Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Hydraulic properties of polyurethane-bound permeable pavement

materials considering unsaturated flow
T. Törzs a,⇑, G. Lu b, A.O. Monteiro b, D. Wang b,c, J. Grabe a, M. Oeser b
a
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering and Construction Management, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Harburger Schloßstraße 20, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
b
Institute of Highway Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
c
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Preparation of innovative polyurethane-bound pavement materials.

Prediction of the water-retention behaviour based on basic geotechnical properties.

A laboratory technique to determine the retention behaviour is applied.

Saturated hydraulic conductivity is determined and modelled.

Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities are derived from laboratory and modelled data.

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

Article history: Constant urban and infrastructural growth leads to increased sealing of areas in municipal areas. This sur-
Received 26 December 2017 face sealing results in distortions of the natural water cycle, which again can lead to noticeable changes in
Received in revised form 28 February 2019 the natural ecosystem. To counteract the effects of surface sealing, innovative permeable road structures
Accepted 14 March 2019
provide a promising environment-friendly opportunity. An innovative highly permeable road surface
Available online 6 April 2019
material based on alternative binders using polyurethane (PU) to replace the conventionally used bitumi-
nous binders has been developed in the course of an ongoing research project. It is intended that the high
Keywords:
permeability of the road’s surface material and underlying support layers leads to a quick drainage
Open porous pavement
Polyurethane
through the road construction down to the subsoil. The aim of this study is to understand and quantify
Hydraulic properties the relevant hydraulic properties of PU-bound road surface material, i. e. the water retention behaviour
Unsaturated soils and the hydraulic conductivity in saturated and unsaturated states. A predictive model to determine
Water retention behaviour the surface material’s water retention behaviour was used as a first estimation and very low air entry val-
Hydraulic conductivity ues were observed. Results from laboratory experiments on the material’s saturated hydraulic conductiv-
Permeability ity as well as the water retention behaviour in the low suction range are presented. Additionally,
empirical hydraulic models to describe the retention behaviour and models for the saturated and unsat-
urated hydraulic conductivities are outlined and applied.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction materials and technologies. Building permeable road structures

Surface sealing is associated with constant urban and infrastruc-
tural growth. The level of sealed surfaces in Germany can rise up to
nearly 50% which is shown in Fig. 1. Sealed surfaces decrease the
natural retention capacity of an area leading to significant changes
in the natural water cycle and consequently in the whole natural
ecosystem. In addition, the global shortage of resources leads to
the need of innovative and environment-friendly construction
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tom.toerzs@tuhh.de (T. Törzs).
combined with the use of innovative synthetic binders for the
road’s surface material is a promising alternative to the ubiquitous
traditional sealed bituminous pavements. The use of permeable
pavements aims at instantaneous infiltration of water into the
underlying layers down to the subsoil. Thus, surface run-off is
reduced and municipal water treatment systems are relieved.
Substituting the bituminous binder in asphalt concrete with a
synthetic PU-based product has already been proved in several
cases [1–4]. The research findings showed that a substitution of
bituminous binders by PU-based binders could significantly
improve the performance of a traffic surface. The material showed

