Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260

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Construction and Building Materials

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Draining capability of single-sized pervious concrete

Ivanka Netinger Grubeša a,⇑, Ivana Barišić a, Vilma Ducman b, Lidija Korat b
a
Faculty of Civil Engineering Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Vladimira Preloga 3, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
b
ZAG Ljubljana, Dimičeva 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

h i g h l i g h t s

 Hydrologic and mechanical properties of pervious concrete were studied.

 The optimal aggregate type from the hydrologic point of view is diabase.
 An aggregate of sharp grain edges allows the water to pass smoothly through the pore system.
 A coarser aggregate fraction results in better hydraulic and mechanical properties.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Six mixtures of single-sized pervious concrete were prepared with three different types of aggregates
Received 21 August 2017 (dolomite, diabase, and steel slag from a Croatian landfill near the town of Sisak) and with two different
Received in revised form 17 February 2018 aggregate fractions (4–8 mm and 8–16 mm). Each pervious concrete mixture contained 10% of sand from
Accepted 3 March 2018
the Drava River. The hydrologic properties of the pervious concrete mixtures are compared in order to
Available online 6 March 2018
define the aggregate type that will ensure the best drainage properties. The draining capability was tested
by three methods: the constant head and falling head methods on the small samples, and the standard
Keywords:
test method for testing the infiltration rate of in-place pervious concrete by ASTM C 1701-09. The possi-
Pervious concrete
Porosity
bility of pervious concrete application as a surface layer in pavement construction in the European area is
Hydrologic properties estimated according to the achieved mechanical properties. The optimal aggregate type for preparing
Mechanical properties pervious concrete from the hydrologic point of view is diabase because of its sharp grain edges, which
X-ray microtomography allow the water to pass smoothly through the pore system. None of the studied mixtures satisfied the
SEM analysis set criteria on the mechanical properties of concrete for the surface layer of pavements in the
European area. However, it is observed that the coarser aggregate fraction will result in better hydraulic
and mechanical properties of pervious concrete.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction needs to be cured until reaching the required strength. Pervious

