Shape-based Study on Properties of Pervious Concrete Paver Blocks

Abstract

Pervious concrete as the name suggests is pervious in nature (due to absence of fine aggregates) was first introduced in the nineteenth century and has just recently come into limelight. Moreover, from the various forms of pervious concrete, pervious concrete paver blocks are the easiest to install, not to mention that the blocks can gain maximum strength from curing by ponding method at the production unit. Pervious concrete paver block systems have various applications in the field of sustainable construction for regulation of the storm water runoff on the pavement and reduction in infiltration of pollutants into the ground. In this study, mix design comprising of 375 kg/m3 cement; 150 kg/m3 water; and 1500 kg/m3 of 4.75–10 mm sized crushed stone aggregates was used for the casting of different shaped blocks—rectangular, hexagonal, and zigzag; to compare their compressive strength, flexural strength, density and void content; and to select the best suited shape that can be used in construction of a pervious concrete paver block system. The results clearly showed that hexagonal paver blocks had the highest compressive strength and rectangular paver blocks are best in flexural loading as they had remarkably high flexural strength as compared between the three alternatives. However, the void content and density of all three shaped paver blocks were relatively same and had a deviation of only 2.43% and 5.16%, respectively. Also, it was observed that rectangular blocks are easy in handling and casting, which could be very crucial parameter in case of such relatively low-strength blocks.