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.03.201
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430
Fig. 1. Level of surfaces sealed by buildings and traffic areas in Germany (satellite data by the European Environment Agency from 2013).
a higher fatigue and deformation resistance against traffic loads
compared to common bituminous open porous asphalt for water-
permeable road constructions. In addition, Renken and Oeser [5]
and Lu et al. [4] showed that the high permeability combined with
the material’s strength is maintained over the whole range of ser-
vice temperatures. Further, as petrochemical resources are limited,
many efforts have been done in finding alternatives to their appli-
cations. The polyol component of polyurethane can be obtained
from renewable resources, such as vegetable oils, resulting in an
environmentally sustainable product [6,7]. Additionally, compared
to the heat mixing process using regular bitumen based binders,
polyurethane-based binders can save energy and significantly
decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the cold mixing
process [8].
A porous pavement structure, serving in a complex environ-
ment, subjected to dynamic vehicle loading, capturing variable
phases (air, liquid and solid) is exposed to mechanical and hydrau-
lic loads. With the infiltration and the upward movement of mois-
ture in the sublayer and soil due to changing groundwater levels
and capillary rise, water-permeable road structures are mostly in
an unsaturated state. Multi-physical processes in the structure
include freezing and spalling, drying and shrinkage, hydro diffu-
sion and subsidence, as well as capillary rise and cracking [9]. Each
one of these processes can cause a complex distribution of the
phases which exerts significant influence on the pavement beha-
viour. Hence, it is vital to fundamentally clarify the characteristics
of pore water and pore air flow in the permeable pavement
structure.
This article focuses on the investigation of the hydraulic proper-
ties of PU-bound pavement structures. Renken et al. [10] and Törzs
et al. [11] presented first results from experiments on the water
423
retention behaviour of PU-bound pavement of similar composi-
tions to the materials investigated in this research project. Low
capillary effects were observed, whereby their importance on the
hydraulic performance of water-permeable pavement still needs
to be investigated. Besides its mechanical function, the pavement’s
design must ensure correct drainage under rainfall events. Further-
more, the passing of vehicles affects the pore air and pore water
pressures and thus influences the capillary pressure within the
pavement and subsoil [12,13].
Following these findings, standard tests on the saturated con-
ductivity as well as tests on the water retention behaviour using
a hanging water column apparatus were carried out on two com-
positions of PU-bound pavement materials. The latter is not a stan-
dard method in asphalt testing. However, the applicability of the
method has been proved in numerous studies in geotechnical
and environmental applications [14].
Besides the conducted experiments, the performance of hydrau-
lic models to describe the water retention behaviour as well as a
model for the saturated hydraulic conductivity and a model to
derive the unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of both phases,
water and air, are presented and evaluated.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Material’s properties
The investigated material of this study is the aforementioned
PU-bound pavement material, whereby two compositions varying
in terms of particle size distribution of the aggregates will be inves-
tigated. Similar mixtures to the ones investigated in this study
424 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430

were already used in other studies [1–5,8,10,11] and throughout Table 1

the project funded by the German Research Foundation as part of
project Nos. GR1024/25-1 and OE514/4-1. Mixture A includes grain
fractions from 0 mm to 8 mm, mixture B from 0 mm to 5.6 mm. The
corresponding particle size distributions as well as bound and
Properties of the investigated polyurethane-bound road surface materials. The given
parameters for the porous specimens are averaged values for the respective mixtures.
Further, a schematic drawing for understanding the different bulk densities is given.
Parameter (unit) Mixture

unbound specimens are illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. A B

The aggregates in their unbound form are a fine diabase gravel mass fraction (–)
and a limestone filler, which are widely used in regular bituminous aggregates 0.94 0.94
porous asphalt mixtures [15]. In the production of the PU-bound aggregates’ filler content 0.02 0.02
PU-binder 0.06 0.06
road surface material, the unbound grains are mixed in the

amounts given in Table 1, whereupon the yet liquid PU is added bulk densities qbulk g=cm3
to the mixture creating a thin PU-coating covering the aggregates. aggregates 2.85 2.85
filler 2.80 2.80
Once the PU hardens, the coated grains are bonded together form- PU-binder 1.09 1.09
ing a stable and highly permeable pavement mixture. composed mixtures 2.60 2.60
Polyurethane, as used in the pervious pavement mixtures, is a porous specimens (mean) 1.877 1.849
multifunctional material, which in addition is widely used in many porosity n (–)
different fields, e. g. building and construction materials, furniture, porous specimens (mean) 0.278 0.289
textiles, or electronics. It primarily consists of various polymers
that are made by the polyaddition reaction of a diisocyanate or a
polymeric isocyanate with a polyol. The synthesis is based on the
connection of isocyanates and hydroxyl groups that lead to the cre-
ation of a urethane group [16]. Polyurethane elastomers exist as 2-
component and 1-component binder systems. The 2-component
systems, which are usually used in engineering applications, con-
sist of the components polyol and isocyanate.

