Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 818–823

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Laboratory evaluation of permeability and strength of polymer-modified

pervious concrete
Baoshan Huang *, Hao Wu, Xiang Shu, Edwin G. Burdette
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Pervious concrete has been increasingly used to reduce the amount of runoff water and improve the
Received 3 February 2009 water quality near pavements and parking lots. However, due to the significantly reduced strength asso-
Received in revised form 22 September ciated with the high porosity, pervious concrete mixtures currently cannot be used in highway pavement
2009
structures. A laboratory experiment was conducted in this study to improve the strength properties of
Accepted 15 October 2009
pervious concrete through the incorporation of latex polymer. This study focused on the balance between
Available online 17 November 2009
permeability and strength properties of polymer-modified pervious concrete (PMPC). In addition to latex,
natural sand and fiber were included to enhance the strength properties of pervious concrete. The test
Keywords:
Polymers
results indicate that it was possible to produce pervious concrete mixture with acceptable permeability
Pervious and strength through the combination of latex and sand.
Concrete Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fiber reinforcement
Durability

1. Introduction durability of the structures, because of, for example, susceptibility

Portland cement pervious concrete (PCPC), also referred to as
porous concrete or permeable concrete, is a mixture of portland ce-
ment, uniform coarse aggregate, with either a small amount of or
without fine aggregate, and water. Appropriate amounts of water
and cementitious material are employed to create a paste that
forms a thin coat around aggregate particles but leaves free spaces
between them. Thus, pores are formed in the pervious materials
[1,2]. PCPC has been used for over 30 years in many countries,
especially in the United States and Japan. It is increasingly used
in the United States because of its various environmental benefits
such as controlling storm water runoff, restoring groundwater sup-
plies, and reducing water and soil pollution [3–5]. In the meantime,
it has the potential to reduce urban heat island effects and can be
used to reduce acoustic noise in roads [5,6].
PCPC contains little or no fine aggregate, using an adequate
amount of cement paste to coat and bind the aggregate particles
together to create a system of high porosity and interconnected
voids that can drain off water quickly. Generally, the void content
of PCPC is between 15% and 25%, and the water permeability is typ-
ically about 2–6 mm/s [5,7]. However, relatively low strength is
usually associated with the high porosity in PCPC. The low strength
of conventional pervious concrete not only limits its application in
heavy traffic highways but also influences the stability and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 865 974 7713.
E-mail address: bhuang@utk.edu (B. Huang).
to frost damage and low resistance to chemicals. Therefore, PCPC
with low strength can only be utilized in some applications, such
as sidewalks, parking lots, recreation squares and subbases for con-
ventional pavement [8–10]. And with some effective improvement
in strength and using smaller size aggregate, PMPC could be ap-
plied in pavement shoulder and local roads.
However, by using appropriately-selected aggregates, fine
aggregates mixtures, and organic intensifiers and by adjusting
the concrete mix proportion, strength and abrasion resistance of
PCPC can be improved greatly [11]. Previous studies show that gra-
dation, particle size of aggregate, and mass ratio of aggregate to ce-
ment are the primary factors affecting porosity, permeability and
compressive strength of PCPC. Water cement ratio has a minor ef-
fect on properties of PCPC [12]. Using smaller size aggregate can in-
crease the number of aggregate particles per unit volume of
concrete, the specific surface of aggregate, and the binding area,
which eventually results in an improvement in the strength of per-
vious concrete. Wang [10] used river sand to replace approximate
7% (by weight) coarse aggregate to improve the concrete strength.
Their results indicated that the 7-day compressive strength in-
creases from 9.6–14.5 MPa to 22.2–22.7 MPa. Although the void
content is reduced due to the fine sand in the mixtures, all void
content values are still within an acceptable range (>15%) for PCPC
applications, and the permeability value is still higher than the
minimum requirement to drain [10]. Yang and Jiang [11] showed
that use of silica fume (SF) and superplasticizer (SP) in pervious
concrete can enhance its strength significantly. The results also

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.10.025
 B. Huang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 818–823 819

indicated that SF had a better effect for improving the properties of 100%
pervious concrete than polymer when used with SP. Their results 90%
indicated that the compressive strength of PCPC can reach 80% River sand
50 MPa and the flexural strength 6 MPa. At the same time, the