Pervious/permeable/no-fines concrete is a material with the
same basic components as the standard concrete but designed to
have high porosity, with void content between 11% and 35%
[1,2]. A pervious concrete mixture is composed of cement, water,
and coarse aggregate, with or without a small amount of fine
aggregate [3]. Since pore connectivity is essential for the pervious
concrete function, its compaction is restricted [4] because it can
result in a layer of cement paste at the bottom of the concrete
structure that would negatively affect permeability. The installa-
tion of pervious concrete into the pavement is similar to the instal-
lation of asphalt. However, unlike the asphalt, pervious concrete
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nivanka@gfos.hr (I.N. Grubeša).
concrete as a material was used for the first time in 1852 [5] and
patented in 1980 [6]. Although it is not a new technology, pervious
concrete is receiving renewed interest today. The typical properties
of pervious concrete presented below are based on recent and
older literature, which reflects the continuous interest of research-
ers in this topic.
a) Good drainage properties. The permeability of pervious con-
crete, because of its high porosity, is in the range of 2–6 mm/
s [2,7]. Contrary to regular concrete, pervious concrete pre-
vents water from pooling on horizontal surfaces and, if prop-
erly designed, positively affects the surrounding soil and
groundwater quality [8]. Owing to its drainage properties,
pervious concrete is used in the construction of shoulders,
bases, and subbases of roads.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.03.037
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260
b) High noise absorption properties. Owing to its high porosity,
pervious concrete is able to reduce environmental noise.
Noise and noisy environment can cause various kinds of dis-
eases related to living in such an unpleasant environment.
This has been widely researched and many studies have
proved the connection between traffic noise and cardiovas-
cular, neuro-vegetative, and other diseases [9,10]. The noise
resulting from the interaction between tire and pavement is
being increasingly recognized as a significant environmental
issue, and it has become a major problem in urban areas. The
noise produced by a moving vehicle largely depends on the
geometrical properties of the road surface. This is the main
reason why current research is focused on finding new
methods for reducing noise at its place of origin, the road
surface, through the observation of the behavior of different
pavement types and their composition. The studies have
shown that modification of the type and/or texture of pave-
ment surface can result in significant tire/pavement noise
reductions and that the proper selection of the pavement
surface can be an appropriate noise abatement procedure
[11]. Concrete pavements are generally a worse choice com-
pared to asphalt pavements considering the tire/road noise
impact. The only type of concrete surface course that can
be considered as ‘‘quiet” is pervious concrete. The key factors
that determine the efficiency of pervious concrete in absorb-
ing sound are the porosity that can be accessed by the sound
waves, pore size, pore aperture size, and thickness of the
porous layer. An acoustically efficient material is that with
smaller pore sizes and high pore confinement [12]. Marolf
et al. studied the effect of aggregate size and gradation on
the acoustic absorption of pervious concrete and they
reported that pervious concrete mixtures with single-sized
aggregates provide substantial improvement in sound
absorption compared to conventional concrete [13].
c) Ability to reduce urban heat islands. Heat island refers to the
development of higher urban temperatures within an urban
area, compared to the temperatures of the surrounding sub-
urban and rural areas. This phenomenon has an important
impact on the energy consumption of buildings for cooling
purposes. Various studies have shown that the cooling
energy consumption of buildings may have doubled because
of the significant increase in urban temperatures [14–16].
Many recent studies have shown that paved surfaces play
a determinant role in the overall urban thermal balance
[17,18]. In permeable pavements, water passes to the soil
through the material voids/pores. It evaporates when the
temperature of the material increases, contributing to a
lower temperature of the pavement surface.
d) Poor mechanical properties. Pervious concrete mixtures can
develop compressive strengths in the range of 2.8–28 MPa
[7,19,20] and flexural strengths generally ranging between
1 MPa and 3.8 MPa [7]. The low strength of pervious con-
crete is the reason for its limited application in construction
of high traffic highways. In order to address this issue,
research with different, new components in pervious con-
crete is being conducted worldwide [3,21,22].
e) Low abrasion and freeze-thaw resistance. Pervious concrete
has some durability issues related to abrasion and freeze-
thaw cycles, which deter its wider application. The abrasion
resistance of concrete depends on its paste hardness, aggre-
gate hardness, and aggregate/paste bond [23]. Many
researchers agree that there is a general relation between
abrasion resistance and compressive strength—by increasing
the strength of concrete, the effects of abrasion are reduced
[24,25]. Test results shown in [26,27] have confirmed that
adding latex to concrete mixtures is a way of improving their
253
strength and, consequently, their abrasion resistance. Fur-
ther, runoff water that flows into pervious concrete in cold
weather and freezes can lead to pressure build up on the
thin cement paste coating area, which makes pervious con-
crete not suitable for dry-freeze conditions. Studies on the
improvement of the resistance of pervious concrete to
freeze-thaw cycles have found that the addition of long
macrofibers increases its freeze-thaw (F-T) resistance [28],
as does the usage of an air-entraining admixture [29], silica
fume with super plasticizers [30] or tire chips and crumb
rubber [31]. In exploitation, when small material such as dirt
and fine sand are carried by storm water in the exploitation
through the pores of pervious concrete, the debris can even-
tually reduce the effectiveness of the drainage and perme-
ability of the concrete. Such clogging could then lead to
flooding and the concrete being susceptible to extensive
freeze-thaw cycles [32].
Although the composition of pervious concrete seems simple, it
is not easy to achieve good mechanical properties and a satisfac-
tory pore system at the same time. Decreasing the water to cement
ratio and increasing the cement amount in the concrete mixture
will result in better mechanical properties in the case of regular
concrete. However, the increment of the amount of cement in per-
vious concrete will reduce or even completely prevent its ability to
infiltrate water, which is its main advantage. This paper studies the
possible application of pervious concrete as a surface pavement
layer in Europe. Guided by the idea that single-sized aggregates
in pervious concrete will result in high sound absorption capacity
[13], the authors focus on single-sized aggregate pervious mixtures
with three different aggregate types. The hydrologic properties of
six pervious concrete mixtures are compared in order to determine
the aggregate type that will ensure the best drainage properties.
The potential of pervious concrete application as a surface layer
in pavement construction in the European area is evaluated
according to the achieved mechanical properties.
2. Experimental program
2.1. Material characterization
In this study, six mixtures of pervious concrete were prepared
with three different types of aggregate (dolomite, diabase, and
steel slag from a Croatian landfill near the town of Sisak) and with
two different aggregate fractions (4–8 mm and 8–16 mm). The
porosity and pore size distribution of the prepared aggregates were
determined by means of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). Par-
ticles having a size of approximately 1 cm3 of each of the prepared
aggregates were dried in an oven for 24 h at 110 °C, and then ana-
lyzed by means of a MIP Autopore IV 9500 equipment (Micromet-
rics). The results are presented in Table 1. The appearance of the
aggregate grains is shown in Fig. 1.
Each pervious concrete mixture contained 10% sand from the
Drava River. The grain size distribution of the aggregates was
determined according to EN 933-1:2012 [33], and the aggregate
fractions were classified according to HRN EN 12620:2013 [34],
Table 1
Porosity and medium pore size of the three used aggregates.
Aggregate Porosity Average pore size Density (excluding pores)
(%) (mm) (g/mL)
Slag 7.0019 0.1204 3.8924
Diabase 1.2241 0.1428 2.8969
Dolomite 1.1221 1.0032 2.8322
254 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260

