CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter gives a comprehensive review of work carried out by various researchers in the field
of pervious concrete. The relevant literature has been reviewed and presented as under:Yang and Jiang (2003) conducted a study on properties of pervious concrete pavement materials.
They used smaller size aggregates, silica fume, and superplasticizer in the pervious concrete which can
enhance the strength of pervious concrete greatly. It was found that the compressive strength of the
composite can reach 50 MPa and the flexural strength 6 MPa. The water penetration, abrasion resistance,
and freezing and thawing durability of the materials are also very good. It can be applied to both the
footpath and the vehicle road.
Park and Tia (2004) performed an experiment on the compressive strength and water purification
properties of pervious concrete. Two sizes of coarse aggregate were used, namely 5 to 10 mm, and 10 to
20 mm and three absolute volume ratios of pasteaggregate were used, namely 30%, 40% and 50% for a
given size of aggregate. It was found that compressive strength was higher when the size of the aggregate
and the pasteaggregate ratio was smaller. In the water purification experiment, a pervious concrete was
evaluated by studying the removal of the total phosphorus and total nitrogen. Pervious concrete with a
smaller size of aggregate and a higher void content was found to have superior ability of the removal of
the total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the test water. Results from this study showed that pervious
concrete using industrial by products was able to purify water efficiently.
Park et al (2005) performed a study to evaluate physical and mechanical properties and sound
absorption characteristics of porous concrete using the impedance tube method and the reverberation
room method. The objectives were to reduce noise generated in roads, railroads, residential and
downtown areas as well as to utilize recycled waste concrete aggregate. The test results demonstrated that
the difference between the target void ratio and the measured void ratio was less than 1.7%. The
compressive strength reduced rapidly when the target void ratio and the content of the recycled aggregate
exceeded 25% and 50%, respectively. The sound absorption characteristics of the porous concrete using
recycled waste concrete aggregate showed that the Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) was optimum at
the void ratio of 25% but the percent content of the recycled aggregate had very little influence on the
NRC. Therefore, the optimum void ratio is 25% and the recycled aggregate is 50%.
Chindaprasirt et al (2008) studied cement paste characteristics and pervious concrete properties.
The results indicate that cement paste characteristics were dependent on the water to cement ratio,
admixture and mixing time. Cement paste with high viscosity an d high flow suitable for making pervious
concrete was obtained with the use of water cement ratio of 0.200.25 and 1% superplasticizer. Good

pervious concrete with void ratio of 1525% and strength of 2239 MPa were obtained by using paste
with flow of 150230 mm and top surface vibration of 10 s with vibrating energy of 90 kN m/m 2.
Furthermore, the results indicate that the strength of pervious concrete could be estimated from strength
equation ( = 0 exp(-bV) ) of pervious brittle material, where is compressive strength(MPa), 0 is
compressive strength at zero void (MPa), V is void (%) and b is experimental constant.
Luck et al (2008) conducted research to determine solid material retention and nutrient reduction
properties of pervious concrete mixtures. Laboratory tests were conducted on replicated samples of
pervious concrete made from two aggregate sources (river gravel and limestone) with two size fractions
from each aggregate. Water was filtered through composted beef cattle manure and bedding (compost)
that was placed on top of the pervious concrete specimens. The result indicated by T-test that the mass of
compost retained on the surface of the pervious concrete specimens was significantly greater when
smaller aggregate sizes were used. Nutrient analyses were conducted by filtering the compost effluent
through pervious concrete, it showed significant reductions in total nitrogen, soluble phosphorus, and
total phosphorus as compared to the 80 grade wire mesh screen. The use of different aggregate types or
different additives did not have any significant effect on nutrient levels. Therefore, it was suggested that
combinations of these materials in pervious concrete mixtures would not affect the performance of
pervious concrete.
Luck et al (2009) conducted a study for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ammonium, nitrate,
nitrite, total nitrogen (TN), soluble phosphorus (SP), and total phosphorus (TP) in effluent passing
through the pervious concrete after manure was applied to the surface. Weekly rainfall simulations were
recorded and statistical analyses were performed which indicated significant increase and decrease in
most of these analyte concentrations. The use of different aggregates or additives in the pervious concrete
mixtures did not significantly affect nutrient concentrations or faecal coliforms in the effluent from the
manure. The result also showed that the potential exists for additional nutrients to be retained by
microorganisms in animal waste deposited on the pervious concrete surface.
Huang et al (2010) performed a laboratory experiment to improve the strength properties of
pervious concrete through the incorporation of latex polymer. In addition to latex, natural sand and fibre
were included to enhance the strength properties of pervious concrete. The test results indicate that it was
possible to produce pervious concrete mixture with acceptable permeability of 10-20 mm/s and
acceptable strength of 10-16 MPa through the combination of latex and sand.
Kim and Lee (2010) investigated the influence of cement flow and aggregate type on the
mechanical and acoustic characteristics of porous concrete. Three levels of cement flow and five types of
aggregates were used and the effects of Air entraining admixtures (AE admixtures) in paste were also
studied. The void ratio, compressive strength and sound absorption coefficient of the specimens are used