In general, the hydraulic conductivity of any porous medium is

Fig. 2. Particle size distributions of unbound pavement materials of types A and B.
highly dependent on properties of the fluid and properties of the
porous medium, respectively, i. e. particle size distribution, particle
shape, void content and pore structure, and the viscosity of water
[17,18]. The drainage performance of a material can be evaluated
by the coefficient of permeability ks , which denotes the speed of
a given quantity of water flowing through a porous structure’s
cross section at a given hydraulic gradient.
As already shown in Renken et al. [10] and Törzs et al. [11], PU-
bound road surface material tends to very low capillary effects,
obviously comparable to a very coarse sand or fine gravel. The
occurrence of different pore types in open porous asphalts is
described by Lin [19], see Fig. 4. Since the drainage direction in
the specimen is downwards, the only option for a fluid is to drain
through type A pores or get stuck in type B pores. Stored water in
type B pores can not drain downwards even when the applied suc-
tion is increased. The larger the specimen height, the higher the
amount of type B pores and the residual water contents. Type C
pores are generally inaccessible for pore water. For the experi-
ments on the water-retention behaviour, a specimen height of
10 mm was chosen. This is based on the results presented in

Fig. 3. PU-bound pavement material from drill cores with a diameter of 50 mm and Fig. 4. Schematic drawing of different pore types after Lin [19] and drainage
a height of 10 mm (left) and unbound pavement material (right). direction.
 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430
Renken et al. [10], a predicted low suction range, and high perme-
ability of the material in general. It is crucial to minimise the spec-
imen’s height because saturation Sr is a volume-related property
which highly varies over specimen height when in unsaturated
states. Thus, to derive a representative degree of saturation for a
specimen, it would not be sufficient to average the amount of
water in a much higher specimen. To take account of irregularities,
i. e. non-homogeneous pore distributions, three different speci-
mens for each mixture were tested three times each.
2.2. Working procedure of this research
The working procedure the research and this article is based on
is as follows:
1. Predict the water retention behaviour of PU-bound road surface
material with a model from the literature based on basic
geotechnical properties as an initial estimation.
2. Choose a method for measuring the water retention behaviour
in the soil mechanics laboratory based on the predicted suction
range and needed accuracy.
3. Determine the water retention behaviour of PU-bound road
surface material in the soil mechanics laboratory using an
appropriate method. In the scope of this paper only primary
drainage paths are considered.
4. Determine the saturated conductivity of the specimens in labo-
ratory experiments.
5. Fit empirical models for the water retention behaviour and the
saturated conductivity to the experimentally obtained data.
6. Derive unsaturated hydraulic conductivities for water and air
phases, respectively.
2.3. Initial prediction of the water retention behaviour
This section aims at predicting the water retention behaviour of
two compositions of PU-bound pavement material from its basic
geotechnical properties using a model from the literature as an ini-
tial estimation. The prediction of the water retention behaviour of
water-permeable PU-bound surface layers using the approach pre-
sented by Aubertin et al. [20] for soils based on their basic geotech-
nical properties is intended to give a first impression on the air
entry values (aev), the gradients of the retention curves and resid-
ual states. Also, the results are intended to help in choosing an
appropriate method for the planned tests on the water retention
behaviour. Except for the geotechnical properties of the unbound
grains, i. e. e; D10 ; D60 , and C U , the empirical standard parameters
applied by Aubertin et al. [20] have been used. The results in
Fig. 5 show the typical sigmoid curve including low air-entry val-
ues and a steep gradient. Different parts of the degree of saturation
Sc and Sa driven by capillary and adhesive forces, respectively, are
shown as well. Further information on the model and used equa-
tions can be found in Appendix A of this manuscript.
2.4. Experimental investigations
2.4.1. Experimental investigations on the water retention behaviour
Alongside predicting the water retention behaviour of the PU-
bound surface materials, additional experiments in the soil
mechanics laboratory at Hamburg University of Technology were
carried out. The previously predicted low suction range between
fully saturated and residual states of the suction-saturation rela-
tionship helped to find a suitable laboratory testing method for
the determination of the primary drainage curve of the pavement
materials. To accomplish accurate measurements in the low suc-
tion range the method of the hanging water column, as presented
