Material design and characterization of pervious concrete reactive barrier containing nano-silica and fine pumice aggregate

Abstract

In this study, the physical and mechanical properties of pervious concrete (PC) containing nano-silica (NS) was carried out. Mix design based on the Taguchi method in three levels and four factors (water to cement ratio, aggregate to cement ratio, the percentage of nano-silica, and percentage of fine aggregate (FA)) were examined. Concrete properties such as compressive strength, density (D), permeability (P), and porosity were evaluated. Among nine mix designs, the optimum one according to Taguchi optimization results was found from experimental results: (W/C) = 0.26, (A/C) = 5, 6% (NS) and 20% (FA). The corresponding mechanical and physical properties had a compressive strength of 3.6 (MPa), permeability of 1.06 (cm/s), void ratio of 19.7 (%), and density of 879 (kg/m3). Adding NS (up to 6% of cement weight) and FA (up to 20% of aggregates weight) had an important effect on almost all tests especially on CS, and there was no impressive influence related to another factor (W/C, A/C) in all tests. It is noticeable that the influence of adding NS to the mix design on CS was higher than adding FA.