as evaluation parameter for comparison. The results showed that total void ratio of specimens were higher
when smaller size aggregates were used. Specimens with lightweight aggregates showed lower
compressive strength than the normal aggregates. The cement flow and addition of AE admixture did not
drastically affect the acoustic absorption of porous concrete within the range of 60140% of cement flow.
A sound absorbing porous concrete with a maximum absorption coefficient of approximately 1.00 is
developed. The minimum absorption coefficient of the double-layered porous concrete structure is
shown to be more than 0.60 with a frequency of 400 Hz or above considering the tolerant error.
Lain and Zhuge (2010) conducted a study aiming to improve the compressive strength of porous
concrete without losing permeability so that it could be adoptable for supporting higher traffic volume.
Firstly the effect of various types of aggregate to establish the best local resource was investigated and
then various mix designs were attempted and their effects on the compressive strength and permeability
of porous concrete were studied. It was concluded that quarry sand is better than dense gradation of
aggregates from 9.5mm to 2.36mm and mix components design with w/c ratio of 0.32 produce
compressive strength of 40 MPa and permeability above 2mm/s after 28 days.
Deo and Neithalath (2011) studied the pervious concrete mixtures of desired porosity using high
or low cement paste with respect to compressive strength of these mixtures. The compressive stressstrain
relationships demonstrated a consistent trend of decreasing peak stresses and strains with increasing
porosity, a reduction in strains at peak stresses with decreasing cement paste contents, and a rapid drop in
the post-peak response with decreasing porosity. The compressive energy absorbed by the pervious
concrete specimens was found to scale linearly with compressive strength and can be related to the
porosity and critical pore sizes in the material.
Lain et al (2011) performed an investigation for the development of a mathematical model to
characterize the relationship between compressive strength and porosity for pervious concrete by
analyzing empirical results and theoretical derivations. As for many pervious media, the strength of
pervious concrete was significantly affected by the porosity of its internal structure. The new model was
derived from Griffiths theory, presents a better agreement with the experimental data for pervious
concrete. It was demonstrated that the proposed model (Y = 5.96x 1 10.01x2 + 10.61) could provide a
better prediction of pervious concrete compressive strength based on the material porosity where Y = 2ln
, x1 = ln(1-p), x2 = p and Y is compressive strength, is stress at the fracture, p is total porosity.

Putman and Neptune (2011) conducted a study to evaluate different pervious concrete test
specimen preparation techniques in an effort to produce specimens having properties similar to in-place
pervious concrete pavement. Cylinders and slabs were cast using pervious concrete from three different
paving projects using different procedures. The comparisons of cast specimens of pavement cores were
based on infiltration rate, density and porosity. It was found that properties were similar to the in-place