in ASTM D6836-16 [21], was utilised. A schematic drawing of the
425
Fig. 5. Predicted retention behaviour of polyurethane-bound surface materials of
type A and B using the parameters from Table A.1 showing the influence of capillary
force and adhesion force on the saturation Sr .
test setup of the hanging water column apparatus used in this
study is presented in Fig. 6.
The test setup consists of a specimen base pedestal, a burette
with a scale (capacity: 10 ml, graduation divisions: 0.02 ml) to
measure the water outflow, and a suction supply (vacuum) system
implemented using two water reservoirs at different elevations.
The amount of water flowing in or out of the specimen can be read
from the burette connected to the specimen base pedestal, which is
furthermore connected to the suction supply system. The burette is
placed horizontally at the same elevation as the bottom of the
specimen, allowing to equate the applied vacuum with the suction
inside the specimen.
This version of a hanging water column apparatus to measure
the suction-saturation relationship allows very accurate adjust-
ments in the relative elevation of the water reservoirs and there
is no necessity of continuously adjusting the relative elevation of
the reservoirs in order to maintain a constant applied suction. Air
diffusion in the burette, however, can affect the measurements of
the water volume flowing in or out of the specimen [14], but was
neglected herein.
In the beginning of the test, the two water reservoirs are held
at the same relative elevation resulting in an applied vacuum of
0.0 kPa. The applied vacuum is identical to the suction s inside
the specimen. At this initial point, the water in the fully satu-
rated specimen and the water already in the tube should be in
equilibrium. When lowering one of the reservoirs, the difference
in the elevation results in an increasing vacuum in the system
which is directly applied to the water phase in the specimen
resulting in drainage of the water inside the specimen into the
horizontal burette. The amount of drained water can be read
from the burette after reaching equilibrium, i. e. no water move-
ment is identifiable in the burette. The applied vacuum pressure
is read from an air pressure transducer (type: Kyowa PGM-02KG)
which is connected to the air system. Another air pressure trans-
ducer was used in a previously conducted functional test to ver-
ify the functionality of the used transducer, which is presented in
Fig. 7. The unsteady fluctuation in the data results from the vac-
uum pump used for the preliminary tests. However, good accu-
racy in the reference and the suction transducer’s responding
qualities is given.
The investigated specimens are drill cores of PU-bound surface
materials with a diameter of 50 mm and a height of 10 mm. In
426 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430
Fig. 6. Schematic drawing of the hanging water column apparatus as proposed in the ASTM D6836-16 [21] in a slightly modified version.
Fig. 7. Accuracy and functionality verification of air pressure transducers (Kyowa
Electronic Instruments Co., Ltd.).
total, 18 tests were conducted: three specimens of mixture A and
mixture B were tested three times each. For each test, a specimen
is put on the specimen base pedestal and is drained through a
microporous membrane with a pore diameter of 0:8 lm (Pall Corp.,
[22]) induced by the applied vacuum. The membrane is placed on
top of a porous disk made from sintered metal enabling a dis-
tributed drainage over the specimen’s cross section. The mem-
brane has a high air entry value to ensure that nothing but water
is drained from the specimen into the horizontal burette. The out-
flown water volume is then read from the scale on the burette. To
take into account slightly fluctuating porosities of the different
specimens, the outflown amount of water at the end of a test
was used to derive the specific specimen’s effective porosity. The
functionality of the specimen base pedestal has been successfully
tested in numerous tests on the water retention behaviour of sands
by Törzs [23] and Milatz et al. [24]. The specimen base pedestal
equipped with a fully saturated specimen before a test run is pre-
sented in Fig. 8. Throughout the experiments, a perforated cling
film is placed above the specimen to minimise evaporation while
ensuring hydraulic contact to the atmospheric air phase.
In this study, however, only the drainage behaviour beginning
from fully saturated specimens was investigated. Any hysteretic
effects in the water retention curve resulting from changes in the
flow direction due to changing weather conditions or dynamic
effects for example from repetitive tire loadings were not further
investigated herein.
Fig. 8. Specimen base pedestal with a fully saturated specimen of PU-bound surface
material (mixture A).
2.4.2. Experimental investigations on the saturated conductivity
The saturated hydraulic conductivity was tested in vertical per-
meability tests at RWTH Aachen University on specimens of the
same compositions as given in Table 1 and following the instruc-
