Developing a Structural

Design Method for Pervious

Concrete Pavement
Norb Delatte, P.E.,
Ph.D.
Cleveland State
University
CSU Pervious
Pavement
Demonstration
August 24, 2005
Pervious Pavement Design

Hydraulic design
Structural design
Select greater required thickness
 Engineering Design Delattes
Simplified Definition
Anticipate everything that can possibly go wrong
Make sure it doesnt happen
But remember engineering is the art of doing
for $ 1 what any idiot could do for $ 2
 Structural Design Procedures
ACI 522 draft chapter 6 AASHTO or PCA if
strength falls within limits (usually doesnt)
Bruce K. Ferguson Porous Pavements p.
420, Six inches probably minimum
thickness and Heavier traffic loads require
thicker slabs.
ACI 325.12R and 330.1R tables require
minimum flexural strength of 500 psi
 Structural Design Procedures
PCA Pervious Concrete Pavements (EB302, p.
15) suggests AASHTO, WinPas, PCAPAV, ACI
325.9R (??), or ACI 330R, or using flexible
pavement structural numbers
We need a proper engineering procedure
Erie Street project Kent, Ohio
 Erie Street
Water currently runs over street straight into
Cuyahoga River
Pavement redesign for traffic, parking, bike path
Bars, restaurants, small businesses need to
design for delivery trucks
 Structural Design Inputs
Properties of pavement material (pervious
concrete)
Modulus of subgrade reaction (k)
Traffic number of vehicles, axle loads
 Structural Design Outputs
Minimum pavement thickness
Maximum joint spacing (based on curling and
warping)
Joint design (aggregate interlock or doweled)
at present only aggregate interlock joints are
used for pervious concrete
Overkill? How
much
permeability do
you need?
 Pervious Concrete Grades
Low Strength High Strength
High Permeability Low Permeability
STRENGTH

PERMEABILITY

Hydraulic Normal Structural

Grade Grade Grade
 Material Testing
Purpose sort pervious concrete into proper
grade
Strength testing field samples taken to
laboratory
Research determine expected material
properties (density, strength, modulus of
elasticity, permeability) for each grade
 Pervious Concrete Properties
Strength and durability depend on
Quality of the material delivered

Construction procedures
Placement
Rolling/compaction

Curing

Analogy to RCC material + compaction

 RCC Sample Compaction
180

170
Unit Weight
Unit weight, pcf

160

150 Theoretical
Maximum
140

130

120
0 50 100
Number of Gyrations
RCC Density versus Compressive
Strength Cores

9000

8000
Compressive Strength, psi

7000

6000

5000
50-day field specimens
4000

3000 28 day mix B

2000 Linear (50-day field

specimens)
1000

0
148 150 152 154 156 158 160
Density, pcf
RCC Density versus Splitting Tensile
Strength Cores

900

800
Splitting Tensile Strength,psi

700

600

500
51-day field specim
400
28 day mix B
300

200 Linear (51-day fiel

specimens)
100

0
144 146 148 150 152 154 156 158 160
Density, pcf
 RCC Splitting Tensile Strength
650

w/c = 0.40
625
w/c = 0.45 w/c = 0.40
w/c = 0.50 R2 = 0.8719
600
Splitting Tensile (psi)

575
w/c = 0.45
R2 = 0.5512
550

525
R2 = 0.6487 w/c = 0.50

500

475

450
159.0 159.5 160.0 160.5 161.0 161.5 162.0 162.5
Unit Weight (pcf)
 StreetPave Software
Developed by ACPA, based on PCA 1984
procedure
Handles range of material properties for
pervious concrete flexural strength, E
Provides for doweled or aggregate interlock
joints, with or without edge support
Traffic
Determination
Material properties
pavement and base
Thickness and
joint spacing
 Design Example
Reliability 85 % for 20 year design life
Traffic 4 lane minor arterial with 500 ADTT
and 2 % growth
Drainable base with k = 100 pci
Conventional concrete pavement for
comparison = 550 psi flexural strength, dowels,
edge support
Pervious concrete pavement = 350 psi flexural
strength, no dowels, no edge support
 Comparison of Results
Conventional concrete requires 7.5 inch
pavement thickness with 1.25 inch dowels, 15
foot joint spacing recommended
Pervious concrete requires 11.5 inch pavement
thickness, 15 foot joint spacing
Increase pervious concrete strength to 400 psi
reduce thickness to 10.5 inch
 Is the Design Valid?
Long term performance depends on
Fatigue performance
Aggregate interlock joint performance

Durability (e.g., freeze-thaw)

Clogging

Still a lot of questions

 Residential Design Example
Reliability 85 % for 20 year design life
Traffic 2 lane residential with 3 ADTT and 2
% growth
Drainable base with k = 100 pci
Conventional concrete pavement for
comparison = 550 psi flexural strength, no
dowels, no edge support
Pervious concrete pavement = 350 psi flexural
strength, no dowels, no edge support
 Comparison of Results
Conventional concrete requires 6 inch
pavement thickness, 12 foot joint spacing
recommended
Pervious concrete requires 8 inch pavement
thickness, 15 foot joint spacing
Increase pervious concrete strength to 400 psi
reduce thickness to 7.5 inch
FHWA Drip
2.0 Software
Roadway
Geometry
Library of
drainable base
materials
Base layer
design by
time-to-drain
or depth-of-
flow methods
 Results
Based on predicted infiltration, from hydrologic
analysis
Select properties of base material, e.g. AASHTO
# 57
Determines minimum thickness of base material
Can also design geotextile separators and edge
drains
 Application to Kent Project
Estimate pervious concrete material properties
Samples from CSU demo
Other lab work

Estimate subgrade support soil testing,

hydraulic requirements for base
Prepare a range of designs, sensitivity analyses
 Further Research Design and
Performance
Field performance studies under heavy traffic
Fatigue relationship for pervious concrete
Performance of aggregate interlock joints over
time (faulting progression)
Feasibility of using dowels diameter, bearing
stress
 Further Research Materials
Structural grades
Different aggregate gradations
Small amount of fine aggregate

Tradeoff between strength and permeability

Internal curing use of saturated fine

lightweight aggregate to supply internal water
 Conclusions
StreetPave seems like a reasonable design tool
so far
Need to know what the actual in-place flexural
strength of pervious concrete is
Does pervious concrete obey the same fatigue
relationships as pervious concrete?
Will pervious concrete maintain aggregate
interlock at joints over time, under traffic?
 Thank you for your time and attention
Questions?