Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Review

Pervious concrete as a sustainable pavement material Research

findings and future prospects: A state-of-the-art review
Anush K. Chandrappa, Krishna Prapoorna Biligiri
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal 721 302, India

h i g h l i g h t s

Presented current state-of-the-art regarding pervious concrete pavements.

Reviewed durability issues associated with pervious concrete mixtures.

Documented past studies related to field performance of pervious concrete mixes.

Discussed environmental and economical aspects of pervious concrete materials.

Pervious concrete found to be a very promising candidate in pavement applications.

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

Article history: In the last few years, the use of pervious concrete as a pavement material in low-volume road applica-
Received 14 September 2015 tions has gained importance due to its positive environmental aspects. This paper reviews the develop-
Received in revised form 15 December 2015 ments and state-of-the-art pertinent to pervious concrete research and practices. The investigations on
Accepted 17 February 2016
mechanical-hydrological-durability properties of pervious concrete performed in various studies have
Available online 23 February 2016
been reviewed. The storm water purification efficiency of pervious concrete has been documented. The
field investigations of few test sections and in-service pervious concrete pavements have been discussed.
Keywords:
A review has been made on rehabilitation techniques to increase the hydraulic efficiency of pervious con-
Pervious concrete
Pavements
crete pavements. A note has been mentioned on the life cycle cost analysis of pervious concrete. Due to an
Strength increased use of pervious concrete in the pavement industry due to its multitudinous benefits, there
Durability exists an expansive scope for further research to understand the material better, which will make it a
Environment promising sustainable roadway material in future.
Life cycle cost analysis 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Field performance

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
2. Pervious concrete: materials, mix design, and mechanical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
2.1. Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
2.1.1. Aggregates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
2.1.2. Cementing materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
2.1.3. Admixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
2.2. Mix design and proportioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
2.3. Mechanical properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
2.3.1. Strength properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
2.3.2. Abrasion and freeze-thaw studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
2.4. Pore properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
2.4.1. Non-transport related properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
2.4.2. Transport related pore properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
2.4.3. Clogging in pervious concrete mixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: anushkc@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in (A.K. Chandrappa), kpb@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in (K.P. Biligiri).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.02.054
0950-0618/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274 263

3. Pervious concrete pavements: field investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

4. Water purification effects of pervious concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
5. Life cycle cost of pervious concrete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
6. On-going research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
7. Prospects of pervious concrete pavement applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
8. Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

1. Introduction In order to decrease the effect of high-impact development, sev-

eral transportation organizations have focused on research and
High-impact development in the areas of transportation infras- implementation of sustainable materials and eco-friendly strate-
tructure by the construction of conventional pavements is trans- gies that result in low-impact development [10]. Conventionally,
forming the natural pervious ground into an impervious land most of the urban planners and developers have adopted detention
cover [14]. The construction of conventional impervious pave- and retention basins as strategies to reduce runoff from the urban
ment systems has caused two major shifts in the local environ- areas. However, water from such basins will require engineered
ment, including: (1) changes in the hydrological aspects, and (2) treatment before discharging it into natural water bodies, thus
variations in the surrounding thermal ambience [2,47]. making the solution uneconomical [16,12].
The impervious nature of the conventional pavement systems Among various strategies for low-impact development in pave-
has resulted in increased stormwater runoff quantity that has ments, pervious concrete pavement system has become a suitable
stemmed in a large volume of first flush containing unacceptable candidate due to its structural, economical, and road user benefits
level of pollutants, and unwarranted flash floods [3,812]. More- [12,17]. Pervious concrete is a unique concrete pavement type
over, the treatment of first flush requires large detention basins mainly composed of rationally graded coarse aggregate and
and purification plants before it is discharged into the natural cementing materials which provide the mix with an intercon-
water bodies [3,10]. In addition, problems such as decreased nected macro-pore internal structure [1821]. The limited quan-
groundwater recharge, hydroplaning surfaces, and non-skid- tity or absence of fines in pervious concrete creates highly
resistant wearing courses is virtuous of the impervious pavement curvaceous pores that help store stormwater within them, and
systems [2,9]. Further, unfavorable changes in the surrounding reduce runoff quantity in a scientific manner. Further, the porous
thermal ambience such as the creation of a difference in the tem- nature is found to reduce the UHI effect, and helps maintain con-
perature between urban and the surrounding rural areas are also ducive surrounding ambience.
known to be caused due to the impervious urban fabric. The imper- The score of benefits has undoubtedly bolstered the use of per-
vious pavement systems which act as heat storage media release vious concrete in pavement applications in the various regions of
the heat back to the atmosphere during night times [13]. This phe- the world over the last several years [19]. However, the implemen-
nomenon commonly called Urban Heat Islands (UHI) has led to tation of pervious concrete as a pavement material in many coun-
thermal discomfort for urban dwellers, which has prompted the tries especially emerging countries is still not practiced due to lack
consumption of additional electricity for cooling purposes and of a standard technique in material preparation and testing as well
increased CO2 emissions [6,14,15]. as construction practices. Concurrently, there is a need to compile
literature of pervious concrete material in pavement applications

Pervious concrete: State-of-the-art review

Mix design and mix

proportions Compressive strength

Flexural, fracture and

Mechanical properties fatigue strength

Abrasion and freeze -

thaw resistance

Non-transport
properties
Pore properties
Transport properties

Clogging

Field investigation of On-going research at IIT

Kharagpur Future scope of research
pervious concrete

Fig. 1. Research review outline.

264 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274

Table 1
Mix proportions used to produce pervious concrete mixture.

