Influence of Pore Structure Characteristics on the Mechanical and Durability Behavior of Pervious Concrete Material Based on Image Analysis

Ruyan Liu,Qinghui Jiang,Shengyun Chen,Xiaoyu Meng,Kun Wu,Shengjia Li,Yin Chi

doi:10.1186/s40069-020-00404-1

Abstract

Pervious concrete has been widely used in parking lots and other lightweight streets. Performances of pervious concrete are strongly dependent on its pore structure characteristics. This paper investigates the relationship among porosity, permeability, compressive strength, durability and the pore structure characteristics of pervious concrete. The influences of basalt fiber and fine aggregate on the pervious concrete are also discussed. Pervious concrete specimens with different pore structures were prepared by combining basalt aggregate with size of 5–10 mm and 10–15 mm at different proportion. The pore structure characteristics such as area porosity, pore sizes, and pore distribution of pervious concrete were obtained and analyzed using image analysis method. Experimental results showed that the pore structure characteristics of pervious concrete have effects on its mechanical and durability behaviors. Homogeneous pore distribution and large distances between pores increase the compressive strength and improve freeze–thaw durability of pervious concrete. Due to the difference in the internal pore structure of pervious concretes, specimens with similar volumetric porosities had different permeability coefficients. A series of numerical models were regenerated through a MATLAB code using pore structural parameters derived from the image analysis method, then the numerical models were fed to ANSYS for meshing and further simulation. The comparison of the simulation and experimental results showed close accuracy, which verified the applied simulation analysis method based on image analysis technology.

Highlights

Pervious concrete is a kind of pervious material consisting of coarse aggregate, cement, water, little or no content of fine aggregate and admixtures
3 Results and Discussion Results of the aforementioned tests including the pore sizes, pore distribution, volumetric and area porosity, permeability coefficient, compressive strength and freeze–thaw durability are presented
In comparison to 100% 5–10 mm specimens mixed with fine aggregate (PS3) and 100% 5–10 mm specimens mixed with fine aggregate and basalt fiber (PSF1), the addition of fiber could reduce the average pore size of the specimens

Summary

Introduction

Pervious concrete is a kind of pervious material consisting of coarse aggregate, cement, water, little or no content of fine aggregate and admixtures. Deo and Neithalath (2011) studied the porosity and pore structure of pervious concrete with different size of aggregate. Neithalath et al (2010) investigated methods of characterizing the pore structure characteristics in pervious concrete material and predicted permeability based on these pore structure characteristics. It showed that maximization of water permeability behavior of pervious concretes was best achieved by increasing the pore connectivity. In order to explore the relationship between pore structure and properties of pervious concrete, image analysis method was used and the pore structure characteristics including pore size, spacing, and distribution were analyzed in present study

Methods

Results

Conclusion