coefficients were measured by using an asphalt mixture permeability testing device and pavement surface permeameter to simulate a multicycle drainage clogging experiment of PAC. The influence of asphalt mixture design parameters, including voids volume (VV), the nominal maximum aggregate sizes (NMASs), grading types on the drainage capacity, and resistance to clogging, was investigated. The two test results indicated that VV has a manifest influence on both drainage capacity and resistance to clogging. The NMAS has an obvious influence on resistance to clogging but no clear influence on the drainage capacity. PAC with the coarser gradation has better performance on drainage capacity and resistance to clogging. The clogging location is concentrated on the top 40 mm of the PAC-13 specimen. The fine particles with diameters of 0.15 to 2.36 mm are the key particles causing the clogging in the PAC-13 specimen. Water permeability coefficients and permeability coefficients have a very high correlation.