Pervious concrete is designed to easily drain water. This is accomplished through a serious of void spaces, known as the porosity, which are interconnected and rapidly permeable to water movement. As you can imagine, this creates a unique set of challenges for the concrete producer.
Developing a pervious concrete mix that is easily placed, performs well, and is durable is not easy. It is a balancing act, requiring the concrete producer to develop mix designs for each of his aggregates. It also requires producers to identify the warning signs of pervious concrete problems, specifically problems related to the following:
- Water content
- Mixture proportions
- Admixture dosing
While some of these issues can be remedied by changing construction practices, most problems require changes from the concrete producer.
Producing Pervious Concrete
- Permeability: The primary considerations when determining proper mix design for pervious concrete are: strength for loading; freeze/thaw resistance; durability against winter maintenance (plowing and deicers); and porosity to produce the desired permeability.
- Workability: While pervious concrete requires proper void content, it still needs to be smooth and durable. This is achieved through proper mix proportions, primarily controlled by aggregate angularity and gradation; cementitious volume; sand or fiber content; water-cementitious materials ratio (w/cm); admixtures; and environmental factors (mixing time, water temperature, and mixer/truck moisture state).
- Mix Constituents: The largest volume of material in pervious concrete is aggregate. Because of this, aggregate selection has the largest influence on unit weight. The use of good quality, clean, well-graded crushed aggregate results in pervious concrete pavement with improved structural properties, reduced raveling, and improved permeability.
- Admixtures: There are numerous admixtures used in pervious concrete, including: air entraining; internal curing; hydration stabilizing; viscosity modifying; and water reducing.
If you have any questions about the Troubleshooting Pervious Concrete or if you have a construction project that you need completed right the first time, please contact Reliable Contracting by calling 410-987-0313 or visit our website.
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