Study on Permeable Concrete Use as Road Pavement

Permeable concrete is a mixture of cement, water and a particular sized coarse aggregate combined to form a Permeable structural material. It has a high volume of voids, which is the factor responsible for the lower strength and its light weight nature. Permeable concrete is also called Permeable concrete, zero-fines concrete and pervious concrete. Pervious concrete has the ability to allow water to permeate the material which reduces the environmental problems associated with asphalt and conventional concrete pavements. Permeable concrete consists of a mixture of coarse single sized aggregate and a thin layer of cement paste about 1.3 mm thick. The most common application of Permeable concrete is in low traffic volume areas, such as: residential roads, driveways, parking lots and footpath. The force exerted by Permeable concrete on the foundations is approximately one third of that formed by the same structure constructed from conventional concrete. This difference may be of importance when structure is on a low bearing capacity ground. Permeable concrete is mostly used in non-pavements applications, limited use in pavements applications. This assignment purpose is to assess the suitability for Permeable concrete to be used for the construction of road pavements. This will include investigation of current literature on the topic and conducting standard concrete testing on Permeable concrete and conventional concrete to determine and evaluate their properties. With the help of tested data a conclusion is made on the usefulness of Permeable concrete pavements and it may be determined that further testing is required.