CIP 38 - Pervious Concrete

WHAT is Pervious Concrete? Pervious concrete is a special type of concrete with a high porosity used for concrete flatwork applications that allows water from precipitation and other sources to pass through it, thereby reducing the runoff from a site and recharging ground water levels. The high porosity is attained by a highly interconnected void content. Typically pervious concrete has little to no fine aggregate and has just enough cementitious paste to coat the coarse aggregate particles while preserving the interconnectivity of the voids. Pervious concrete is traditionally used in parking areas, areas with light traffic, pedestrian walkways, and greenhouses. It is an important application for sustainable construction. Pervious Concrete permits storm water to percolate WHY Use Pervious Concrete? HOW to Install Pervious Concrete Pavement? The proper utilization of pervious concrete is a recog- An experienced installer is vital to the success of per- nized Best Management Practice by the U.S. Envi- vious concrete pavements. As with any concrete pave- ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) for providing first- ment, proper subgrade preparation is important. The flush pollution control and storm water management. subgrade should be properly compacted to provide a As regulations further limit storm water runoff, it is uniform and stable surface. When pervious pavement becoming more expensive for property owners to de- is placed directly on sandy or gravelly soils it is recom- velop real estate, due to the size and expense of the mended to compact the subgrade to 92 to 96% of the necessary drainage systems. Pervious concrete re- maximum density (ASTM D 1557). With silty or clayey duces the runoff from paved areas, which reduces the soils, the level of compaction will depend on the spe- need for separate storm water retention ponds and al- cifics of the pavement design and a layer of open graded lows the use of smaller capacity storm sewers. This stone may have to be placed over the soil. Engineering allows property owners to develop a larger area of fabrics are often used to separate fine grained soils available property at a lower cost. Pervious concrete from the stone layer. Care must be taken not to over- also naturally filters storm water and can reduce pol- compact soil with swelling potential. Moisten the lutant loads entering into streams, ponds and rivers. subgrade prior to concrete placement, and wheel ruts Pervious concrete functions like a storm water reten- from the construction traffic should be raked and re- tion basin and allows the storm water to infiltrate the compacted. Moistening the subgrade prevents pervious concrete from setting and drying too quickly. soil over a large area, thus facilitating recharge of pre- cious groundwater supplies locally. All of these ben- Typically pervious concrete has a water to cementitious efits lead to more effective land use. materials (w/cm) ratio of 0.35 to 0.45 with a void content of 15 to 25%. The mixture is composed of Pervious concrete can also reduce the impact of de- cementitious materials, coarse aggregate and water velopment on trees. A pervious concrete pavement al- with little to no fine aggregates. Addition of a small lows the transfer of both water and air to root systems amount of fine aggregate will generally reduce the void allowing trees to flourish even in highly developed ar- content and increase the strength, which may be desir- eas. able in certain situations. This material is sensitive to changes in water content, so field adjustment of the m3) of the design density. This should be verified through fresh mixture is usually necessary. The correct quan- field testing. The fresh density (unit weight) of pervi- tity of water in the concrete is critical. Too much wa- ous concrete is measured using the jigging method de- ter will cause segregation, and too little water will lead scribed in ASTM C 29. Slump and air content tests are to balling in the mixer and very slow mixer unloading. not applicable to pervious concrete. If the pervious con- Too low a water content can also hinder adequate cur- crete pavement is an element of the storm water man- ing of the concrete and lead to a premature raveling agement plan, the designer should ensure that it is func- surface failure. A properly proportioned mixture gives tioning properly through visual observation of its drain- the mixture a wet-metallic appearance or sheen. age characteristics prior to opening of the facility. Ques- A pervious concrete pavement may be placed with ei- tions have been raised about the freeze thaw durability ther fixed forms or slip-form paver. The most common of pervious concrete. Even though most of the experi- approach to placing pervious concrete is in forms on ence with pervious concrete has been in warmer cli- grade that have a riser strip on the top of each form mates recently there have been several pervious con- such that the strike off device is actually 3/8-1/2 in. (9 crete projects in colder climates. Pervious concrete in to 12 mm) above final pavement elevation. Strike off freeze thaw environment must not become fully satu- may be by vibratory or manual screeds, though vibra- rated. Saturation of installed pervious concrete pave- tory screens are preferable. After striking off the con- ment can be prevented by placing the pervious concrete, the riser strips are removed and the concrete crete on a thick layer of 8 to 24 inches (200 to 600 compacted by a manually operated roller that bridges mm) of open graded stone base. Limited laboratory the forms. Rolling consolidates the fresh concrete to testing has shown that entrained air may improve the provide strong bond between the paste and aggregate, freeze thaw durability even when the pervious con- and creates a smoother riding surface. Excessive pres- crete is in a fully saturated condition. However, the sure when rolling should be avoided as it may cause entrained air content cannot be verified by any stan- the voids to collapse. Rolling should be performed im- dard ASTM test procedure. mediately after strike off. EPA recommends that pervious concrete pavement be Jointing pervious concrete pavement follows the same cleaned regularly to prevent clogging. Cleaning can be rules as for concrete slabs on grade, with a few ex- accomplished through vacuum sweeping or high pres- ceptions. With significantly less water in the fresh con- sure washing. Even though pervious concrete and the crete, shrinkage of the hardened material is reduced underlying soil provide excellent filtration capabilities, significantly, thus, joint spacings may be wider. The rules all the contaminants may not be removed. In critical of jointing geometry, however, remain the same (See situations to preserve the quality of ground water, storm CIP 6). Joints in pervious concrete are tooled with a water testing is recommended. rolling jointing tool. This allows joints to be cut in a short time, and allows curing to continue uninterrupted. References Proper curing is essential to the structural integrity of 1. Pervious Pavement Manual, Florida Concrete and Products a pervious concrete pavement. Curing ensures suffi- Association Inc., Orlando, FL. http://www.fcpa.org. cient hydration of the cement paste to provide the nec- 2. Richard C. Meininger, “No-Fines Pervious Concrete for Pav- essary strength in the pavement section to prevent rav- ing,” Concrete International, Vol. 10, No. 8, August 1988, pp. eling. Curing should begin within 20 minutes of con- 20-27. crete placement and continue through 7 days. Plastic 3. Storm Water Technology Fact Sheet Porous Pavement, United sheeting is typically used to cure pervious concrete States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 832-F-99-023, pavements. September 1999. www.epa.gov/npdes HOW to Test and Inspect Pervious Concrete 4. Recommended Specifications for Portland Cement Pervious Pavement? Pavement, Georgia Concrete and Products Association, Inc. Tucker, GA, www.gcpa.org Pervious concrete can be designed to attain a com- 5. Pervious Concrete Pavement – A Win-Win System, Concrete pressive strength ranging from 400 psi to 4000 psi (2.8 Technology Today, CT 032, August 2003, Portland Cement to 28 MPa) though strengths of 600 psi to 1500 psi (2.8 Association, Skokie, IL, http://www.cement.org to 10 MPa) are more common. Pervious concrete, 6. ASTM D1557-00, “Test Methods for Laboratory Compac- however, is not specified or accepted based on strength. tion Characteristics of Soil Using Modified Effort,” Annual Book More important to the success of a pervious pavement of ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.08, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, www.astm.org is the void content. Acceptance is typically based on 7. Pervious Concrete, ACI 522R Report, (under review), ACI the density (unit weight) of the in-place pavement. An International, Farmington Hills, MI, http://www.concrete.org acceptable tolerance is plus or minus 5 lb/cu.ft. (80 kg/ 2004