Year Aggregate, Cementing material, Water, Aggregate-to cement ratio (A/C) Water-to cementitious material ratio Author
kg/m3 kg/m3 kg/m3 (W/Cm)
1995 1651.32 412.83 153.57 4:1 0.372 Ghaffori and Dutta [16]
1692 376 143.25 4.5:1 0.381
1740 348 135.72 5:1 0.390
1800 300 125.4 6:1 0.418
2006 1541.93 344.69 105.01 4.47:1 0.3 Crouch et al. [25]
1620.24 287.15 87.21 5.64:1 0.3
2009 1820 180 50 10:1 0.28 Kevern et al. [26]
1700 260 70 6.5:1 0.27
1620 310 80 5.2:1 0.26
1580 330 90 4.78:1 0.27
1550 360 100 4.3:1 0.28
1510 380 100 3.97:1 0.26
1600 340 80 4.70:1 0.24
1570 330 100 4.75:1 0.30
1560 330 100 4.72:1 0.30
2010 1440.8 320.2 112.1 4.5:1 0.35 Huang et al. [19]
1486.9 330.4 115.6 4.5:1 0.35
1586.9 352.6 123.4 4.5:1 0.35
2010 1559 312 103 5:1 0.33 Neithalath et al. [18]
1568 314 104 5:1 0.33
1558 312 103 5:1 0.33
1524 305 101 5:1 0.33
1546 309 102 5:1 0.33
1544 309 102 5:1 0.33
2013 1560 367 110.1 4.25:1 0.30 Lim et al. [8]
1560 242 72.96 6.44:1 0.30
1560 367 73.4 4.25:1 0.20
1560 367 110.1 4.25:1 0.30
1560 430 110.1 3.62:1 0.26
1560 495 148.5 3.15:1 0.30
2014 1600 200 70 8:1 0.35 Ibrahim et al. [36]
1800 150 52.85 12:1 0.35

