Field study of infiltration capacity reduction of porous mixture surfaces

Porous surfaces have been used all over the world in source control techniques to minimize flooding problems in car parks. Several studies highlighted the reduction in the infiltration capacity of porous mixture surfaces after several years of use. Therefore, it is necessary to design and develop a new methodology to quantify this reduction and to identify the hypothetical differences in permeability between zones within the same car park bay due to the influence of static loads in the parked vehicles. With this aim, nine different zones were selected in order to check this hypothesis (four points under the wheels of a standard vehicle and five points between wheels). This article presents the infiltration capacity reduction results, using the LCS permeameter, of Polymer-Modified Porous Concrete (9 bays) and Porous Asphalt (9 bays) surfaces in the University of Cantabria Campus parking area (Spain) 5 years after their construction. Statistical analysis methodology was proposed for assessing the results. Significant differences were observed in permeability and reduction in infiltration capacity in the case of porous concrete surfaces, while no differences were found for porous asphalt depending on the measurement zone

Relationship between urban runoff pollutant and catchment characteristics

A lot of research has been done to determine levels of contamination in runoff from urban and rural catchment areas. Some authors compare their results with other authors, or look for relationships between the variations of pollutant concentration and the catchment characteristics but they seldom focus on determining the statistical significance of their results. This paper presents a review of 37 papers selected from a total of 169 papers consulted about runoff water quality throughout the world (America, Asia and Europe). The results presented in these 37 papers have been reviewed and statistically analyzed in order to evaluate the influence of catchment area characteristics (location, catchment area size, average daily traffic and type of land use) on the stormwater runoff pollution. It has been concluded that for the cases studied, most of the results about the polluting agents studied are comparable and no important element of the catchment characteristics had significant influence on the pollutants’ concentration

A fuzzy stochastic multi-criteria model for the selection of urban pervious pavements

Multi-criteria decision making methods (MCDM) have been widely used throughout the last years to assist project contractors in selection processes related to the construction field. Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are an especially suitable discipline to implement these techniques, since they involve important impacts on each branch of sustainability: economy, environment and society. Considering that pervious pavements constitute an efficient solution to manage urban stormwater runoff as a source control system, this paper presents a multi-criteria approach based on the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessments (MIVES) method to facilitate their proper selection. Given the lack of accurate information to shape the behavior of the alternatives regarding some of the criteria defining the decision-making environment, a series of variables are modeled by executing stochastic simulations based on the Monte Carlo methods. Additionally, a group of ten experts from various sectors related to water management was requested to provide their opinions about the importance of the set of selected criteria, according to the comparison levels of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). These judgments are converted into triangular fuzzy numbers, in order to capture the vagueness that human attitude entails when making judgments. A case of study in which the three major types of pervious pavements (porous asphalt, porous concrete and interlocking concrete pavers) are evaluated is presented to demonstrate the potential of the model

Selection of Additives and Fibers for Improving the Mechanical and Safety Properties of Porous Concrete Pavements through Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis

Despite the number of environmental advantages that porous concrete (PC) pavements can provide, they are mainly used in light-traffic roads, parking lots and sidewalks due to their low mechanical strength. This research focuses on the common additives employed in PC pavements, according to a literature review, with the aim of increasing their mechanical strength while maintaining an acceptable infiltration capacity. The results demonstrated that the combination of superplasticizers and air-entraining additives can provide indirect tensile strength values over 2.50 MPa, with an infiltration capacity over 0.40 cm/s. In addition, polypropylene fibers were seen to provide very good safety properties, preserving some structural integrity in the case of failure. All mixtures studied obtained outstanding skid resistance results under both dry and wet condition

Laboratory Assessment of the Infiltration Capacity Reduction in Clogged Porous Mixture Surfaces

Permeable pavements have been used widely across the world to manage urban stormwater. The hydrological behaviour of permeable surfaces is a complex process affected by many factors, such as rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, pavement geometrical conditions, and clogging level of the permeable surface, amongst others. This laboratory study was carried out to assess the influence of clogging level and rainfall intensity on the infiltration capacity of porous mixture surfaces used in Permeable Pavement Systems (PPS). Porous Concrete (PC) and Porous Asphalt (PA) mixtures with different air void contents (15%, 20%, and 25%) were subject to different clogging scenarios by using varying sediment loads (0, 500, and 1000 g/m2). Permeability experiments were carried out for each clogging scenario through a new rainfall simulator specially developed, tailored, and calibrated for the laboratory simulation of a wide range of rainfall events. Permeability measurements were taken under all different scenarios as a result of the combination of the different rainfall events (50, 100, and 150 mm/h) simulated over the specimens of porous mixtures and the sediment loads applied to them. The results showed that the PC mixtures tested perform better than the PA ones in terms of infiltration capacity, showing less potential for clogging and being more easily cleaned by the wash-off produced by the simulated rainfall events

