Engineering properties and lifecycle impacts of Pervious All-Road All-weather Multilayered pavement

Abstract

Conversion of pervious natural ground into impermeable pavement systems has caused severe environmental impacts such as urban heat islands, increased infrastructure-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption, and runoff generation / flashfloods during rainfall events. These phenomena can be addressed with the use of pervious concrete pavement (PCP) systems, which have gained acceptance as sustainable alternatives to conventional materials. However, implementation of PCP technology is limited to low-volume roads, sidewalks, and parking lots attributed to low strength and the need for high quality control during construction compared to traditional pavements along with limited understanding on the end-of-life significance due to the green PCP product. Therefore, the major objective of this research was to develop a pavement system with superior structural and hydrological performance characteristics over traditional PCP, while also quantifying the energy consumed, amount of GHG produced, and costs associated with its design and construction. Thus, a Pervious All-Road All-weather Multilayered pavement (PARAMpave) was conceptualized and designed that comprised a 300 mm square paver block created with a 60 mm lower structural layer overlaid with a 30 mm water-draining surface wearing course pervious concrete layer. The major properties of PARAMpave products included porosity ranging from 17% to 24%, permeability varying from 0.77 cm/s to 1.33 cm/s, and flexural strength between 4.83 MPa and 6.13 MPa, indicating their improved structural and hydrological performance compared to traditional designs. Further, a cradle-to-gate lifecycle approach was utilized to perform a comparative evaluation between PARAMpave and Portland cement concrete (PCC) paver blocks. The PARAMpave products consumed lower energy (8.22% to 8.51%) and emitted lower GHGs (8.23% to 8.43%) compared to PCC blocks of similar dimensions. Additionally, PARAMpave blocks were about 10% cheaper and almost 10% lighter than a PCC paver block. The reduction in GHG emissions, energy consumption, and capital costs indicate that PARAMpave blocks are a sustainable class of roadway products. Also, the strength and permeability magnitudes of PARAMpave indicate that they have high potential for applications in different road classes and diversified weather conditions.