Percent Passing, %
70%
requirements of water penetration, abrasion resistance can also
60%
be satisfied. Some fibers are helpful in improving the tensile
50%
strength and permeability of pervious concrete. Generally, the fi-
40%
bers in PCPC slightly increase the void content, significantly in-
crease the permeability, and more significantly improve the 30%
splitting tensile strength of PCPC [10,13]. The addition of polypro- 20%
pylene fiber at 0.56% by volume of the concrete causes a 90% in- 10%
crease in the indirect tensile strength and a 20% increase in the 0%
flexural strength. Polypropylene fiber does not significantly affect 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
the other mechanical properties [12]. Another effective method Sieve Size, mm.
to improve strength is to use some chemical additives, such as
Fig. 1. Grain-size distribution of river sand.
polymer. Kevern [13] also presented that the addition of polymer
(styrene butadiene rubber, SBR) significantly improves workability,
strength, permeability, and freeze–thaw resistance, which makes forces, and provides improved durability. The polypropylene fiber was 100% virgin
pervious concrete obtain higher strength at relatively lower ce- polypropylene fibrillated fibers containing no reprocessed olefin materials with an
ment contents and results in relative higher porosity. average length of 20 mm.

3.2. Mix design

2. Research objective and scope
The objective of the present study is to evaluate the effect of
polymer modification on the mechanical and physical properties
of PCPC. The research efforts were made to balance the permeabil-
ity and strength of the polymer-modified pervious concrete
(PMPC) so that the mixtures are permeable and also strong enough
to support traffic loading.
In this study, three types of single-sized limestone aggregates
(12.5 mm, 9.5 mm, and 4.75 mm) were used, and one type of poly-
mer (SBS latex) was considered to make the pervious concrete mix-
ture. The properties of pervious concrete were evaluated through
air void test, permeability test, compressive strength test, and split
tensile strength test.
3. Laboratory experiment
The control pervious concrete mixture was comprised of portland cement,
water, and coarse aggregates of three gradations. To improve the overall behavior
of PMPC, latex, fiber, and fine aggregate (natural sand) were selectively added into
the mixture. The mix proportions are presented in Table 2. The basic mix proportion
for the control mix is cement: coarse aggregate: water = 1:4.5:0.35 by weight.
When latex and/or fine aggregate were included in the mixture, the solid portion
of latex was used to replace 10% cement and natural sand to replace 7% coarse
aggregate by weight. The performance and properties of PMPC were compared to
those of the conventional pervious concrete.
3.3. Sample preparation
Pervious concrete mixtures were mixed using a mechanical mixer, and cylindri-
cal specimens 152 mm in diameter and 305 mm high were made by applying stan-
dard rodding for compaction. The specimens were cured in a standard moisture
curing chamber until the days of testing. Except for the compression test, the sam-
ples were cut into about 76 mm thick small specimens for other tests before testing.
The specimens were prepared in triplicates.

