Examination of the Material Found in the Pore Spaces of Two Permeable Pavements

Abstract

AbstractClogging of pore space is the leading cause of failure of permeable pavements. A study conducted at Villanova University on two permeable pavements, porous asphalt and pervious concrete, endeavored to answer the question of what materials were depositing in the pore spaces. In 2007, an existing parking lot at Villanova University was retrofitted with a 30 by 9 m section of permeable pavement. Half of the section (15 by 9 m) consisted of pervious concrete, whereas the other half was porous asphalt. The 270 m2 porous pavement area had a drainage area of 730 m2, which was 100% traditional dense-graded (impermeable) asphalt. A stone infiltration bed underlaid the permeable pavements. Intensive vacuuming was performed using an industrial strength vacuum cleaner to extract the material contained in the pore spaces of the pavement surface layer. The material collected was analyzed to determine the grain size distribution, percentage of organic matter, and concentration of metals (copper, lead, and zinc...