Laboratory Study on the Stormwater Retention and Runoff Attenuation Capacity of Four Permeable Pavements

Hydrological behavior of pervious pavements during rainfall events is a complex process that is affected by many factors such as surface type, aggregates nature, layer thickness, rainfall height, rainfall intensity and the preceding dry period. In order to determine the influence of construction materials on the runoff attenuation capacity of pervious pavements sixteen laboratory models were created with four different cross sections obtained by combining two pervious surfaces and two subbase aggregate materials. Successive rainfall simulations were applied over the laboratory models measuring lag times, retained rainfalls, times to peak and peak outflows were registered for the simulated rainfalls. The results obtained were grouped depending on the materials used and statistically analysed in order to compare their stormwater retention and runoff attenuation capacities. Both surface type and sub-base aggregate characteristics were proven to influence the attenuation capacity of pervious pavements. While sub-base aggregate materials highly influence the hydrological performance during the first rainfall simulations, the permeable surface affects the hydrological behavior during the final rainfall events and the retention capacity variation over time

Exploratory study of porous asphalt mixtures with additions of reclaimed tetra pak material

The use of cellulose fibers (CF) has become a common technique for reducing draindown problems in porous asphalt (PA) mixtures, helping to increase the bitumen content and providing thicker binder films. In this research, a laboratory study was conducted to assess the suitability of using recycled Tetra Brick Aseptic (TBA) containers as an environmentally friendly substitute for virgin cellulose fibers used in PA pavements. The results obtained showed that recycled TBA material was a suitable addition for PA mixtures, providing similar, or sometimes greater, improvements than commercial CF.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the research project BIA2012-32463 with funds from the State General Budget (PGE) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The authors wish to thank the GCS, and GITECO research groups of the University of Cantabria. Valerio C. Andrés-Valeri would also like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the Predoctoral Fellowship BES-2013-062604, for funding his research activity at the University of Cantabria

Characterization of wash-off from urban impervious surfaces and SuDS design criteria for source control under semi-arid conditions

[EN] Knowledge about pollutant wash-off from urban impervious surfaces is a key feature for developing effective management strategies. Accordingly, further information is required about urban areas under semi-arid climate conditions at the sub-catchment scale. This is important for designing source control systems for pollution. In this study, a characterization of pollutant wash-off has been performed over sixteen months, at the sub-catchment scale for urban roads as impervious surfaces. The study was conducted in Valencia, Spain, a city with a Mediterranean climate. The results show high event mean concentrations for suspended solids (98 mg/l), organic matter (142 mgCOD/l, 25 mg BOD5/l), nutrients (3.7mgTN/l, 0.4 mg TP/l), and metals (0.23, 0.32, 0.62 and 0.17 mg/l for Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, respectively). The results of the runoff characterization highlight the need to control this pollution at its source, separately from wastewater because of their different characteristics. The wash-off, defined in terms of mobilized mass (g/m(2)) fits well with both process-based and statistical models, with the runoff volume and rainfall depth being the main explanatory variables. Based on these results and using information collected from hydrographs and pollutographs, an approach for sizing sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS), focusing on water quality and quantity variables, has been proposed. By setting a concentration-based target (TSS discharged to receiving waters < 35 mg/l), the results indicate that for a SuDS type detention basin (DB), an off-line configuration performs better than an on-line configuration. The resulting design criterion, expressed as SuDS volume per unit catchment area, assuming a DB type SuDS, varies between 7 and 10 l/m(2).This research was funded through the SUPRIS-SUReS projects (Ref. BIA2015-65240-C2-1-R MINECO/ERDF, UE) and SUPRIS-SUPeI (Ref. BIA2015-65240-C2-2-R MINECO/ERDF, UE), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the project IMBORNAL (Ref. SP20120732), financed by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Andrés Doménech, I.; Hernández Crespo, C.; Martín Monerris, M.; Andrés-Valeri, VC. (2018). Characterization of wash-off from urban impervious surfaces and SuDS design criteria for source control under semi-arid conditions. The Science of The Total Environment. 612:1320-1328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.011S1320132861