POROUS CONCRETE SURFACING FOR ROADS

Surfacing roads with a durable porous wearing course has the potential for providing two major benefits. A free-draining suface can reduce the spray and splash generated by vehicles in wet conditions, thus contributing to safety by removing water which acts as a lubricant at the tyre/road interface and helping to maintain road capacity. In addition, an open surface texture provides the capacity to absorb tyre noise and reduce that which arises from the pumping of air between tyres and the road surface. Trials with porous asphalt have been conducted on a number of sites in the United Kingdom since 1967, including the A38 Burton By-pass and the M6, and have demonstrated its suitabilty for use on major roads. This report describes the results of a study to establish mix design criteria for porous concrete suitable for such applications. In order to establish some of the factors which govern the properties of porous concrete, a series of laboratory tests were undertaken, all based on a single-size, crushed granite coarse aggregate. A broad band of voids content was investigated using both cement paste and cement mortar as the matrix material, with and without air- entraining and superplasticizing admixtures. Over a more limited range of voids content (20-30 percent), the effect of sand content, sand grading and the use of polymer additions were studied and from the data collected, four mixes were selected for strength, fatigue, freeze-thaw resistance, sound absorption and abrasion testing.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09684107
• Corporate Authors:

  TRL

  Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride
  Wokingham, Berkshire  United Kingdom  RG40 3GA
• Authors:
  • DALZIEL, J A
• Publication Date: 1992

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 43 p.
• Serial:
  • TRL Contractor Report
  • Issue Number: CR 320
  • Publisher: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
  • ISSN: 0968-4107

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Concrete; Durability; Mix design; Permeability; Sound; Strength of materials; Surfacing; Texture
• ITRD Terms: 4755: Concrete; 5910: Durability; 4714: Mix design; 5921: Permeability; 6748: Sound; 5544: Strength (mater); 3053: Surface texture; 2972: Surfacing
• Subject Areas: Design; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00631672
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 1 1993 12:00AM