Improving Urban Air and Stormwater Quality Using
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IMPROVING URBAN AIR AND STORMWATER QUALITY USING PHOTOCATALYTIC HIGHWAY PAVEMENT AND PHOTOCATALYTIC PERVIOUS CONCRETE SHOULDERS A THESIS IN Civil Engineering Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE by FERAS EL-GHUSSEIN B.S., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2010 Kansas City, Missouri 2013 IMPROVING URBAN AIR AND STORMWATER QUALITY USING PHOTOCATALYTIC HIGHWAY PAVEMENT AND PHOTOCATALYTIC PERVIOUS CONCRETE SHOULDERS Feras El-Ghussein, Candidate for the Master of Science Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2013 ABSTRACT Pervious concrete, photocatalytic concrete, and photocatalytic pervious concrete are emerging technologies in the pavement industry, and have been researched in order to determine the efficacy of these technologies in environmental sustainability on a wide scale. In this thesis, the effects of photocatalytically active cement on a highway were studied, along with the affects of photocatalytic pervious and conventional pervious concrete shoulders. A laboratory experimental setup was conducted simultaneously as a comparison between theoretical and practical implementations of this technology. The results of the laboratory test indicated that there was not a significant increase in nitrate, but the nitrite levels increased significantly. This could be indicative of the rolls humidity and total sunlight play in the reactivity of the photocatalytic concrete, but needs further assessment for conformation. It may also suggest the role of retention time of the water within the pervious iii concrete as well. The field results indicate that nitrate levels were present early on in the construction phase of the project, even prior to opening the highway to the public and to large traffic volumes. Data indicates that the base was drainable and drained quickly, despite the amount of fines within subbase. It was also determined that water had an effect on the temperature of the pavements, as heat was drawn away from the subbase during rain events. Further data needs to be collected and analyzed in order to more certainly determine effect of this technology on water quality. Further assessment need also be conducted on the use of pervious concrete as highway shoulders. This was suspected to be the first highway pavement in the world in which photocatalytically active cements were utilized for air and water quality improvements, and it is also suspected to be the first highway in which pervious concrete shoulders were used for stormwater management. iv The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the school of Computing and Engineering, have examined a thesis titled “Improving Urban Air and Stormwater Quality Using Photocatalytic Highway Pavement and Photocatalytic Pervious Concrete Shoulders," presented by Feras El-Ghussein, candidate for the Masters of Science degree, and certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee John Kevern, Ph.D., Committee Chair Department of Civil Engineering Ceki Halmen, Ph.D. Department of Civil Engineering Deborah O’Bannon, Ph.D. Department of Civil Engineering v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. xiii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................... xiv Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Background Information ................................................................................... 3 Testing Objectives ............................................................................................ 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................5 Photocatalysis of Titanium Dioxide.................................................................. 5 Photocatalytic Concrete .................................................................................... 6 Pervious Concrete Pavements ........................................................................... 9 Photocatalytic Pervious Concrete ................................................................... 11 Two-Lift Pavements........................................................................................ 12 Two-Lift Construction Examples ................................................. 13 Internal Curing of Concrete ............................................................................ 14 Curing of Concrete ........................................................................ 15 History of Internally Cured Concretes .......................................... 16 3. METHODS AND INSTRUMENTATION .................................................................18 Water Quantity ................................................................................................ 18 Water Quality .................................................................................................. 24 vi Temperature and Solar Radiation ................................................................... 27 Material Testing .............................................................................................. 29 Weather Station ............................................................................................... 30 4. LABORATORY SIMULATION ................................................................................32 Analysis of Laboratory Results ....................................................................... 41 5. CONSTRUCTION .......................................................................................................43 Photocatalytic Pavement ................................................................................. 43 Instrument Placement...................................................................................... 48 Shoulder Paving .............................................................................................. 50 Weir Box Placement ....................................................................................... 55 Equipment Vaults............................................................................................ 59 Highway Completion and Ribbon Cutting ..................................................... 63 6. FIELD RESULTS ........................................................................................................65 Two-Lift Concrete .......................................................................................... 65 Subbase Characteristics .................................................................................. 66 Albedo of New Pavement ............................................................................... 67 Weather Data .................................................................................................. 68 Water Quality Results ..................................................................................... 77 7. CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES AND OBSERVATIONS ..................................83 Overall Timeframe of Research ...................................................................... 83 Power Supply .................................................................................................. 84 Concrete Vaults ............................................................................................... 84 vii Pervious Concrete Shoulders .......................................................................... 89 Weather Conditions ........................................................................................ 96 Best Practices and Lessons Learned ............................................................... 96 8. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ..........................................................................98 Laboratory Simulation .................................................................................... 98 Two-Lift Results ............................................................................................. 98 Subbase Characteristics .................................................................................. 99 Albedo of New Pavement ............................................................................... 99 On-Site Conditions........................................................................................ 100 Water Quality Results ................................................................................... 101 Appendix A. WEIR BOX CALIBRATION ....................................................................................104 B. FLUME DATA ..........................................................................................................105 C. STATISTICAL ANALYIS OF LAB SAMPLE WATER.........................................106 D. STATISTICAL ANALYIS OF CONSTRUCTION WATER ..................................109 E. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF RAINWATER SAMPLES ...................................111 F. DROUGHT DATA ....................................................................................................114 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................115