from past and current research. This collation of research reposi-
tory will help researchers, scientists, designers, engineers, plan-
ners, contractors, and practitioners to appreciate its prominence
as a pavement strategy, and will aid in its implementation. Thus,
the main purpose of this review paper was to introduce the reader
with the existing knowledge of pervious concrete material as a
pavement strategy. It is envisioned that the future scope of
research mentioned as part of the review would help investigators
to further their understanding of pervious concrete pavements in
various facets. Fig. 1 presents the scope of the research review.
2. Pervious concrete: materials, mix design, and mechanical
properties
Pervious concrete is a gap-graded material with characteristic
pore structure which consists of interconnected, dead end, and
capillary pores [21]. The aggregate gradation for the pervious con-
crete typically consists of single-sized coarse aggregates/binary
mixture of coarse aggregates with optimal amount of cement to
coat and bind aggregates together. The porosity of a typical pervi-
ous concrete varies in the range of 1525% with a minimum of 15%
as prescribed by the National Ready Mix Concrete Association
(NRMCA) [22]. The water-to-cement ratio being a very important
variable is lower compared to those used in the conventional con-
crete mix, and has been historically varied over the range of 0.28
0.40 with the main intention to provide sufficient cement coating
for the aggregates [23,24]. Further, the aggregate-to-cement ratio
has been varied in the range of 4:1 to as high as 6:1. Typically,
the volume of aggregates in pervious concrete is about 5065%
compared to conventional concrete, which is about 6075%.
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Aggregates
In order to maintain sufficient voids in the material, pervious
concrete is usually made up of aggregates sizes in the range of
199.5 mm [21]. However, several studies have used coarse aggre-
gates of size 9.52.36 mm with the main aim to increase the
strength properties [19,17,2527]. The typical aggregate contents
used in the various studies are shown in Table 1. It is recom-
mended that the aggregates to be used in pervious concrete should
have properties as specified in [28,29] which provide specification
limits for those properties that affect the performance of pervious
concrete pavements. For example, the limits of deleterious materi-
als such as clay, and chert are mentioned, which affect the bonding
between aggregate and cement paste. It is to be noted that the
physical properties of aggregates to be used in pervious concrete
should be similar to those used in the conventional concrete.
The aggregate physical characteristics such as size, shape, and
distribution play important role in controlling the mechanical,
durability, and permeability characteristics of pervious concrete
pavements [30,31]. Apart from the aggregate size, the aggregate
type also has a significant influence on the properties of pervious
concrete. Although limestone aggregate has been commonly used
to produce pervious concrete, few other studies have indicated that
dolomitic aggregates provide higher compressive strength at
higher porosity levels compared to similar mixtures made with
limestone/slag aggregates [32].
In another study carried out by [30], aggregate types obtained
from seventeen sources were used to study the effect of aggregates
on freezethaw (FT) resistance. The pervious concrete mixtures
made up of granite aggregate type showed superior FT resistance
 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274
5 In addition, it has to be noted that irrespective of the com-
Cement paste thickness, mm
9.54 mm 6.35 mm
4.5
4 tent increases the paste thickness around the aggregate, which
3.5
3 vious concrete pavements in providing better permeability.
2.5
2 2.1.3. Admixtures
1.5
1 use of different admixtures that increase the workability without
0.5
0 water reducing admixtures to increase the workability, and ACI
Torres et al, 2015 Deo, 2011
Authors
Fig. 2. Comparison of cement paste coating thickness.
irrespective of source/location. The limestone and river gravel
aggregate mixtures were easily damaged by FT cycles. The phys-
ical properties such as abrasion resistance and water absorption of
aggregates played a significant role in controlling FT damage.
These results indicated that aggregate properties should be con-
trolled in pervious concrete because of thin cement paste, which
allows water to easily permeate into the pore of individual aggre-
gates leading to higher probability of FT damage and durability
cracking in these pavements.
2.1.2. Cementing materials
Pervious concrete has been normally produced using ordinary
Portland cement (OPC) (Type-1) confirming to [33]. The cement
content used in various studies is shown in Table 1. The main func-
tion of the cementing material is to provide sufficient coating
around the aggregates to increase the durability of the pervious
concrete. Other than OPC, researchers have used supplementary
cementitious materials (SCM) such as silica fume, fly ash as partial
replacement for OPC. However, the results have indicated that the
effect of SCM on pervious concrete is not similar to those observed
in conventional concrete, and in fact; SCMs decrease the strength
properties of pervious concrete after a certain threshold partial
replacement as reported in [34].
The cementing material coating thickness has been found to be
a very important factor in assessing the structural and hydrological
performances of pervious concrete pavements. Deo [23] deter-
mined the paste thickness using digital microscope for pervious
concrete consisting of different aggregate sizes. It was found that
larger aggregates had thicker coating while smaller aggregates
had thinner coating, which was mainly attributed to the larger sur-
face area of smaller aggregates. The study also showed that with an
increase in aggregate size, the elastic modulus and compressive
strength increased. This result is found to be in contradiction to a
number of other previous studies, which showed that an increase
in aggregate size results in the strength reduction. Probably, these
differences can be attributed to the different mix design methods
adopted in their respective studies.
Another recent study [35] developed a novel method to deter-
mine the paste thickness in pervious concrete mixtures. The study
correlated the cement paste thickness with strength and hydrolog-
ical properties. Evidently, with increase in paste thickness, the
strength properties increased and pore properties such as porosity
and permeability reduced. Further, it showed that with an increase
in aggregate size, the strength reduced due to a reduction in
cement coating. The comparison of average values of cement paste
thickness of two different studies for two different aggregate sizes
is shown in Fig. 2. The results from those two studies are incongru-
ous in terms of cement paste coating thickness though a similar
type of compaction method was used.
265
paction and mix design methods, an increase in the cement con-
may have higher strength but will defeat the purpose of using per-
Pervious concrete usually has zero slump, which dictates the
undue increase in water content. Most of the studies have used
522R-10 [21] also suggests using various types of admixtures.
For instance, retardation admixtures can be used to ease the field
placement problems since pervious concrete may require addi-
tional time to place and finish owing to its harshness. Additionally,
evaporation retarders are recommended to reduce the evaporation
of gauged water from the freshly laid surface, and air-entraining
admixtures can be used to increase FT durability.
2.2. Mix design and proportioning
Research studies recommend different mix designs and propor-
tioning systems for pervious concrete based on the various princi-
ples [17,20,27]. Nonetheless, the most common principle of mix
design is to provide enough cement coating to the aggregates.
Nguyen et al. [17] developed a pervious concrete mix design and
proportioning hypothesis based on the excess paste theory. The
cement paste volume required to provide sufficient coating was
determined by dividing it with surface area of the spherical aggre-
gates. Yahia and Kabagire [20] proposed mix proportioning method
based on the ratio of paste volume (PV) to inter-particle voids
(IPV). Deo and Neithalath [27] used the traditional method of cal-
culating mix proportions for pervious concrete based on the abso-
lute volume method. The mix proportions used by various
researchers for their investigations and designs are shown in
Table 1. As observed, the aggregate density content varied in the
range of 14001800 kg/m3 with aggregate to cement ratio of
4:112:1. Additionally, the water to cement ratio varied in the
range of 0.20.42, and was in the lower range as compared to
the conventional concrete.
2.3. Mechanical properties
The mechanical properties of pervious concrete are deemed
important since they control the design thickness of the pavement
layer and its durability (and functional) characteristics. The para-
mount properties of interest for designing pavements for their
structural and functional properties include: compressive strength,
flexural strength, fatigue life, abrasion and freeze-thaw resistance.
Over the last few years, many researchers [2,3,16,19,20,3653]
have investigated and estimated these properties for different vari-
ants of pervious concrete. An account of the various mechanical
properties is detailed as follows.
2.3.1. Strength properties
The strength properties pertinent to pervious concrete include
compressive, flexure, and fatigue strength. These properties have
been investigated by a number of researchers in the past [2,16,19,
25,36,3849,56,57]. The study results indicated that strength prop-
erties are function of mix variables, and are more sensitive to
aggregate-to-cement ratio rather than water-to-cement ratio [25].
The addition of polymers and rubber increased the fracture tough-
ness of the material due to an increase in the ductility
[19,42,45,49]. Owing to thin cement coating around the aggregates,
the aggregate type has had a significant role in the strength develop-
ment of pervious concrete [41].
266 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274

Table 2
Summary of compressive strength characteristics of pervious concrete.

Year Study parameter considered SCMs/admixtures Major conclusion Author

6
1995 Compaction effort Super-plasticizers The average ultimate drying shrinkage was found to be 280  10 which was half of Ghafoori and
Aggregate to cement ratio typical conventional concrete Dutta [16]
Water to cement ratio
2003 Fine aggregate content Silica fume Silica fume can enhance compressive strength without loss in water permeability Yang and
Water to cement ratio Vinyl acetate ethylene Jiang [2]
Aggregate size Polyvinyl alcohol
formaldehyde hydrosol
2010 Aggregate size SBS latex Use of combination of latex, sand and fibers can optimize the strength and drainage Huang et al.
Natural sand properties of pervious concrete [19]
Polymer modification Polypropylene fiber
Fiber content
2010 Aggregate types Silica fume Silica fume without super-plasticizer may not be effective in increasing the strength of Lian et al.
pervious concrete [41]
Sand
Silica fume
2010 Pore structure parameters NA An increase in porosity by 10% will decrease compressive strength by 50% Deo et al.
[27]
2011 Aggregate size NA Aggregates with smaller angularity number provides higher compressive strength and Jain and
Aggregate shape/angularity less permeability Chouhan [31]
2011 Numerical Modeling NA An additional research is required to incorporate small sized aggregates in DEM. pervious Lian et al.
Discrete Element Modeling concrete mixtures with large sized aggregate are well simulated [39]
2014 Aggregate size NA Paste volume equal to 50% of inter-particle voids would be optimum to balance strength Yahia and
Aggregate gradation and porosity in pervious concrete. Kabagire [20]
Paste volume
2014 Rubber type NA Rubber chips have negative effect on the compressive strength Gesoglu et al.
Rubber content [42]

