Abstract

Pervious, or porous, concrete has been growing in acceptance as a promising solution to decrease the quantity of impermeable surface area associated with pavements or sidewalks, lower puddling, and delay stormwater draining surface high flow rates. As important as these benefits are for surface runoff mitigation, there are concerns about the capability of pervious concrete mixes to provide enough structural support and longevity for the expected span life of the sidewalks. The composition of pervious concrete creates limitations to its mechanical compressive strength and challenges in its continuous maintenance to achieve the required service life. The performance of pervious concrete pavements is relevant to their regional location and applications. Twelve various pervious concrete mix designs that include commercially available mixes as well as laboratory-designed mixes were investigated in this study. Results showed that mechanical performance is strongly dependent on binder content and aggregate angularity. Mixtures with crushed limestone significantly outperformed those with rounded river gravel in all tests. While compressive strength was within the ACI 522R range, existing ACI 318 relationships for predicting tensile and flexural strength from compressive strength were found to overestimate pervious concrete mechanical properties and are therefore not applicable. Furthermore, no clear correlation was observed between elastic modulus and void ratio, indicating that stiffness is governed more by paste quality and aggregate characteristics than porosity alone. Vibration and placement methods affect mechanical properties.