pavement properties. However, 600 mm square slabs were even more consistent with the in-place
pavement density and porosity.
Shu et al (2011) conducted test on laboratory and field produced pervious concrete mixture to
compare their performance. The performance test includes air voids, permeability, compressive and split
tensile strengths as well as freezethaw durability tests. Two types of coarse aggregate; limestone and
granite were used to produce the mixtures. Latex, air-entraining admixture (AEA), and high range water
reducer (HRWR) were also added to improve the overall performance of pervious concrete. The results
indicated that the mixtures made with limestone and latex had lower porosity and permeability as well as
higher strength and abrasion resistance than other mixtures. The addition of AEA helped to improve the
freezethaw resistance of pervious concrete.
Sumanasooriya and Neithalath (2011) conducted an analysis on the pore structure features of
pervious concrete designed for similar porosities using two different proportioning methods; one with
higher paste contents and lower compactive efforts and another with lower paste contents and higher
compactive efforts. The pore structure features includes the pore volume fractions, pore sizes, specific
surface areas and connectivity dictating the properties of any porous material. The results showed that
porosities derived from volumetric and image analysis based method and characteristic pore sizes
obtained from morphological functions to be statistically similar for the high-paste and low-paste content
mixtures, while the low-paste conten.t mixtures show a higher specific surface area of pores. The
extracted pore structure features, when used in the KatzThompson equation ( k= c ( eff/ o). lc2 ) for
permeability prediction, permeability for specimens with larger pore sizes result in over-estimation where
c = 1/226, eff is effective electrical conductivity, o is electrical conductivity of the electrolyte and lc is
characteristic length scale of the porous medium
Vancura et al (2011) conducted a study on microscopic analysis of paste and aggregate distresses
in pervious concrete in a wet, hard freeze climate. Pervious concrete core samples were taken from both
distressed and non-distressed pervious concrete pavements that had been in service in a wet, hard freeze
environment from between 1 and 5 years. In the study it was identified that some pervious concrete
pavement sections revealed extensive subsurface cracking. Freeze/thaw distresses were the suspected
cause of a majority of the subsurface cracks in the pervious concrete due to the similarity of the cracking
patterns in the conventional concrete. In addition to cracking patterns, there was a lack of entrained air
bubbles despite the addition of air-entraining admixtures to all of the pervious concrete mixtures.
Bhutta et al (2012) conducted the laboratory study to evaluate the properties of high performance
pervious concrete. It required no special vibration equipment, curing and contain three sizes of coarse
aggregates with appropriate amount of high water-reducing and thickening (cohesive) agents. Tests
carried out were: slump, slump-flow, void ratio, coefficient of permeability, compressive strengths,

flexural strengths and strength development rate. Strength development rate was examined at curing age
of 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days and 60% relative humidity. Consequently, high performance pervious concrete
exhibited good workability and cohesiveness with no segregation or bleeding, and developed high
strength compared to conventional pervious concrete. The results also showed good workability and
cohesiveness without any special compaction or vibration.
Shen et al (2012) conducted a study to evaluate the photocatalytic effect of titanium
dioxide (TiO2) treated pervious concrete by comparing different TiO2 application methods for their
capability of pollutant reduction, maintaining the infiltrating characteristic of the pervious concrete, and
withstanding environmental damage. The photocatalyst, TiO2, activates with UV radiation to oxidize air
pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Therefore, pervious concrete
pavement could be installed for two sustainable applications: storm water management and air pollutant
removal. It was found that nitrogen oxide (NO) was efficiently removed with each of these treatments,
while VOCs displayed more variability in removal efficiency. Different coating methods could cause
different degree of infiltration rate reduction depending on the specific design of coating materials while
none of the application methods decreased the infiltration rates below levels applicable for standard
hydrological design.
Tho-in et al (2012) studied the properties of pervious concrete made of high-calcium fly ash
geopolymer binder. Pervious geopolymer concretes (PGCs) were prepared from lignite fly ash (FA),
sodium silicate, sodium hydroxide solution, and coarse aggregate. The fly ash to coarse aggregate ratio of
1:8 by weight, constant sodium silicate/sodium hydroxide ratio of 0.50, alkaline liquid/fly ash ratios of
0.35, 0.40, and 0.45, and sodium hydroxide concentrations of 10, 15, and 20 molar were the PGC mix
proportions. The results showed that the high-calcium fly ash geopolymer binder could be used to
produce pervious concrete with satisfactory mechanical properties. The relationships of the density-void
content, compressive strength-density and compressive strength-void content of the PGCs were derived
and found to be similar to those of conventional pervious concrete.
Valcuende et al (2012) conducted a comparative study to know the porosity in self-compacting
concrete (SCC) made without adding limestone filler and normally-vibrated concrete (NVC). Several
types of concrete were made keeping the w/c ratio constant. The results show that the air content in SCC
depends on the flow ability and viscosity of the material. SCC shows a finer pervious structure than NVC.
In the absence of pressure, the results obtained were very similar, with differences below 3.5%. It was
observed that the use of more fluid mixtures permitted more impermeable concrete. The use of viscositymodifying admixture on SCC as a replacement for limestone filler does not affect the total volume of
pores.