The various studies indicated that curing period had no signifi-
cant influence on flexural strength of pervious concrete. There
were no significant differences between 7- and 28-day flexural
strength. Further, the 7-day compressive strength of pervious con-
crete was found to be 7090% of the 28-day compressive strength.
This strength gain in 7-day was higher than that for the conven-
tional concrete where 7-day strength is usually about 6570% of
the 28-day compressive strength [47].
Very limited literature is available in the areas of fatigue char-
acterization of pervious concrete mixes. The fatigue behavior of
pervious concrete in compression was studied by using polymers
and microsilica as modifiers in [48]. The results showed that few
pervious concrete samples sustained more than 2 million cycles
before failure, and an addition of polymers improved the fatigue
strength. Chen and Wang [49] investigated fatigue behavior on
beams at different stress levels and porosities. Polymers in pervi-
ous concrete increased the fatigue life at a given stress level, and
fatigue life was found to have very high dependency on mix poros-
ity. Comparing the two studies [48,49] the fatigue life character-
ized under compression was approximately 10 times higher than
those tested under flexure for similar kind of mixtures.
Few other research studies developed computational models
using Discrete Element Modeling (DEM) approach to understand
the mechanical behavior of pervious concrete [38,39]. In these
studies, constitutive models were developed as a combination of
three models: contact, slip, and parallel bond models. The parallel
bond was used to model the cement paste; contact and slip models
were used to model the displacement and frictional behavior
between the aggregate and cement paste. A nonlinear regression
model was developed relating compressive strength and pore
structure parameters such as mean free spacing, averaged pore
size, porosity, 3-Dimensional pore distribution density, and speci-
fic surface area of pores [40]. The study showed that the pore struc-
ture features have significant role in defining the compressive
strength. The larger sized aggregate mixtures showed higher
strength than smaller sized aggregate mixes due to highly hetero-
geneous pore path in these mixtures. The compressive strength
behavioral characteristics of pervious concrete observed by various
researchers are tabulated in Table 2.
At present, there is no standard test method to evaluate the
compressive and flexure strength of pervious concrete. However,
the ASTM subcommittee C09.49 has proposed a test method to eval-
uate the compressive strength of pervious concrete whose salient
features are as follows:

Sample size: 400 diameter  800 height cylindrical geometry.

Compaction effort: fresh mixture to be filled in two layers pro-
viding twenty blows per layer using the standard proctor
hammer.

Curing: as specified in ASTM C31 [54].

Testing: as specified in ASTM C39 [55] and ASTM C78.
The compaction method specified in the proposed test method
might cause the crushing/breaking of the aggregate particles near
the top surface due to the impact compaction by the proctor ham-
mer. Further, unlike conventional concrete, pervious concrete exhi-
bits vertical porosity distribution as shown in [44,56]. This may
induce initial localized failure near the bottom surface of the per-
vious concrete where the porosity is normally higher. In order to
reduce the effect of vertical porosity distribution, the number of
layers to be filled may be increased, which may distribute the com-
paction energy in a more identical manner among the different lay-
ers that may reduce the porosity distribution along the depth. The
consideration of these factors may reduce the scatter in the test
results.
2.3.2. Abrasion and freeze-thaw studies
Due to the exposed aggregate structure and thin coating of
cement over aggregates, the abrasion and freeze-thaw resistance
of pervious concrete pavements become important to understand
 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274 267

