The Use of Reflective and Permeable Pavements as a Potential

Practice for Heat Island Mitigation and Stormwater Management

H. Li1*, J. T. Harvey2, T. J. Holland3 and M. Kayhanian4

1, 2
University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
3
California Department of Transportation, Sacramento, CA 95814
4
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
1*
hili@ucdavis.edu, 2jtharvey@ucdavis.edu, 3t.joe.holland@dot.ca.gov, 4mdkayhanian@ucdavis.edu
*
1-530-574-5812 (ph), 1-530-752-1228 (fax)

A Supplementary material

A.1 Diurnal variation of surface temperatures of different pavements

It is revealed previously that the highest and lowest pavement temperatures happen at the pavement

surface. The critical pavement surface temperatures have a great influence on the near-surface air

temperature and consequently affect the human thermal comfort and air quality. To further examine the

diurnal variation of pavement surface temperature in different seasons, the surface temperatures of three

different pavements (concrete C1, paver A1 and asphalt B1) in one clear sunny day of each season are

plotted in Figure A.1. The weather data (ambient air temperature, wind speed and solar radiation), which

were measured from a nearby weather station at around 2 m high from ground, are also presented in

Figure A.1 for reference.

1
 70 C1_Surf ace 1000 70 C1_Surf ace 1000
A1_Surf ace (a) Winter A1_Surf ace (b) Spring


60 60

2
B1_Surf ace B1_Surf ace

SolarRadiationW m

SolarRadiationW m
Temperature (C)

Temperature (C)
AirTemp. 800 AirTemp. 800
50 WindSpeed 50 WindSpeed
SolarRadiation SolarRadiation
40 600 40 600
30 30

20 400 20 400

10 10
200 200
0 0

-10 0 -10 0
00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00
01/16 01/17 04/06 04/07
Time Time
70 C1_Surf ace 1000 70 C1_Surf ace 1000
A1_Surf ace
(c) Summer A1_Surf ace
(d) Fall



60 60
2

2
B1_Surf ace B1_Surf ace
SolarRadiationW m

SolarRadiationW m
Temperature (C)

Temperature (C)
AirTemp. 800 AirTemp. 800
50 WindSpeed 50 WindSpeed
SolarRadiation SolarRadiation
40 600 40 600
30 30

20 400 20 400

10 10
200 200
0 0

-10 0 -10 0

00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00
07/10 07/11 10/17 10/18
Time Time

Figure A.1. Diurnal variation of surface temperatures and weather data in one day of each season.
[Weather data (Air Temp., Wind Speed and Solar Radiation) were measured from a nearby weather station at
around 2 m high from ground.] (Wind Speed shown in the left y axis in m/s)

It is clearly shown that there are differences in temperature for different pavements, especially around

noon with high solar radiation intensity. The black asphalt pavement (B1) has higher surface temperature

than concrete (C1) and paver (A1) pavements with light color. The temperature of paver pavement is

slightly higher than that of concrete. The surface temperature of the asphalt pavement (B1) reaches up to

almost 70°C (158°F) in summer (Figure A.1(c)), compared to 50°C (122°F) of the concrete pavement

(C1). The differences of peak temperatures between asphalt (B1) and concrete (C1) pavements are about

10 to 20°C, depending on the weather conditions and seasons. During nighttime, the surface temperatures

of the three pavements are very close to each other, but still higher than the ambient air temperature by 2

to 10°C. The difference in surface temperatures between asphalt and concrete pavements is determined

mainly by the color of pavement surfaces (i.e. the solar reflectivity or albedo). The higher the albedo of

2
pavement is, the more the solar radiation is reflected and the less is absorbed by the surface, which will

produce a lower surface temperature. The asphalt pavement has a darker color and consequently a lower

albedo and a higher surface temperature, compared to the concrete pavement. The difference of surface

temperatures between them is higher (~20 vs. ~10°C) during summer with a high solar radiation [peak

intensity of ~1000 W/m2 in Figure A.1(c)] than winter with a low solar radiation [peak intensity of ~500

W/m2 in Figure A.1(a)]. This implies that increasing the albedo is an effective strategy to reduce the

surface temperature, especially for the climates and seasons with high solar radiation.

A.2 Seasonal variation of surface temperatures of different pavements

To comprehensively evaluate the thermal performance of different pavements, it is of great significance

to examine the seasonal change of surface temperatures in one year. The daily maximal and minimal

surface temperatures of concrete (C1), paver (A1) and asphalt (B1) pavements over one year are extracted

and plotted in Figure A.2, along with daily maximal and minimal ambient air temperatures for reference.

As observed previously, the changes of daily maximal and minimal pavement surface temperatures follow

the similar pattern as the ambient air temperature. The pavement surface temperatures are generally

higher than the ambient air temperature over the year round, even for the daily minimal temperature

during winter [Figure A.2(b)]. The daily maximal surface temperature of asphalt pavement (B1) is higher

than the concrete (C1) and paver (A1) pavements and as well the ambient air temperature. The

temperature differences between them are higher during summer than winter due to the difference in solar

radiation of different seasons. During summer, the daily maximal surface temperature of asphalt

pavement (B1) is around 20 °C higher than the concrete (C1), and around 16°C higher than paver (A1)

pavements and about 30°C higher than the ambient air temperature. During winter, the daily maximal

surface temperature of asphalt pavement (B1) is around 10 °C higher than the concrete (C1), and around

8°C higher than paver (A1) pavements and about 15°C higher than the ambient air temperature. There are

no significant differences in the nighttime daily minimal surface temperatures between the three

pavements for both summer and winter, which are about 10°C and 5°C higher than the ambient air

temperature for summer and winter, respectively.