Agar-ozbek et al (2013) investigated for a special type of porous concrete, which fractures into
small fragments when exposed to impact loading while having sufficient static strength. Experiments at
different scales were performed to determine the effectiveness of the various factors such as aggregate
properties, grading and cement paste properties and the compaction technique. Modification in the
compositional properties as well as the method of compaction was made to improve static strength.
Macro and meso-scales, Computed tomography, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses were
conducted in order to better understand the properties of these porous concretes. The results indicated that
among all the parameters aggregate properties have the most dominant effect on the mechanical
properties. Intense machine compaction is essential to attain porous concretes with improved strengths.
The contribution of silica fume to the mechanical properties of porous concrete was minor.
Chen et al (2013) studied on the strength, fracture toughness and fatigue life of pervious concrete
using different sizes of specimen. Two types of pervious concrete were prepared, supplementary
cementitious material-modified pervious concrete (SPC) and polymer-modified pervious concrete (PPC).
It was concluded that high strength pervious concrete (3246 MPa at 28 days depending upon the
porosity) could be achieved through both concrete mixes. For both SPC and PPC, porosity significantly
affects compressive strength, but it had little effect on the rate of strength development. PPC has both
higher flexural strength and higher flexural-to compressive strength than SPC at the same porosity level at
28 days. Pervious concrete had more significant size effect than conventional concrete.PPC demonstrates
much higher fracture toughness and far longer fatigue life than SPC at any stress level.
King et al (2013) conducted a study to compare slipping characteristics of traditional and
pervious concrete walking surfaces in icy conditions using kinetic biomechanical analyses. It was
hypothesized that participants would alter aspects of their friction usage when walking on pervious
concrete, in comparison to traditional concrete. Healthy young participants performed three trials on
traditional and pervious concrete surfaces during dry and icy conditions such that right foot always fully
contacted the test surface. Ground reaction forces were used to determine maximal magnitude and timing
of loading phase normal force. It was concluded that pervious concrete in comparison to traditional
concrete, exhibited smaller ice-related increases in normalized friction usage. While ice-related delays in
achieving peak friction were observed on traditional concrete and icy conditions did not have an impact
on maximum shear force magnitude or timing on pervious concrete. It was also indicated that there was a
larger margin between friction forces used during walking and those that would cause a slip. It was
suggested that pervious concrete may be a more slip-resistant alternative to traditional concrete in icy
conditions.
Kuo et al (2013) studied the use of washed municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash
(MSWIBA) in pervious concrete as replacement of natural aggregates. The mix proportions were selected

based on vertical flow tests and permeability, compressive strength, bending and split tensile strength
tests. The results show that the unit weight, compressive strength, bending strength and split tensile
strengths increased with increasing filling paste ratio of the fresh pervious concrete made with washed
municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash (MSWIBA). The split tensile and bending strengths were
approximately 1/9 and 1/4 of the compressive strength, respectively. The connected porosity and
permeability coefficients are linearly correlated and both decrease as the filling ratio is increased.
Maguesvari and Narasimha (2013) studied the influence of fine aggregate and coarse aggregate
quantities on pervious concrete for pavement applications. Fine aggregate corresponding to grading II and
four sizes of coarse aggregate (4.75 mm to 9 mm, 9 mm to 12.5 mm, 12.5 mm to 16 mm, 16 mm to 19.5
mm) and OPC Type I were used. It was observed that the increase in fine aggregate results in reduction of
volume of voids which in turn increase of compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile
strength. Compressive strength varies between 10N/mm 2 to 26 N/ mm2 and coefficient of permeability
increases from 0.4 cm/sec to 1.26 cm/sec when the angularity number is in the range of 4 to 8. The
optimum mixes in each coarse aggregate size were identified based on the compressive strength.
However, the influence of angularity number on the abrasion value of the pervious concrete could not be
established.
Nguyen et al (2013) studied use of seashell by-products (SBS) as a partial replacement of
aggregates in pervious concrete pavers considered as an environmentally friendly building material. After
investigating the energy and the pressure compaction for the control pervious concrete pavers, the coarse
aggregate fractions were partially replaced by SBP. The crushed seashell of 2 - 4 mm and 4 - 6.3 mm were
used to make new seashell by-products based pavers. It was found that mechanical properties of pervious
concrete pavers were similar and seashell by-products (SBS) size strongly influences the compressive and
tensile strength and granular arrangement of concrete matrix. Due to the presence of an interconnected
porous system pervious concrete pavers had high water permeability varies from 3mm/s to 8.4 mm/s and
porosity varies from 31.8% to 34.9%, which was two times higher than that of ordinary concrete.
Ozbek et al (2013) studied the impact strengths of different types of pervious concrete with
varying mixture compositions and production technique. The experiments were performed by using a
drop weight impact test set-up and the measurements were taken through Laser Doppler velocimetry
(LDV). During the drop weight impact experiment, the failure patterns were also monitored through high
speed photography while the post failure fragments were analyzed in terms of their sizes. The result
showed that when two sizes of aggregates were used instead of single size aggregates, the dynamic and
static strength of pervious concrete increases and high speed photography observed that the crack patterns
were influenced by the geometry of the void structure and by the presence of the thin cement paste bridge