its long-term durability. The abrasion resistance of pervious con- among researchers due to the presence of thin coating of cement
crete is most commonly studied using three methods [50]: Can- around aggregates where the pervious concrete may show exces-
tabro test; loaded wheel abrasion test; and surface abrasion test. sive F-T damage compared to the traditional concrete made up of
Dong et al. [50] used fiber and latex to modify pervious concrete the same aggregates [30].
and studied its behavior in abrasion. The combination of latex
and fiber showed superior resistance against abrasion conducted
2.4. Pore properties
using the three different methods. Gaedicke et al. [51] studied
abrasive resistance of pervious concrete made of different aggre-
The pore properties of pervious concrete have been adjudged to
gate types using Cantabro and surface abrasion tests. Pervious con-
be equally important to the strength properties, and thus play
crete with pea gravel had the least abrasion resistance due to weak
important role in characterizing the material as a sustainable pave-
bonds between aggregates and cement paste. Further, pervious
ment system. These properties can be classified as: non-transport
concrete with recycled aggregates showed better resistance
related and transport related [10,11,18,24,36,44,45,6265]. The
against abrasion and was attributed to the improved interfacial
non-transport related properties cover total volumetric porosity,
transition zone. In general, both studies [50,51] found that Can-
and pore size and distribution. The transport related properties
tabro (impact type) and surface abrasion tests resulted in lower
include effective porosity, pore connectivity, and tortuosity.
and higher coefficients of variation in the test results, respectively.
In another investigation [52], different types of rubber were used
in pervious concrete to study the abrasion behavior. Fine crumb 2.4.1. Non-transport related properties
rubber (with 1 mm size) enhanced the abrasion resistance of per- Total porosity being one of main non-transport related proper-
vious concrete; and tire chips and crumb rubber lowered the abra- ties is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to the total vol-
sion resistance. ume of the sample [11]. The total porosity/void content in
Currently, ASTM C1747 [58] is the standard to evaluate the pervious concrete is determined as per ASTM C1688. In pervious
degradation of pervious concrete due to impact and abrasive type concrete, it was assumed that porosity remained constant along
of loading. The standard uses Cantabro method of abrasion, where the depth but there exists vertical porosity distribution in pervious
the mass loss of hardened pervious concrete mixture with design concrete [62]. In order to study these variations, pervious concrete
density determined as per ASTM C 1688 [59] is measured after was placed in a single lift and compacted using different methods
500 revolutions, and is expressed as a percentage of initial mass. [44,56], which indicated that porosity increased along the depth
As a matter a fact, few studies [50] have conducted surface abra- irrespective of the compaction method as shown in Fig. 3.
sion tests as per ASTM C944 [60] to evaluate abrasion in pervious Pores being random in size in a pervious concrete mix, their dis-
concrete. It was found that this test method was not successful in tribution was determined using various stereological and morpho-
differentiating between the different types of pervious concrete logical techniques [18]. In another study [62], the average effective
mixtures due to relatively low loss in the mass by abrasion action pore size was found to be 3.425 mm determined using X-ray
only. Tomography (XRT) technique, and it followed a normal distribu-
Pervious concrete with macro-pore structure generally stores tion fit. As mentioned earlier, the strength of pervious concrete
water in the pores and may undergo FT cycles, which may deteri- decreased with increase in porosity. For example, [44] claimed that
orate the material. FT resistance is normally measured in terms of for porosities of 15%, 20% and 25%, the compressive strength mag-
mass loss after a number of successive freeze and thaw cycles. In nitudes were in the range of 3844, 2935, and 1522 MPa, respec-
order to quantify FT resistance, researchers have used different tively. This was an indication that strength decreased by
additives. Ghafoori and Dutta [16] used air-entraining admixture approximately 50% for every 10% increase in the porosity, and also
in concrete to improve FT resistance. Yang and Jiang [2] found reported in [40].
that silica fume with super plasticizers will improve FT resistance.
Tire chips and crumb rubber were also used to improve FT resis- 0
100
tance [52]. The fine rubber particles increased air content which
acted as entrained air bubbles, thus reducing the effect of expan- 10
90
sive stresses of water on the cement paste. Due to the non-
20
existence of standard test method to study FT effects on pervious 80
concrete, ASTM C666 [61] is used as a standard for FT evaluation, 30
70
which was basically developed for traditional/conventional con-
crete. The applicability of this standard has raised few questions 40
60
50
Porosity 50
60
40
70
30
80
20
90
Depth Martin III [58] 10
100
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Chindaprasrit [46]
Porosity vs Compressive strength
Porosity vs Flexural Strength
Porosity vs Permeability

Fig. 3. Vertical porosity distribution in pervious concrete: recreated using surface Fig. 4. Relation between mechanical and pore properties related as a triangular
vibration compaction [44]; and Proctor hammer compaction [56] test results. block schematic; recreated using [2,17,19,36,41].
268 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274
2.4.2. Transport related pore properties
Transport related properties are those which actually help per-
vious concrete to function as an environmental-friendly pavement
material. These properties transport water from surface to the bot-
tom, and eventually aid in the recharge of ground water. The total
porosity in the pervious concrete mix can be divided into intercon-
nected pores, capillary pores, and dead-end pores [32]. The inter-
connected pore skeleton which aids in the transportation of
water is also referred to as effective porosity. Sumanasooriya and
Neithalath [63] studied pore connectivity as a function of paste
content and found that high paste content pervious concrete mix-
tures had lower pore connectivity factor as a result of paste clog-
ging. In another study, pervious concrete tortuosity which is
defined as the ratio of effective length to the total length of the
sample was determined using XRT, which had a mean value of
4.13 [62]. Cosic et al. [32] investigated the effect of aggregate type
and size on the pore structure properties of pervious concrete
using XRT. The effective porosity was found to be 5075% of the
total porosity and the pore connectivity factor was a function of
aggregate type than its size.
Permeability, which is one of the pore structure dependent
properties of pervious concrete, has also been considered to study
pore properties [2,3,9,19,23,36,41]. Permeability being a function
of aggregate size, compaction level, gradation and cement content
was varied in the range of 0.12 cm/s. Qin et al. [64] evaluated per-
meability of pervious concrete and estimated that falling head per-
meameter showed higher values than the constant head
permeameter. The difference was mainly attributed to the non-
dependency of the applied pressure in case of a falling head perme-
ameter. Noting that permeability is not the only function of poros-
ity, [62] and [65] developed two different equations to predict
permeability by modifying the Kozeny-Carman equation.
Further, [9] compared the two field permeability test methods
using ASTM C1701 and National Center for Asphalt Technology
(NCAT) permeameter techniques. The findings showed that the
values measured as per ASTM C1701 were lower than those
obtained from the NCAT method. The main reason was the differ-
ence in the size of the permeameters. Fig. 4 shows relations of
mechanical and pore properties of pervious concrete mixes as a tri-
angular block schematic fundamentally recreated using the previ-
ous studies. As observed, with an increase in porosity, strength
properties decrease, and concurrently, the permeability increases
for a material.
2.4.3. Clogging in pervious concrete mixes
Pervious concrete pavement is expected to serve as a bi-
functional material meaning that the mix should provide
structural- as well as hydrological-related benefits. The strength
characteristics discussed above are adequate enough to support
Fig. 5. Typical cross section of pervious concrete pavement system.
low volume traffic loads. However, the limitation comes with its
hydrological-related aspects in terms of clogging. The in-service
pervious concrete pavements get clogged due to debris, dust and
other foreign particles. This may reduce the infiltration capacity
of the pervious concrete mix, and thus its efficiency to reduce
storm water runoff [66].
The clogging potential of in-service pervious concrete pave-
ments was studied using permeability and imaging principles
[67]. The permeability measurements indicated that age of the
pavement played a significant role in defining the permeability of
the in-service pavement. The imaging studies showed that the
top 25 mm of pervious concrete is mostly subjected to clog. In a
separate study [68], pervious concrete was investigated for
extreme conditions of clogging using bentonite and kaolinite clay
suspensions. After a repeated number of clogging and drying cycles
to simulate actual weather conditions, most of the clay remained
near the surface forming a thick cover. The clogging potential of
pervious concrete mixtures made up of different aggregate sizes
were investigated by using fine and coarse sand as clogging mate-
rial [69]. The clogging potential of pervious concrete decreased as
the ratio of pore size to particle size was too large or too small. Fur-
ther, the mixes made with 4.75 mm aggregate (single size and bin-
ary) size had the highest potential for clogging problems due to
similarities in the pore and clog material particle sizes.
3. Pervious concrete pavements: field investigations
In general, the laboratory studies on different materials indicate
their relative behavior and may not represent their true perfor-
mance in the field. In order to study the structural and hydrological
performance of pervious concrete, several researchers have also
carried out studies on in-service pavement sections in the field.
A typical cross-section of a pervious concrete pavement system
is shown in Fig. 5. The cross section consists of pervious concrete
layer, upper geotextile (optional), aggregate bed/base, geomem-
brane, and subgrade. However, it is to be noted that there may
be intermediate layers of aggregates functioning as choker layer,
drainage layer, etc. As can be seen from the cross section, there
are two locations where geotextiles can be provided in pervious
concrete pavement systems:

Geotextile between pervious concrete layer and the aggregate
bed.

Geotextile between aggregate bed and the subgrade layer.
At present, there are few limited studies on the effect of geotex-
tiles on pervious concrete pavement systems performance. The
upper geotextile is optional since few studies have shown that
the geotextile at this location neither improves the overall struc-
Pervious concrete layer
Upper geotextile
(optional)
Aggregate bed /
base layer
Geotextile / geomembrane
Subgrade
 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274
Aggregate bed
Geotextile
Fig. 6. Application of geotextile for pervious concrete pavement system [73].
tural integrity nor provides water quality benefits [70,71], and few
studies do not recommend it to be placed above the open-graded
base layers [72]. The lower geotextile/geogrid/geomembrane may
be either pervious if infiltration of stormwater into the subgrade
is required or an impervious one if there is no need for infiltration.
These geosynthetic materials can be used in the subgrade materials
to stabilize through confinement in case the subgrade is weak. The
application of geotextile for pervious concrete pavement is shown
in Fig. 6.
Pervious concrete pavement test cells have been constructed in
MnRoad test facilities where it is being monitored to observe and
study the different types of distresses [73]. The most common dis-
tresses, which were found during the ongoing investigation, are:

Joint deterioration.

Surface sealing.

Raveling.

Debonding.
The photographs of the different distresses in pervious concrete
pavement test cells are shown in Fig. 7 [73,74].
The structural integrity of traditional concrete and pervious
concrete parking pavement systems with different base conditions
was investigated using Falling weight deflectometer (FWD)
[75,76]. These studies showed that aggregate base conditions play
significant role in controlling the structural response of pervious
concrete pavements for traffic loads. The thicker aggregate base
layer reduced the overall deflection of pervious concrete pavement
system compared to the traditional concrete as shown in Fig. 8.
Further, under similar base conditions the different impulse loads
showed that deflection in pervious concrete pavements were about
1.74 times higher than those observed for conventional pave-
ments. The back calculated moduli of conventional concrete pave-
ments were four times higher than pervious concrete pavements.
Fig. 7. Different distresses in pervious concrete pavement: (a) joint deterioration; (b) raveling; (c) surface sealing [73].
269
These results conclude that pervious concrete structural integrity
is largely depended on the base and sub-base conditions.
In another study, the mechanical and hydrological properties of
laboratory produced pervious concrete was compared with: (i)
field produced mixes brought to the laboratory and then com-
pacted, and (ii) field cores which were extracted three weeks after
construction [77]. The field cores showed lowest compressive
strength due to higher air voids content. Further, the durability
tests such as Cantabro loss and FT resistance indicated that labo-
ratory compacted field mixtures had better durability than field
cores. It is noteworthy that the field mixes complied well with lab-
oratory produced mixes and the differences in properties between
field cores and laboratory mixes can be mainly attributed to the
compaction effort.
The field hydrological performance of the pervious concrete was
investigated which was followed by proposing efficient rejuvena-
tion methods as reported in [78]. The single ring infiltrometers
were used in the field determination of infiltration capacity which
indicated that few pervious concrete pavement sections had infil-
tration capacity less than that of the underlying soil due to com-
plete clogging. The study proposed a novel approach of placing a
double ring infiltrometer while constructing pervious concrete
pavements to monitor its infiltration capacity periodically.
4. Water purification effects of pervious concrete
Based on the study excerpts presented in the previous sections,
it can be adjudged that pervious concrete can be used as an effec-
tive stormwater management strategy. However, the stormwater
is known to cause nonpoint pollution where the runoff carries nat-
ural and man-made pollutant into the natural water bodies such as
lakes, streams, rivers, etc. affecting the overall ecology depending
on these waters. A typical concentration of pollutants in the urban
runoff is shown in Table 3. Fortunately, pervious concrete due to its
porous nature not only reduces the runoff quantity, but also
increases the quality of infiltrated stormwater which is basically
polluted by several sources such as heavy metals, oils, fecal mat-
ters, dust, etc. [79]. The mechanisms through which it can purify
the infiltrated stormwater can be classified into three categories:

Physical purification: the sinuous/curvaceous paths in the inter-
nal structure of pervious concrete adsorb the suspended mate-
rials. This removes most of the solid suspended particles from
the stormwater thus reducing the pollutants to some extent.
Eventually, the suspended particles can be removed during
the periodic maintenance.

Chemical purification: pervious concrete being alkaline in nature,
during the contact with polluted water, it releases hydroxide
ions (OH) and carbonate ions (CO2 3 ), which react with the pol-
270 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274

increase in hydroxide ions, the removal of fecal coliforms and

phosphorous increased.

