Infiltration and clogging characteristics of pervious concrete

Abstract

Pervious concrete is essentially used to reduce stormwater runoff and local floods. It requires regular maintenance because it is highly prone to clogging by particulate matters. Clogging is defined as a reduction in hydraulic conductivity that drastically reduces the permeability into the subgrade. A study using permeability as a key parameter was carried out to measure the infiltration characteristics of pervious concrete containing various binders and different sizes of coarse aggregates namely 6.3 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm and 12.5 mm. The binders such as Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Fly ash based Geopolymer (GP) and Fly ash—Lime-Gypsum (FaL-G) were used. The results indicated that pervious concrete made with aforesaid binders showcased adequate infiltration properties that satisfied the requirements of pervious concrete. Furthermore, clogging effect study was performed in GP binder pervious concrete by applying flowing water containing mud to determine worst-case scenario percentage for clogging. The worst-case silt percentage in water to cause clogging was found to be 8.26%, 9.21%, 9.84% and 10.16%. The test results indicated that increasing of clogging material in the water significantly reduces the permeability.