tions in DIN EN 12697-19 [25]. The coefficient of permeability ks
in the vertical direction was determined by quantifying the water
flow Q v (m3 =s) through specimens with a diameter of 100 mm and
a height of 40 mm in a defined time at a constant effective hydro-
static head of 300 mm. The corresponding vertical permeability
apparatus is shown in Fig. 9. The specimen heights correspond to
typical pavement thicknesses as used in road construction practice.
2.5. Modelling of hydraulic properties
When taking into account unsaturated states in numerical anal-
yses, the fundamental relationship between suction s and satura-
tion Sr (in soil mechanics also referred to as soil-water
characteristic curve, SWCC) is a key function on which a lot of
research has been carried out [17]. This relationship has been used
for the estimation of the hydraulic conductivity, shear strength,
volume change, and aqueous diffusion functions of unsaturated
soils [26].
To better understand the retention behaviour as well as the
pore water and pore air flow in PU-bound pavement material,
the most commonly established models to describe the water
retention behaviour of soils are used to fit the laboratory-
determined data for both materials. Further, saturated hydraulic
 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430
Fig. 9. Vertical permeability testing apparatus in accordance to DIN EN 12697-19
[25], see Lu et al. [8].
conductivity is determined utilising a widely used model. From
there, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivities for both phases,
water and air, are derived by another model.
2.5.1. Water retention behaviour
Empirical models to describe the water retention behaviour of
soils were presented by Brooks and Corey [27], van Genuchten
[28], and Fredlund and Xing [29]. The corresponding formulations
given in Eqs. (1)–(3) were used to model the retention behaviour of
the investigated materials. Furthermore, best fit analyses using
least squares were carried out to find the appropriate parameters
for the different models. For the determination of parameter mVG
in Eq. (2) the simplified approach by Mualem [30] was used, i. e.
mVG ¼ 1  1=nVG .
 saturation and kp gives the value of pore-size distribution index
Sr;max for s 6 saev
Se ðsÞ ¼
ðaBC sÞnBC for s > saev
1 
Se ð s Þ ¼
m
1 þ ðaVG sÞnVG VG
1
Se ð s Þ ¼  h  nFX imFX
ln e þ asFX
Eq. (4) allows the conversion from the normalised or effective
saturation Se to the actual saturation Sr , which is mainly used in
this study.
Sr ¼ Se ðSr;max  Sr;res Þ þ Sr;res
2.5.2. Saturated hydraulic conductivity
Pore structure characteristics are usually adopted for the esti-
mation of the saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity,
also referred to as the coefficient of permeability in porous media.
The most common relationships are established based on pore fac-
tors in terms of particle size distribution or measured pore indices
[31]. Due to the high complexity in measuring different pore
indices regarding to pore structure, pore shape factor and tortuos-
ity, models are mostly constructed on varied types of assumptions,
while models integrated from the particle size distribution present
more empirical and convenient results [32]. Two famous
approaches for predicting the saturated hydraulic conductivity ks
based on the particle size distribution are the Hazen model and
427
the Kozeny-Carman model (KCM). Contrary to the Hazen model
based on the effective aggregate diameter d10 , the KCM integrates
the entire particle size distribution as well as void ratio and a shape
factor to achieve a prediction of ks . Thus, the accuracy of KCM
highly surpasses that of the Hazen model [33]. As a result, the
KCM is widely adopted for modelling the hydraulic conductivity
ks in porous material and pavements [34] and is given by Eqs. (5)
and (6):
cW 2 1 e3eff
ks;KCM ¼ D ð5Þ
lW C KC eff S2F 1 þ eeff
and
100 %
Deff ¼ X   ð6Þ
f i = D0:5 0:5
li Dsi
i
where f i denotes the fraction of particles between two adjacent
sieve sizes: Dl (larger sieve size) and Ds (smaller sieve size). Further,
lW denotes the viscosity of water, which is approximately
1  106 kPa s at 20  C, cW represents the unit weight of water, C KC
is the Kozeny-Carman empirical coefficient for which a value of 5
is suggested, SF represents the shape factors of the aggregate: (a)
spherical grains: 6.0, (b) rounded grains: 6.1, (c) worn grains: 6.4,
(d) sharp grains: 7.4 - 7.5 and (e) angular grains: 7.5 - 8.4. For the
investigated PU-bound surface material a shape factor of 7.4 (corre-
sponding to diabase) was selected.
2.5.3. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities
From the semi-empirical relationship firstly proposed by Brooks
and Corey [27], the partial permeability of the water phase kw can
be described as follows:
kw ¼ ks Sð2þ3k
e
p Þ=kp
ð7Þ
In Eq. (7), ks denotes the coefficient of permeability at satura-
tion of porous media, Se represents the effective degree of water
ð1Þ determined as the average gradient of the retention curve in this
research. Similarly, the partial permeability of the air phase ka
can be calculated by Eq. (8):