5. Life cycle cost of pervious concrete

Pervious concrete pavements being a good choice for low vol-

ume roads such as parking lots, sidewalks, and residential streets
are still unconventional for many. From the mechanical properties
point of view, pervious concrete pavement is weaker, but its added
benefits come from stormwater management and low-impact on
environment. One of the best methods to compare similar class
of materials would be by considering their relative cost and bene-
fits. At present, there are no particular studies which discuss the
cost-benefits of pervious concrete and if available they are mostly
applicable for local conditions. This section reviews the cost-
benefits of pavements of permeable class compared to the conven-
tional pavement systems. There are few studies which have made
comparative analysis of the initial cost of construction between
permeable and conventional pavements. These studies showed
that initial costs are higher for permeable pavements due to con-
Fig. 8. Deflection response of different pavement systems for 40 kN impulse load
trolled design and placements to achieve proper voids continuity
[75].
as reported in [84,85].
Table 3
The overall cost benefits of permeable pavements can be appre-
Concentration of different pollutants in urban runoff for various land uses (recreated ciated when life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is carried out. However,
based on [83]). due to lack of large scale testing, long-term performance data, con-
Land use type Concentrations, (mg/L)
struction and maintenance cost data; it has been difficult to study
LCCA without many assumptions. As reported in [84], permeable
COD TSS TN TP Fe Zn Cu
pavement systems were compared with conventional stormwater
Commercial and 302.81 367.19 16.69 3.17 1.56 0.33 NA management systems used in highway shoulders. The permeable
residential
pavements reduced the life cycle costs by 30% and pointed out that
Industrial zone 221.45 298.11 8.98 2.12 4.27 3.5 0.31
Parking lots 67.94 86.72 2.33 1.02 0.37 NA NA the project specific LCCA should be developed by monitoring actual
costs. In another study [85], based on the data obtained from sev-
eral agencies, it was found that pervious concrete pavements can
lutants and precipitate them. Further, the pH of the polluted save up to $64,649 considering installation cost, and $3,788,856
water is also increased converting it to be more neutral rather considering water treatment benefits over 25 years span compared
than being acidic. to conventional pavements. The reduction in construction cost is

Biological purification: the pores in the pervious concrete pro- mainly attributed to the fact that pervious concrete pavements
vide abode for a number of microbial activities, which consume do not require side drains, overlaying, and so on. The Federal High-
the suspended materials and dissolving them. way Administration (FHWA) points out that pervious concrete may
be 1520% more expensive than the traditional concrete. However,
The purification effects of pervious concrete have been studied this depends on several factors such as materials employed and
in various facets. An in-service pervious concrete pavement was application methods. In the report [86], three classes of permeable
tested for its ability to remove phosphorous material from runoff pavements such as full filtration, partial filtration, and no filtration
water. The cored samples from the pavement showed that pervi- were compared for cost and benefits.
ous concrete removed about 94.3% of phosphorous [80]. The effect Considering the available literature, there is a very limited work
of thickness of pervious concrete on purifying polluted water was on cost analysis of pervious concrete. Further, those available liter-
studied by Lee et al. [81]. The purification of polluted water in atures have shown that pervious concrete is expensive than con-
terms of salinity, oil deposition were studied which indicated that ventional concrete considering only the construction cost due to
increase in thickness of pervious concrete layer rendered better non-availability of long-term performance data. Rationally speak-
purification. Further, the pavement system (combination of pervi- ing, taking into account the environmental benefits offered by per-
ous concrete layer, base, sub-base) was more effective in reducing vious concrete such as reduction in runoff quality, natural
pollutant concentration than only the pervious concrete layer. filtration, ground water recharge, better land utilization, etc. the
The heavy metals present in the storm water runoff especially pavement system can outperform conventional pavements for
originating near industrial areas may be detrimental to aquatic life low volume roads. Additionally, most of the studies are considering
if discharged in an untreated manner. The sorption capacity of per- only stormwater runoff mitigation benefits, but none of them have
vious concrete to sorb heavy metals was investigated using zinc included the scope of taking into account the UHI mitigation ben-
and copper metal concentrated influent solutions [82]. The test efits. The authors identify this as a potential area of research to
results indicated that the effluent solutions had lesser concentra- study thermal properties of pervious concrete, and its effect on
tion of heavy metals. The impact of the results is that pervious con- reduction of life cycle costs considering alleviation of the UHI
crete pavements can be laid in industrial areas to reduce heavy effects.
metal concentration in runoff water, which will add to reduce pol-
lution of natural water bodies. The chemical purification effect of 6. On-going research
pervious concrete was investigated by [83] using sewage water
with fecal coliforms and phosphorous as a study subject that are Under the aegis of Government of Indias Ministry of Human
known to cause gastroenteritis. The study showed that with Resources Development project, the authors and colleagues are
 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274 271