Fig. 1. Appearance of the aggregate grain; dolomite, diabase, and steel slag.

as follows: fractions 4–8 mm and 8–16 mm of steel slag as
GC90/15, fraction 4–8 mm of diabase as GC85/15, fraction 8–11
mm of diabase of GC 90/15, fraction 4–8 mm of dolomite as GC
90/10, fraction 8–16 mm of dolomite as GC 85/15, and sand (0–2
mm) as GF85.
The densities of the used crushed dolomite aggregate, diabase,
steel slag, and sand were 2.75, 2.91, 3.21 and 2.65 kg/dm3, respec-
tively, according to EN 1097-6:2013 [35]. For all mixtures, the
effective water to cement ratio was 0.33, and it was prepared with
tap water. The cement was ordinary Portland cement, CEM II/A-M
(S-V) 42.5 N according to EN 197-1:2011 [36], with a density of 3.0
kg/dm3 according to EN 196-6:2010 [37]. The cement content was
300 kg/m3 for all mixtures. Table 2 presents the proportions of all
constituents in the mixtures.
The aggregates used for preparing concrete were first saturated
and then surface-dried. This was achieved in an artificial way, by
dipping the aggregates into a water tank for 24 h, taking them
out, and then wiping excess water from their surface. Aggregates,
cement, and water were mixed together for 5 min in a pan mixer
(DZ 100VS, Diemwerke). Three specimens were prepared to deter-
mine the properties. The specimens of all concrete mixtures were
cast with a compacting rod by rodding 25 times. All specimens
were extracted from the mounds 24 h after casting and placed in
a water tank for 27 days at a temperature of 20 °C ± 5 °C according
to EN 12390-2:2009 [38].
2.2. Testing of hardened concrete specimens
At 28 days, the properties of the hardened pervious concrete
specimens were tested as follows:
 The compressive strength was tested on cube specimens of 15-
cm edge length with a constant loading rate of 0.5 MPa/s
according to EN 12390-3:2009 [39].
 The density and void content (total porosity) were tested on the
same specimens as compressive strength, according to the stan-
dard ASTM C1754/C1754M-12:2012 [40]. In addition, the
porosity was determined by the Avizo Fire 3D image analysis
software, which is based on two-dimensional X-ray images
from X-ray computed microtomography (MicroXCT-400, Xra-
dia). A macro 0.39X objective was used for structure identifica-
tion of the individual specimens (4.5 cm of cylinder diameter in
all specimens and 5 or 6 cm height, depending on the speci-
men). The X-ray energy was set to values of 140 kV and 125
mA for all samples, and 1600 projection images were taken from
different viewpoints; the pixel resolution was 39 mm, depending
on the specimen. The threshold segmentation method and the
characterization of different pore spaces was determined with
the Avizo Fire 3D image analysis software, a process already
described by Korat et al. [41] and Henry et al. [42], where the
pore space was determined according to the 6-point connectiv-

Table 2
Mixture compositions.