ð2Þ ka ¼ ks ð1  Se Þ2 1  Sð2þkp Þ=kp
ð8Þ
e
ð3Þ 3. Results and discussion
3.1. Water retention behaviour
The compiled results from several test runs on the suction-
saturation relationship of the PU-bound surface materials of type
ð4Þ A and B are presented in Fig. 10. The air entry values of mixtures
A and B are located between 0 kPa and 0.1 kPa. The average gradi-
ent of the data points can be taken from linear regression line fits
given in the legends of the corresponding datasets. The quick drai-
nage of the pavement materials is indicated by the gradient of the
curve. A higher gradient corresponds to a quicker drainage. Fur-
ther, the application of the most common hydraulic models for
the description of the suction-saturation relationship from the lit-
erature was feasible even for this very low suction ranges. The fit-
ted curves and corresponding parameters are presented in Fig. 10
and Table 2 respectively.
3.2. Saturated conductivity
The results from the laboratory tests (Section 2.4.2) as well as
results from modelling the saturated hydraulic conductivity
428 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430

Fig. 11. Saturated permeabilities ks in PU-bound pavements of mixture A (light

grey) and mixture B (dark grey). The permeabilities from laboratory tests are
compared to the modelled permeabilities.

3.3. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity

Fig. 10. Retention data of PU-bound surface material from tests with the hanging
water column and fitted models from the literature.
(Section 2.5.2) are shown in Fig. 11. Laboratory determined mean
coefficients of permeability at saturation are ks;A ¼ 5:25  103
m=s and ks;B ¼ 3:67  103 m=s for specimen of type A and B, respec-
tively. From a geotechnical point of view and corresponding to DIN
18130-1 [35] both can be categorised as ”highly permeable”. This is
in good agreement with the requirements for water-permeable
road constructions given in FGSV [15], where ks P 5:4  105 m=s
is demanded. Modelled mean coefficients of permeability at satu-
ration are ks;KCM;A ¼ 6:06  103 m=s and ks;KCM;B ¼ 4:61  103 m=s,
respectively. Reasonably good agreement between tested and
modelled behaviour becomes evident. However, the modelled per-
meabilities are slightly higher (DA ¼ 0:81  103 m=s
and
3
DB ¼ 0:94  10 m=s) but therefore in line with the trend. This
slight deviation might be based on the fact that the Kozeny-
Carman equation was initially formulated for unbound granular
materials.
Based on the unsaturated permeability model (Section 2.5.3),
the pore water and pore air flow in PU-bound pavement surface
can be characterised. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of
water kw and air ka were modelled from the laboratory data as well
as simulated from the models presented in Sections 2.5.1 and 2.5.2.
As shown in Fig. 12, the development of simulated permeabilities
fits almost well to those using reference parameters. The reference
parameters were derived from the experimentally obtained satu-
rated permeabilities and retention data of PU-bound pavement
specimens investigated in the soil mechanics laboratory. This
applies for mixture A and B, respectively. However, minor devia-
tions resulting from the slight deviations between tested and mod-
elled saturated hydraulic conductivities (DA and DB in Section 3.2)
are visible. In general, the coefficient of permeability of pore water
kw increases with the degree of saturation Sr , while that of pore air
ka decreases. During vertical saturation processes the effective void
content can quickly be filled by infiltrating water, while the avail-
able air is squeezed out. With increasing degree of saturation in the
porous structure, more pore water flow can be detected, whereas
the flow of pore air dissipates quickly. The results were also consis-
tent with the aforementioned experimental saturated permeability
tests on PU-bound pavement specimens, wherein a steady vertical
outflow velocity was achieved averagely after 15 s of infiltration.

