Permeable Coastal Pavement Structure for Shore Protection and Removal of Non-point Source Pollutants

Abstract

Due to climate change, coastal areas are being flooded with torrential rain, typhoons, and tsunamis. In addition, non-point source pollutants (NPSs) that accumulated on the ground, streets, and buildings during the dry season are washed off by rain and stormwater runoff, which adds to the damage associated with environmental pollution, e.g., pollution that makes its way into the ocean. Recently, low impact development (LID) has been considered as a means of controlling water circulation and NPSs. In the coastal area, permeable blocks have been constructed mainly to reduce the flood damage caused by waves. Some important design factors that must be considered to ensure long-term performance are the permeability coefficient, clogging, and the efficiency of the removal of total suspended solids (TSS), but currently there are no standardized design criteria or testing techniques that are used worldwide. Herein, we analyzed the permeability coefficient and the TSS removal efficiency tendency according to the permeability area ratio with an easily-detachable, permeable block filled with calcinated yellow soils as the filter media. Our lab-scale tests indicated that, when the permeability area ratio was 25%, the reduction of the permeability coefficient after clogged was 11%, which was a significant decrease compared to other cases. Permeability persistence increased when the permeability area ratio increased from 50% to 75%. The TSS removal efficiency decreased as the permeability area ratio increased. Our pilot-scale test indicated that the TSS removal efficiency was more than 80% higher in all cases. We also found that the permeability persistence was excellent as the permeability area ratio increased, and, in actual construction, it is effective to set 5.3% of the total area as permeable area in terms of permeability and economic feasibility.