Characteristics C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6
Water/cement proportion (w/c) 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.33
Cement [kg] 300.0 300.0 300.0 300.0 300.0 300.0
Water [kg] 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0 99.0
Aggregate [kg] 1783.7 1783.7 1877.5 1877.5 2053.3 2053.3
Sand 0–2 mm [%–kg] 10 178.4 10 178.4 10 187.8 10 187.8 10 205.3 10 205.3
Dolomite 4–8 mm [%–kg] 90 1605.3 — — — — — — — — — —
Dolomite 8–16 mm [%–kg] — — 90 1605.3 — — — — — — — —
Diabase 4–8 mm [%–kg] — — — — 90 1687.7 — — — — — —
Diabase 8–11 mm [%–kg] — — — — — — 90 1687.7 — — — —
Steel slag 4–8 mm [%–kg] — — — — — — — — 90 1848 — —
Steel slag 8–16 mm [%–kg] — — — — — — — — — — 90 1848
Total [kg] 2182.7 2182.7 2276.5 2276.5 2452.3 2452.3
 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260 255

ity rule in which voxels with a common face are considered
connected. Total porosity of pervious concrete is the sum of
closed (isolated) porosity and open (connected) porosity. The
connectivity of pores was defined as the ratio of volume of con-
nected pore space and volume of total pore space [43].
 The flexural strength was tested on prism specimens measuring
10  10  40 cm by loading them with a constant rate of 0.05
MPa/s according to EN 12390-5:2002 [44].
 The draining capability was tested by three methods. This is
because standard laboratory test method is not existing and
only field test method (for in-place material) is defined but also
for comparison and analyses of its applicability. The constant
head (CH) and falling head (FH) methods were used on the
small samples and the standard test method was used for test-
ing the infiltration rate of in-place pervious concrete according
to ASTM C 1701-09 [45]. The CH method applies a steady water
flow through the sample, establishing a constant hydraulic
potential and measuring (weighting) the water volume flowing
through the sample at a designed time interval. The FH method
is based on the time required for a certain water column to drop
through the sample, determined by recording the time interval
during this dropping process. The standardized method
described in ASTM C 1701-09 determines the field water-
infiltration rate of in-place pervious concrete by recording the
run-off time of a certain water volume through a defined area
of a porous concrete pavement. Within this research, pervious
concrete slabs measuring 50  50  5 cm were used for simula-
tion of inbuilt pavement.
 The microstructure and chemical composition of the polished
cross-sections of the pervious concrete specimens were exam-
ined by the back-scattered electron image mode of low vacuum
scanning electron microscopy (SEM), using JEOL 5500 LV
equipment.
3. Results and discussion
The results of the testing in 2.2 are given in Tables 3 and 4 and
Figs. 2–9.
Comparing the results listed in Table 3 for pervious concrete
mixtures made with dolomite, it is visible that the total porosity
of mixture C2 is higher than the total porosity of mixture C1. Com-
paring the same property for pervious concrete mixtures made of
diabase and steel slag, is can be seen that the total porosity of mix-
tures C3 and C4 is similar, as in the case of mixtures C5 and C6.
Regarding the porosity, there is no general conclusion in relation
to whether the aggregate size influences the total porosity of the
specimens. The pore space characteristics of pervious concretes,
obtained by microtomography, are summarized in Table 4, which
presents the values of total volume of solid material and pore
space, volume of connected pore space (pores that are connected
to others and to the external surface), and volume of isolated pore
space (pores that are not connected to the external surface). The
values show that the total porosity of mixture C2 is higher than
that of mixture C1, higher in the mixture C3 than in C4, and lower
in mixture C5 compared to mixture C6. Owing to the 6-point con-
nectivity rule, all specimens have mostly open (connected) poros-
ity, and the isolated pore space is slightly higher in the case of
mixtures C5 and C6. This can be explained by the rustic surface
of the steel slag used as an aggregate in these two mixtures, and
the large amount of entrapped pores within the aggregate (visible
in Figs. 2, 8 and 9), which further resulted in a lower value of pore
connectivity.
As expected, the density of pervious concrete mixtures (Table 3)
depended on the total porosity obtained and the aggregate type.
Mixtures with higher total porosity have lower values of density
and mixtures with aggregates of higher density achieved higher
values of concrete density (the steel slag aggregate has higher den-
sity than diabase, and diabase has higher density than dolomite).
Regarding flexural strength, it is unanimously concluded that
this property is improved if small size aggregate is used, which is
in agreement with the conclusion given in [46]; thus, between
mixtures prepared with the same type but different sizes of aggre-
gate, the highest value is obtained if the concrete is prepared with
a 4–8 mm fraction. However, this conclusion cannot be derived for
compressive strength. Mixtures with dolomite achieved higher
value of compressive strength when a finer fraction was used in
concrete preparation, while mixtures with diabase and steel slag
achieved higher value of compressive strength when a coarser frac-
tion was used. Thus, the conclusion presented in [47], which claims
that the use of a small size aggregate improves compressive
strength, was not confirmed here.