involved in the development of design specifications and standards
for pervious concrete pavements for applications in low-volume
roads.
A wide range of pervious concrete mixture samples were pre-
pared at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur laboratory
facilities, which included 100 mm diameter  200 mm height
cylindrical samples, and 300 mm  300 mm  150 mm slab speci-
mens as shown in Fig. 9. The angularity number, which is an
important aggregate characteristic, was found to play a vital role
in providing resistance during sample compaction. The total poros-
ity of the mixes produced was in the range of 2938% with density
values varying from 17502000 kg/m3, which was a similar range
found in other previous studies. The permeability of pervious con-
crete mixes was found to be in the range of 0.795 cm/s, which was
determined using falling head permeameter for varying cement-
to-aggregate ratio. The permeability increased with decreasing
density; and decreased with increasing water-to-cement ratio. In
order to study the impact of pore diameter and area of pores of
the mixes, image analyses were carried out on the surface-
trimmed cylindrical samples. The scanned and binary images of
the surfaces of representative samples are shown in Fig. 10. The
images were further used to determine the average pore sizes in
terms of their area for different pervious concrete mixes
In addition to the mix design processes undertaken, thermo-
physical properties of pervious concrete mixes were also studied
since literature recommends the use of porous pavement materials
to mitigate UHI effects. In this direction, thermophysical properties
including thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, thermal dif-
fusivity, albedo were determined for 9.5 mm single sized pervious
concrete mix and compared with a conventional concrete mixture
as reported in [87]. The results showed that pervious concrete mix
had higher specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity than
conventional concrete material indicating that porous structure
will help reduce ill effects of the urban climates from pavement
materials perspective. In another mini-study, evaporative cooling
effect (ECE) of dense and porous concrete pavements was studied
to understand UHI phenomenon better [88]. Overall, the findings
showed that pervious concrete materials depicted positive ECE,
which helps keep the surrounding environment cooler by mecha-
nisms of evaporation than their conventional counterparts.
The ongoing studies are aimed at the development of full-
fledged mix designs of pervious concrete pavement systems that

Fig. 9. Pervious concrete mixture test samples: (a) cylindrical specimens with 100 mm diameter and 200 mm height; and (b) slab specimens of
300 mm  300 mm  150 mm dimensions.

Fig. 10. Scanned and binary (threshold) images of surfaces of different pervious concrete samples: (a) 4.75 mm single size; (b) 9.5 mm single size; (c) 4.75 + 6.7 + 9.5
+ 13.2 mm equally composed; (d) threshold image of 4.75 mm single size; (e) threshold image of 9.5 mm single size; and (f) threshold image of 4.75 + 6.7 + 9.5 + 13.2 mm
equally composed.
272 A.K. Chandrappa, K.P. Biligiri / Construction and Building Materials 111 (2016) 262274
will cater to low-volume road applications and possibly other
urban roads. The studies will focus on strength, thermal, and
hydrological properties along with placement of field-test sections
to study real-time behavior of pervious concrete pavement
systems.
7. Prospects of pervious concrete pavement applications
Pervious concrete is relatively a new material in pavement
applications in comparison with the conventional concrete pave-
ments. The following enlists the future scope of research in the
area of pervious concrete pavements:

Requirement of mix design specifications and testing methods: at
present, there is no single mix design method for pervious con-
crete due to which the results obtained from different studies
are usually non-comparable. The testing methods specified for
traditional concrete are being applied for pervious concrete,
and this has raised a few issues among researchers due to the
differences in the material compositions.

Laboratory-field correlations: most of the studies being carried
out on pervious concrete are confined to laboratory conditions.
There is a gap in the development of laboratory-to-field correla-
tions in terms of unit weight, compaction effort, porosity, cur-
ing, fatigue, and so forth. This will certainly help in the
development of appropriate testing methods so that field condi-
tions are mimicked in a laboratory.

Development of standard structural design procedures: there is a
need to develop a universal thickness design method for pervi-
ous concrete similar to the other pavement materials such as
asphalt concrete or traditional conventional concrete. This will
not only help in understanding the material behavior but help
in the implementation of pervious concrete in different parts
of the world.

Structural modeling: finite element model cannot be applied to
pervious concrete, as it is discrete in nature. Advanced modeling
techniques such as discrete element methods would be more
appropriate and must be explored.

Maintenance and long-term performance: the periodic mainte-
nance of pervious concrete is absolutely essential owing to its
porous structure, which gets clogged. Thus, this pavement type
requires regular maintenance. Rational modeling methods,
understanding clogging phenomenon, and laboratory and
field-testing can achieve this. As of now, there are no defined
failure criteria for pervious concrete and hence there is no par-
ticular time limit to carryout the rehabilitation procedure. Fur-
ther, rehabilitation techniques in respect of structural methods
need to be developed. Studying the long-term performance and
monitoring of pervious concrete pavements can accomplish this
aspect.

Urban heat island mitigation: although it is known that pervious
concrete can alleviate UHI effects, there is a lag in studying
which of the thermal properties has significant contribution.
Therefore, an extensive study is required to understand the
thermophysical properties of pervious concrete pavements.

Life cycle costs: the initial and maintenance costs of pervious
concrete over a long-term period needs to be collected and pub-
lished in order to appreciate the benefits of pervious concrete
pavements, and make recommendations for implementation.

Applicability for high volume roads: the high strength pervious
concrete needs to be developed with reduced abrasion/raveling.
This material if developed can certainly reduce the overall side
effects of those caused by traditional pavements and can be
used in various classes of roads, including, highways.
8. Conclusions
The use of pervious concrete in low-volume road applications
has been attracting urban developers and contractors due to its
various benefits. This paper reviewed the current state-of-the-art
corresponding to key mechanical and hydrological properties of
pervious concrete pavement material. The main objective of this
paper was to introduce the reader with the importance of pervious
concrete and its benefits in the context of urbanization.
The paper has discussed various properties of pervious concrete
such as mechanical, hydrological, durability, field performance,
environmental and cost-benefits aspects. Based on the previous
studies, it was found that there exist several research gaps in the
subject area, as indicated in the future scope of research. These
gaps if considered and studied can help in the overall improvement
of the understanding of the material and lead to the development
and implementation of design standards for pervious concrete
pavements.
Overall, the past studies indicated that pervious concrete mix is
a very promising candidate to be used as a pavement material in
low-volume roads such as local streets, pedestrian walkways and
driveways, and possibly in arterials and highways in future if
mechanistic-based design procedures are developed.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Government of India
Ministry of Human Resource Development Department of Higher
Education for financial support vide Future of Cities research pro-
ject grant number F. No. 4-22/2014-TS.I, dated 23 January 2014.
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