3.1. Materials
Ordinary Type I portland cement was selected in the experiments. Three grada-
tions of single-sized sieved limestone were considered as coarse aggregate:
12.5 mm, 9.5 mm, and 4.75 mm. The properties of coarse aggregate were measured
according to ASTM specifications and listed in Table 1. The grain-size distribution of
the river sand from the Tennessee River used in this study is shown in Fig. 1.
Latex polymer, styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), was selected and incorporated
into the mixtures in order to improve the strength of pervious concrete. Styrene
butadiene rubber (SBR) latex is a type of high-polymer dispersion emulsion com-
posed of butadiene, styrene and water, etc., which is similar to natural rubber in
its resistance to mild solvents and chemicals and, like natural rubber, can be suc-
cessfully bonded to many materials. It is one of the popular raw materials in the tire
dip fabric industry, because of its good intermiscibility with vinylpyridine latex for
fabric dipping. For the application in engineering construction, it can be used to
supply or replace cement as binder to improve tensile, flexural and compressive
strength of concrete. The SBR used in this study is manufactured by anionic solution
polymerization using an organo-lithium initiator. It is a product with medium sty-
rene and high vinyl content. A white thick liquid in appearance, it has good viscosity
with 52.7% water content.
In addition to latex, polypropylene fiber was also added into the mixture to fur-
ther enhance the mechanical properties of PMPC. Polypropylene fiber has features
and benefits as follows: inhibits and controls the formation of intrinsic cracking in
concrete; reinforces against impact forces, reinforces against the effect of shattering
3.4. Test methods
3.4.1. Air voids test
In order to obtain the air voids content, it is necessary to know the bulk volume
of the compacted concrete. Since the pervious concrete has high interconnected air
voids, it is not suitable to use the submerged weight measurement to obtain the
bulk volume. Geometrical measurement of the specimen dimension will not reflect
the surface texture (for different sized aggregates). A vacuum package sealing de-
vice, CoreLok, commonly used to measure the specific gravity for asphalt mixtures,
was used to obtain the effective air voids for the pervious concrete specimens in
this study. The test was conducted by following the ASTM D 7063 procedures.
3.4.2. Permeability test
Permeability is an important parameter of pervious concrete since the material
is designed to perform as drainage layer in pavement structures. Due to the high
porosity and the interconnected air voids path, Darcy’s law for laminar flow is no
longer applicable for pervious concrete. In this study, a permeability measurement
device and method developed by Huang et al. [14] for drainable asphalt mixture
(similar to pervious concrete in function) were used. Fig. 2 shows the specimen
and device for permeability test.
Two pressure transducers installed at the top and bottom of the specimen give
accurate readings of the hydraulic head difference during the test. Automatic data
acquisition makes continuous reading possible during a falling head test so that the

Table 1
Properties of coarse aggregate.

Aggregate size (mm) Unit weight (kg/m3) Bulk specific gravity Apparent specific gravity Absorption (%) Void content (%)
12.5 1426 2.759 2.797 0.48 40
9.5 1393 2.758 2.801 0.56 43
4.75 1374 2.760 2.811 0.66 41
820 B. Huang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 818–823

Table 2
Mix proportions for PMPC (unit: kg/m3).

Agg. Mix type Cement Latex binder Coarse aggregate River sand Water Fiber
No sand
12.5 mm A 320.2 1440.8 112.1
B 314.8 31.5 1416.6 93.6
C 320.2 1440.8 112.1 0.9
D 314.8 31.5 1416.6 93.6 0.9
9.5 mm A 330.4 1486.9 115.6
B 324.9 32.5 1461.9 96.6
C 330.4 1486.9 115.6 0.9
D 324.9 32.5 1461.9 96.6 0.9
4.75 mm A 352.6 1586.9 123.4
B 346.7 34.7 1560.3 103.1
C 352.6 1586.9 123.4 0.9
D 346.7 34.7 1560.3 103.1 0.9

With sand
12.5 mm A 300.6 1352.6 94.7 105.2
B 295.8 29.6 1331.0 93.2 87.9
C 300.6 1352.6 94.7 105.2 0.9
D 295.8 29.6 1331.0 93.2 87.9 0.9
9.5 mm A 311.9 1403.6 98.3 109.2
B 306.9 30.7 1381.2 96.7 91.3
C 311.9 1403.6 98.3 109.2 0.9
D 306.9 30.7 1381.2 96.7 91.3 0.9
4.75 mm A 329.8 1483.9 103.9 115.4
B 324.5 32.5 1460.3 102.2 96.5
C 329.8 1483.9 103.9 115.4 0.9
D 324.5 32.5 1460.3 102.2 96.5 0.9

Note: A – control; B – latex modified; C – fiber added; D – latex and fiber.