Table 3
Results of hardened concrete tests.

Characteristics C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6
Compressive strength [MPa] 21.1 25.04 10.87 15.57 10.31 15.8
SD [MPa] 1.04 1.62 0.23 1.08 0.98 0.45
Flexural strength [MPa] 3.21 2.41 2.33 2.01 1.72 1.59
SD [MPa] 0.24 0.01 0.18 0.24 0.07 0.14
Density [kg/m3] 1994 1948 1847 1927 2037 2124
SD [kg/m3] 23 9 14 42 40 46
Total porosity [%] 24 27 31 30 29 29
SD [%] 1.1 0.4 0.8 1.8 1.7 2.8
Permeability – FH method [cm/s] 2.31 2.32 2.89 4.81 1.55 2.93
SD [%] 3.29 1.06 0.34 1.34 2.47 2.01
Permeability – CH method [cm/s] 2.15 3.07 1.84 2.53 1.28 2.00
SD [%] 1.76 2.16 1.39 3.16 1.41 2.36
Infiltration rate – ASTM C 1701-09 [cm/s] 0.14 0.28 0.57 1.11 0.26 0.85

Table 4
Summary of pore space characteristics of pervious concretes obtained by microtomography.

Characteristics C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6
Total porosity [%] 14.1 22.0 26.7 22.7 19.3 29.0
Connected porosity [%] 14.0 21.9 26.6 22.67 18.8 28.5
Isolated porosity [%] 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.5
Connectivity of pores 0.996 0.990 0.999 0.999 0.975 0.983
256 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260

Fig. 2. XZ slice images of samples C1-C6 determined by X-ray micro-tomography.

Fig. 3. Three-dimensional images (pore shape) of samples C1-C6 determined by X-ray micro-tomography, where grey color indicates connected pore space and yellow
indicates isolated pore space.

Additionally, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses A rough surface could be beneficial for compressive strength owing
were performed to check the variations in the interfacial zone to the interlocking effect of cement paste and aggregate. As can be
between cement paste and different types of aggregates, because seen in Figs. 4–9, there are no signs of cement paste segregation or
this could be the weakest area in terms of mechanical properties. densification in any of the cases. However, at higher magnification
 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260 257

Fig. 4. SEM images of sample C1 (magnification 50 and 200).

Fig. 5. SEM images of sample C2 (magnification 50 and 200).

Fig. 6. SEM images of sample C3 (magnification 50 and 200).

(200) and in the case of diabase aggregate (Figs. 6 and 7) a certain
interlocking effect between the cement matrix and the aggregate is
observed, with cement paste entering in the rough surface of the
aggregate grain. To certain extent, this effect is also present in
the case of slag (Figs. 8 and 9). Slag exhibited the highest porosity
among all three aggregates (Table 1), with very fine pores where
the interlocking effect can also play a certain role. When dolomite
was used as aggregate, the boundary between cement and aggre-
gate grain is very clear, the porosity of the aggregate is negligible
(Table 1), and no interlocking effect is seen (Figs. 4 and 5) or
expected.
The concrete for pavement application is usually characterized
by its 28-day compressive strength, with a limiting value defined
by national standards. A strength class of C 25/30 at 28 days is suit-
able for most pavement applications, while for heavy-duty roads
and for freeze-thaw and de-icing agent exposure conditions, usu-
ally higher strength classes are required. According to the Euro-
pean standards, concrete as a material for pavement application
258 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260

Fig. 7. SEM images of sample C4 (magnification 50 and 200).

Fig. 8. SEM images of sample C5 (magnification 50 and 200).

Fig. 9. SEM images of sample C6 (magnification 50 and 200).