Table 2
Hydraulic Parameters for the models by Brooks & Corey, van Genuchten and Fredlund 4. Conclusion
& Xing for mixtures A and B, see Fig. 10. In the calculation of the degree of saturation
Sr with Eq. (4), the residual saturation Sr;res has been set to the minimum saturation The hydraulic performance of polyurethane-bound road pave-
value from the conducted experiments. Sr;max was set to 1.
ment material as it is used in water permeable road constructions
Hydraulic model Parameter Unit Mixture was investigated. The suction-saturation relationship of this mate-
A B rial is a vital property and of major interest when investigating
Brooks & Corey aBC 1=kPa 5.656 4.945 unsaturated states in numerical analyses. The goal of this study
nBC – 3.460 3.582 was to give insights into the hydraulic properties, i. e. the
Van Genuchten aVG 1=kPa 4.792 4.255
suction-saturation relationship, from an initial prediction to labo-
nVG – 5.526 5.546 ratory experiments up to the expression of this relationship with
mVG – 0.819 0.820 empirical models. Additionally, models for the determination of
Fredlund & Xing aFX kPa 0.746 0.315 the hydraulic conductivities in saturated as well as unsaturated
nFX – 3.208 4.711 states were successfully applied.
mFX – 90.414 4.973 The presented results show that the water retention behaviour
and the corresponding air entry values of PU-bound pavement
 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430 429

Fig. 12. Unsaturated permeabilities of pore water kw and pore air ka in PU-bound pavement type mixture A (left) and mixture B (right) as a function of Sr . The permeabilities
derived from laboratory data are compared to the modelled permeabilities.

material are very low and seem to be negligible. However, the water at 20  C; a is a shape factor varying from 6 to 18, and e is the
investigated properties might influence the hydraulic performance, void ratio. DH is taken from Eq. (A.2) by Aubertin et al. [36,20]:
i. e. drainage behaviour, of a real road structure. The observed
DH ¼ ½1 þ 1:7 log ðC U ÞD10  ðA:2Þ
instantaneous desaturation induced by small changes in air pres-
sure, e. g. induced by passing vehicles, could result in high satura- wherein C U ¼ D60 =D10 is the coefficient of uniformity wherein again
tion changes in a pavement under real load scenarios. Further, D60 and D10 are the diameters corresponding to 60 % and 10 % of
driving comfort and safety could be affected by surface spray dur- passing particles on the particle size distribution, respectively, see
ing rain events depending on the degree of saturation Sr . Noise Fig. 2.
reduction effects of porous pavements might be influenced by Kovács [37] describes that the main driving forces in a porous
the water retention behaviour, especially the degree of saturation medium to retain water are capillary forces, resulting in capillary
Sr , as well. This, however, still needs to be assessed in future saturation Sc , and adhesive forces, resulting in saturation by adhe-
research. sion Sa , leading to the following Eq. (A.3) for the degree of satura-
tion Sr .
Acknowledgements h
Sr ¼ ¼ Sc þ ð1  h1  Sa iÞð1  Sc Þ ðA:3Þ
n
This work was supported by the German Research Foundation
(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) as part of project Nos. wherein h i are Macaulay brackets. The parts of the degree of sat-
GR1024/25-1 and OE514/4-1. The support is greatly uration resulting from capillary and adhesive forces as functions of
acknowledged. the capillary height h and the current matric suction s are shown in
Eqs. (A.4) and (A.5):
" 2 #m "  2 #
Appendix A. Utilised equations from the Aubertin model to h h
Sc ¼ 1  exp m ðA:4Þ
predict the SWCC s s

Originally, the model by Aubertin [20] is capable of predicting
h2=3

the water retention behaviour for granular and for plastic cohesive Sa ¼ ac C s s
 1=6 ðA:5Þ
soils for the case of drying. In agreement to the particle size distri- e1=3 s
sn
butions of the unbound materials, the formulas corresponding to
granular soils are presented subsequently. The model calculates with
the equivalent capillary rise above the water table derived from  
an expression for capillary rise in tubes with a given diameter. Cap- ln 1 þ sres
s

illary rise in a granular soil is calculated by Eq. (A.1): Cs ¼ 1    ðA:6Þ

ln 1 þ ssres0
rw cos bw a
h¼ ðA:1Þ
cw e DH wherein e is Euler’s number, m and ac are model parameters, and sn
is a normalisation parameter. The parameter C s is given by Fredlund
where rw is the surface tension of water at 20  C; bw is the contact and Xing [29] and forces the water content to zero at a suction s of
angle between water and the tube surface, cw is the unit weight of 106 kPa. The suction sres is the residual suction described by the fol-
430 T. Törzs et al. / Construction and Building Materials 212 (2019) 422–430

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