3
 70 Max. Air Temp.
158
Max. C1 Surface Temp.
60 Max. A1 Surface Temp. 140
Max. B1 Surface Temp.
50 122
Temperature (C)

Temperature (F)
40 104

30 86

20 68

10 50

0 32
(a) Max
-10 14

09/10/11 11/05/11 12/30/11 02/24/12 04/21/12 06/16/12

Time
70 Min. Air Temp.
158
Min. C1 Surface Temp.
60 Min. A1 Surface Temp. 140
Min. B1 Surface Temp.
50 122
Temperature (C)

Temperature (F)
40 104

30 86

20 68

10 50

0 32
(b) Min
-10 14

09/10/11 11/05/11 12/30/11 02/24/12 04/21/12 06/16/12

Time

Figure A.2. Daily max. and min. air temperatures and pavement surface temperatures over one year.
[Concrete (C1), paver (A1) and asphalt (B1) pavements] (date format: mm/dd/yy)

A.3 Thermal images of experimental pavement sections: comparison of dry and wet conditions

Thermal images were taken during the irrigation experiment at different times for Jul/9/2012, Jul/10/2012

and Jul/11/2012 for all the experimental sections along with the optical images. The water tables were

monitored using small monitoring wells for the six permeable experimental sections after irrigation. The

weather data were also monitored using a nearby weather station.

From 3:00 pm Jul/10/2012, water was irrigated into the permeable test sections. The irrigation was

continued until each permeable pavement section was filled up with water at around 1:00 am Jul/11/2012.

After irrigation stopped, the water tables would drop over time due to the nature processes of infiltration

4
and evaporation. The water tables were monitored using small wells for each permeable section and are

presented in Figure A.5.

Time

0
Water table from pavement surface (cm)

A2
-5
A3
-10 B2
-15 B3
C2
-20
C3
-25

-30

-35

-40

-45

Figure A.3. Water tables in the monitoring wells for six permeable sections after irrigation.

The weather data during the experiment period were also monitored and are shown in Figure A.4. It is

noted that the air temperature was increasing in the three days. The solar radiation was keeping constant

for the period. The wind speed was increasing slightly and the relative humidity was decreasing slightly.

5
 40 Air Temperature Wind Speed
2.0
35
Air Temperature (C)

Wind Speed (m/s)

1.5
30

25 1.0

20
0.5

15

0.0

00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00 00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00
07/09/12 07/10/12 07/11/12 07/12/12 07/09/12 07/10/12 07/11/12 07/12/1
Time Time
1000 Solar Radiation Relative Humidity
80
800
Solar Radiation (W/m2)

Relative Humidity (%)

60
600

400 40

200
20

00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00 00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00 06 12 18 00
07/09/12 07/10/12 07/11/12 07/12/12 07/09/12 07/10/12 07/11/12 07/12/1
Time Time

Figure A.4. Weather data during the experiment period (no rain).

The thermal images at Jul/10/2012 are presented in Figure A.5, along with the optical images. When

water was being applied into the permeable pavements (Figure A.5), the temperatures of the pavement

portions with water were as low as ~30 °C, which were much lower than the pavement portion without

water. This implies that watering can be an effective way to lower down the pavement temperature in

summer.

Comparison of thermal images of six permeable pavements under dry, watering and wet conditions is

presented in Figure A.6. As observed previously, under the watering condition (Jul/10/2012) the

pavements had much lower temperatures than under the dry condition (Jul /9/2012). Even in the third day

(Jul /11/2012) without watering but with higher air temperature (see Figure A.4), the pavements still

showed lower temperatures at 4 pm (25 hours after watering) by 2 to 7°C compared to those in the second

6
day, without considering the higher air temperature on the third day (Jul /11/2012, see Figure A.4) due to

evaporative cooling of some moisture existing in pavements. This implies that watering can effectively

lower the pavement surface temperatures using cool water, and evaporation of some moisture existing in

pavements also can help produce a low pavement temperature. The specific cooling effect depends on the

evaporation rate on the pavement.

7
C: Concrete

C1 C2 C3

B: Asphalt

B1 B2 B3

A: Paver

A1 A2 A3 N
(a) Optical images

45 °C 62 °C 52 °C

C: Concrete

C1 C2 C3

67 °C 66 °C
63 °C
B: Asphalt

B1 B2 B3

51 °C 55 °C 53 °C
A: Paver

A1 A2 A3 N
(b) Thermal images of different pavements during watering (16:00) (lighter is hotter)

Figure A.5. Optical and thermal images of experimental sections on Jul/10/2012.

8
 Jul/9 (dry) Jul/10 (watering) Jul/11 (wet)
25 hours after watering

59 °C 62 °C 55 °C
C2

50 °C 52 °C 49 °C
C3

66 °C 67 °C 65 °C
B2

65 °C 66 °C 64 °C
B3

52 °C 55 °C 50 °C

A2

53 °C 49 °C
50 °C
A3

Figure A.6. Comparison of thermal images of surface temperature of permeable pavements under
different conditions (16:00 Jul/9 through Jul/11). (lighter is hotter)