is characterized by its compressive strength class, which is deter-
mined and defined by the standards for regular concrete testing
EN 12390:3 and EN 206-1. The only minimum requirement for
concrete is its compressive strength, determined on cores as
defined in EN 13877-2:2013 Concrete Pavements – Functional
Requirements, in which is it recommended a minimum strength
class CC20 (characteristic core strength of 20 MPa) for functional
reasons. Contrary to European standards, the American standards
distinguish between regular and pervious concretes as materials
for pavement applications. According to ACI 522.1-13 Specifica-
tions for Pervious Concrete Pavements, the compressive strength
is not listed as acceptance criterion, and it is determined that part
of the standard ASTM C94/94 M Standard Specification for Ready-
Mixed Concrete, among others dealing with strength test proce-
dures and characterization of regular concrete, is not applicable
for pervious concrete pavements. However, since there is no ASTM
or EN standard test for compressive strength of pervious concrete,
the standard tests for regular concrete are used. Thus, properly
 I.N. Grubeša et al. / Construction and Building Materials 169 (2018) 252–260
placed pervious concrete pavements with compressive strengths of
20.5 MPa and flexural strengths of more than 3.5 MPa are suitable
for most low-volume pavement applications [48]. Although mix-
tures C1 and C2 with dolomite aggregate satisfy the compressive
strength of over 20.5 MPa, their flexural strengths are lower than
3.5 MPa. Thus, the perspective for further research lies in defining
a proper strength test procedure, strength enhancement, and qual-
ity and acceptance criteria definition.
Analyzing the water permeability results presented in Table 3,
several conclusions can be drawn. All the three test methods gave
the same water permeability trends in the tested mixtures. The
pervious concrete mixtures with coarse aggregate show the domi-
nant permeability characteristics, regardless of the aggregate type,
which is in agreement with [46]. This result can be explained in
view of mix porosities (total porosity vs. closed pores). Although
total porosity is lower for coarse mixtures with dolomite and dia-
base, open/connected pores are more pronounced, which con-
tributes to higher water permeability. According to [46], even
under identical connected porosity, the specimens with small
grains have small sectional areas in the connected voids, producing
meandering paths for water permeation. Specimens consisting of
large grains have large sectional areas and straight paths. Thus,
the velocity of the water infiltrated in the specimens differs, caus-
ing variations in the volume of water flowing out of the specimen.
Pervious concrete mixtures with diabase aggregate present bet-
ter permeability characteristics compared to dolomite and steel
slag aggregate mixtures in the cases of the FH test and the test of
inbuilt pervious concrete (ASTM C 1701-09). It is visible from Figs. 2
and 3 that samples C3 and C4, prepared with diabase, achieved the
most uniform pore distribution of all studied mixtures. In the case
of the CH head test, the dolomite aggregate mixtures present better
results. It can be noticed in Fig. 7 that dolomite as an aggregate is
characterized by sharp grain edges and flat surfaces, while the sur-
face of diabase and steel slag is much more uneven resulting in
higher specific surface area of the grains. During the steady water
flow achieved with the CH test, this coarser microtexture con-
tributes to a stronger adhesion of water to aggregate grain, result-
ing in lower permeability. This leads to the conclusion that in a
case of a long lasting rainfall, a pervious concrete made with dolo-
mite aggregate will have better hydraulic conductivity characteris-
tics, while in a case of short-term rainfall those mixtures with
diabase and steel slag aggregate would perform better.
Comparing all used methods, results indicate that FH method
presents highest and ASTM C 1701-09 lowest permeability results,
although trends among tested mixtures are the same. In order to
properly predict permeability of chosen pervious concrete mixture
and to potentially predict its behavior under different precipitation
regimes, combination of, as here used adjusted ASTM C 1701-09 as
a field test and some laboratory test method on small samples (CH
or FH) may present optimal solution.
4. Conclusion
The hydrologic and mechanical properties of six mixtures of
single-sized pervious concrete prepared with three different types
of aggregates (dolomite, diabase, and steel slag from a Croatian
landfill near the town of Sisak) were studied. The hydrologic prop-
erties of pervious concrete are estimated by measuring its draining
capability, and the suitability of using pervious concrete as surface
layer for pavement construction in the European area is evaluated
by comparing the obtained and the required for such purpose
mechanical properties of concrete. According to the results, it is
concluded that the optimal aggregate type for preparing pervious
concrete from the hydrologic point of view is diabase because of
its sharp grain edges, which allow the water to pass smoothly
259
through the pore system. None of the here studied mixtures satis-
fied the set criteria on mechanical properties of concrete for the
surface layer of pavements in the European area. It should be men-
tioned that the pervious concrete mixtures studied here were basic
compositions (aggregate, cement, and water). However, the
authors have noticed that a coarser aggregate fraction will result
in better hydraulic and mechanical properties of pervious concrete.
This observation will be used in their future studies on pervious
concrete focusing them on coarse fractions of sharp grain aggre-
gate, which will, in combination with some additional concrete
components such as latex, result in mechanical (and durability)
properties satisfactory for its use in the surface layer of pavements.
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