that bond the coarse aggregates. The aggregate properties and compactive effort, which are coupled to
porosity, are the main factors that affect the dynamic performance of pervious concrete.
Sata et al (2013) studied the properties of pervious geopolymer concrete (PGC) using recycled
aggregates (RA). Pervious geopolymer concrete were prepared from high-calcium fly ash (FA), sodium
silicate (Na2SiO3) solution, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, and two different types of recycled
aggregates (crushed structural concrete member(RC) and crushed clay brick (RB) ). The results were also
compared with those of natural coarse aggregate (NA). It was found that pervious geopolymer concrete
gave lower compressive strength (2.910.3 MPa) than those containing natural aggregates. The
relationships of density and compressive strength, splitting tensile and compressive strength and total
void ratio and water permeability coefficient were similar to those of conventional pervious concrete.
Therefore, both crushed structural concrete member (RC) and crushed clay brick (RB) can be used as
recycled coarse aggregates for making pervious geopolymer concrete with acceptable properties.
Sonebi and Bassuoni (2013) investigated the effects of water-to-cement ratio (W/C), cement
content and coarse aggregate content on the density, void ratio, infiltration rate, and compressive strength
of portland cement pervious concrete(PCPC) by statistical modeling. Factorial design method and
response surface methodology (RSM) were used for determining the results. In addition, examples were
given on using multi parametric optimization to produce isoresponses of a desirability function for PCPC
satisfying specified criteria including cost. It was found that W/C, cement content, coarse aggregate
content and their interactions are key parameters, which significantly affect the characteristic performance
of PCPC. The statistical models developed could facilitate optimizing the mixture proportions of PCPC
for target performance by reducing the number of trial batches needed.
Zeatang et al (2013) conducted an experiment to know the effects of lightweight aggregate
(LWA) and cement paste contents on the properties of lightweight pervious concrete. Diatomite (DA) and
pumice (PA) as natural lightweight aggregates and three cement paste contents of 15%, 20%, and 25% by
volume were used. The total void ratio, water permeability coefficient, density, compressive strength,
splitting tensile strength, surface abrasion resistance, and thermal conductivity coefficient of lightweight
pervious concrete were evaluated and the results were compared to those of lightweight pervious concrete
containing recycled coarse from autoclaved aerated concrete. It was found that the use of diatomite,
pumice and recycled aggregates as coarse aggregates in pervious concrete could reduce the density and
thermal conductivity as compared to pervious concrete containing natural aggregate (approximate about
34 times). The densities ranged from 558 to 775 kg/m3 with the 28 days compressive strengths varing
between 2.47 and 5.99 MPa could be used for application in insulating material. The increase in cement
paste content improved the mechanical properties and density of lightweight pervious concrete .
Lightweight pervious concret containing diatomite showed higher mechanical properties and a lower

thermal conductivity than those of recycled aggregates and pumice. However, lightweight pervious
concrete containing pumice showed the highest water permeability.
Gupta (2014) conducted a study to determine the feasibility of using pervious concrete pavements
as an alternative to asphalt pavements in British Columbia and Canada on a larger scale. The site location
was specifically chosen to study the effect of standing traffic, moving traffic, and turning vehicles. A
network of embedded perforated pipes was laid to monitor the capacity of the pavement to absorb and
detain the rain runoff and its effect on improving quality of permeated runoff. The construction procedure
was compared to conventional construction and a desired finish/texture for a parking lot was achieved. It
was found that higher levels of ravelling were observed in the turning zones as compared to the driving
and parking zones and the rate of ravelling seems to be slowing over time. Due to lack of an existing
technique to manufacture moulded specimens for compression testing contributed to the low measured
compressive strength. The overall capacity of the pavement and its effectiveness in capturing surface
runoff remains high. Water samples collected from the embedded pipes when compared to surface run off
entering the system have a slightly lower COD (chemical oxygen demand).
Ibrahim et al (2014) conducted an investigation on the mechanical and hydrological properties of
Portland cement pervious concrete (PCPC) under different key parameters. Twenty-four PCPC mixtures
were prepared and tested to address the effect of different size fractions of coarse aggregate, water-cement
ratio, cement content, and coarse aggregate volume on the relationships between compressive strength,
tensile strength, porosity and permeability. The results showed that properties such as permeability,
porosity are significantly affected by using either one or two coarse aggregate sizes and density could be
an effective factor for predicting compressive strength and porosity in all concrete mixtures. The obtained
results showed that PCPC could be produced using one or two aggregate sizes at the most.