Fig. 2. Permeability test setup and sample.

test can be conducted even at very high flow rate, such as in pervious concrete. The h ¼ a0 þ a1 t þ a2 t 2 ð1Þ
specimen is placed in an aluminum cell. Between the cell and the specimen is an
anti-scratch rubber membrane that is clamped tightly at both ends of the cylindri- where, a0, a1 and a2 are regression coefficients.
cal cell. A vacuum is applied between the membrane and the cell to facilitate the Then, differentiate equation,
installation of the specimen. During the test, a confining pressure of up to dh
103.5 kPa is applied on the membrane to prevent short-circuiting from the speci- ¼ a1 þ a2 t ð2Þ
dt
men’s side. The top reservoir tube has a diameter of 57 mm and a length of
914 mm. The cylindrical specimen has a diameter of 152 mm and a height of where a1 and a2 are regression coefficients for differential equation of head and time.
76 mm. Therefore, the discharge velocity is expressed as:
In this test, the falling head method was used. From the paper of Huang et al. dQ A1 dh r21 dh
[14] hydraulic head difference vs. time curve obtained from the two pressure v¼ ¼ ¼ ð3Þ
dt A2 dt r22 dt
transducers:
 B. Huang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 818–823 821

Time vs. Head 35

12.5 mm 9.5 mm 4.75 mm
30

25

Porosity (%)
20
Head (mm)

15

10

0
Control mix Mix with latex Mix with latex Mix with latex,
and sand sand, and fiber

Fig. 5. Effect of latex on porosity.

Time (s)

Fig. 3. Hydraulic head vs. time.

It also can be seen form Fig. 5 that the addition of latex and sand
resulted in a slight decrease in porosity. However, the combination
of latex, sand, and fiber did not further decrease the porosity val-
Hydraulic Gradient vs. Discharge Velocity ues. The mix made with latex, sand, and fiber could still achieve
the porosity and the acceptable permeability as expected.
Discharge velocity: v (mm/s)

4.2. Permeability

The permeability results are presented in Fig. 6 as well as the

effect of the introduction of latex on permeability of pervious con-
crete. It is evident from Fig. 6 that all the pervious mixtures had
permeability values between 10 and 20 mm/s, which is high en-
ough to be used as a drainage layer for pavement structures. The
aggregate gradation did not show consistent influence on the per-
meability. The mixtures made with three different size aggregates
exhibited similar permeability values.
According to Fig. 6, the effect of latex, natural sand, and fiber on
permeability was similar to that on porosity. Although the addition
Hydraulic Gradient : i
of sand and latex could lead to a reduction in permeability, the per-
Fig. 4. Hydraulic gradients vs. discharge velocity. meability value was comparable and acceptable compared to the
general requirement of drainage.

where A1 ; A2 ; r 1 ; r2 are the cross section areas and radius of upper cylindrical reser-
voir and the specimen.
According to Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, the pseudo-coefficient of permeability K0 and the
shape factor m can be obtained. Based on the results, the relationship between
hydraulic gradient and discharge velocity is v = 7.6208i0.3538 so the K0 is
7.621 mm/s.
3.4.3. Compressive strength
The compressive strength was tested at 7-days by following the ASTM C39 test-
ing procedures. The compressive strength test was conducted on an INSTRON load-
ing frame on triplicate cylindrical specimens with 152-mm diameter and 305-mm
height.
3.4.4. Split tensile strength
The split tensile test was conducted on triplicate cylindrical specimens of 152-
mm diameter and 76-mm thickness. The test was performed on an MTS loading
frame in accordance with the procedures ASTM C 496/C 496 M. The vertical load
was continuously recorded and split tensile strengths were obtained through the
tests.
4.3. Compressive strength
The effects of latex, sand, and fiber on the compressive strength
are shown in Fig. 7. As expected, the smaller the coarse aggregate
size, the higher the compressive strength. It is evident that the
addition of sand or latex could both increase the compressive
strength of concrete mixtures. The addition of natural sand in-
creases the amount of cement mortar and thus increases the con-
tact area between neighboring aggregate particles. Subsequently,
the increased contact area will result in strength improvement.
The addition of latex can also increase the contact area between
neighboring aggregate particles. More importantly, the latex and
25
12.5 mm 9.5 mm 4.75 mm
20
Permeability (mm/s)

4. Results and discussion 15

4.1. Porosity 10

Fig. 5 presents the porosity results for all pervious concrete 5

mixtures and the effect of latex on porosity. It is seen that most
of the mixtures had porosities within the range from 20% to 30%, 0
Control mix Mix with latex Mix with latex Mix with latex,
which is acceptable. The three coarse aggregates with different and sand sand, and fiber
sizes exhibited similar porosity, indicating that aggregate grada-
tion did not have a significant effect on the porosity results. Fig. 6. Effect of latex on permeability.
822 B. Huang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 818–823

16 2
Compressive strength (MPa)

12.5 mm 9.5 mm 4.75 mm

14
12.5 mm 9.5 mm 4.75 mm

Tensile strength (MPa)

12 1.5
10
8 1
6
4 0.5
2
0 0
Control mix Mix with Mix with Mix with Mix with Control mix Mix with Mix with Mix with Mix with
latex sand latex and latex, sand, latex sand latex and latex, sand,
sand and fiber sand and fiber
(a) Effects of latex and sand (a) Effects of latex and sand
16 2
Compressive strength (MPa)

14 12.5 mm 12.5 mm 9.5 mm 4.75 mm

Tensile strength (MPa)

9.5 mm
12 1.5
4.75 mm
10
8 1
6
4
0.5
2
0
0
Control mix Mix with fiber Mix with fiber Mix with fiber,
and sand sand, and latex Control mix Mix with fiber Mix with fiber Mix with fiber,
and sand sand, and latex
(b) Effect of fiber (b) Effect of fiber
Fig. 7. Comparisons of compressive strength results.
Fig. 8. Comparison of tensile strength result.

the cement hydration products commingle and create two inter-

5. Summary and conclusions
penetrating matrices which work together, resulting in improved
strength [15]. It is also observed from Fig. 7a that the combined ef-
A laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate the per-
fect of latex and sand resulted in a further increase in the compres-
meability and strength characteristics of polymer-modified pervi-
sive strength.
ous concrete. The effects of latex, natural sand, and fiber were
Fig. 7b presents that fiber seemed to have only a minor effect on
evaluated based on the laboratory test results. Based on this study,
the compressive strength. When fiber was added into control mix
the following conclusions can be drawn:
without latex or sand, fiber appeared to increase the compressive
strength significantly. However, after sand and/or latex were also
 Use of the combination of latex, natural sand, and fiber could
incorporated into the mix, addition of fiber could not further im-
produce acceptable pervious concrete with both enough drain-
prove the strength (Fig. 7). One of the reasons for the reduced
age and strength properties.
effectiveness was that the fiber used in the study could not be fully
 Latex and sand could both decrease the porosity and permeabil-
dispersed and evenly distributed in the mixture.
ity of pervious concrete and increase the compressive strength
of pervious concrete. However, only the addition of latex could
4.4. Split tensile strength increase the split tensile strength of pervious concrete.
 Fiber did not have a significant effect on the strength properties
Fig. 8 compares the effects of latex, sand, and fiber on the split of pervious concrete in this study. This was due to the fact that
tensile strength. Similar to the compressive strength, concrete mix- fiber was not fully dispersed and evenly distributed in the pervi-
tures containing smaller size aggregates had higher split tensile ous concrete mixture. Special methods are recommended for
strength. From Fig. 8, the effect of sand on the split tensile strength good separation and dispersion of fibers in the mixtures. For
was not as much as on the compressive strength. Mixtures made example, use of short fibers might be easier to acquire a uniform
with sand sometimes even had lower split tensile strength than distribution of fibers in the mixtures.
mixtures without sand. However, the effect of latex was still signif-
icant in improving the split tensile strength of pervious concrete.
This is attributed to the latex network formed during the commin-
6. Future research
gling and inter-penetration of the latex and cement hydration
products [15]. Unlike the brittle cement mortar, the latex network
This is a preliminary laboratory study on the effect of polymer
is relatively strong in tension, which will contribute significantly to
modification on the performance of pervious concrete with the
the split tensile strength of pervious concrete.
emphasis on the permeability and strength properties. The durabil-
According to Fig. 8b, it is seen that the effect of fiber on split
ity of polymer-modified pervious concrete should be included in
tensile strength was similar to the effect on compressive strength.
future studies to evaluate the abrasion resistance of PMPC.
The addition of fiber appeared to lead to a significant increase in
the split tensile strength of the control mix. However, addition of
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