Winter temperature prediction for near-surface depth of pervious concrete pavement

ABSTRACT

Pervious concrete pavement (PCP) consists of a highly porous concrete slab, placed on a permeable base layer. This permeable pavement system allows storm water runoff to infiltrate through the pavement and percolate into the subdrainage system or directly into the subgrade soil. PCP is gaining popularity in municipal applications across the United States, including the cold climate regions. The focus of this study was to investigate frost durations at PCP near-surface depths for use in winter maintenance operations. Also, tools are recommended for predicting the near-surface temperature of PCP during winter months. A PCP sidewalk was placed and instrumented on Washington State University’s campus in Pullman, WA. First, temperature measurements at various depths of the PCP sidewalk and frost periods at the respective depths were presented during one winter season. Second, the Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model (EICM) was used to predict the PCP’s near-surface temperature during the winter. Using each layer’s thermal properties, the EICM estimates the heat transfer between the pavement and the surroundings. Heat conductivity and capacity were defined for the PCP using the parallel model, based on PCP porosity and the volumetric proportions of the mixture constituents. Meteorological indices for the model were obtained from a local weather station and an on-site pyranometer for solar radiation. Comparison of the predicted temperature for the top three-inch (76 mm) depth of the pervious concrete layer showed agreements with the field data during the winter. A multiple linear regression model was developed to predict PCP’s temperature at 0.5 inch (13 mm) depth.

KEYWORDS:

• Pervious concrete pavement
• temperature prediction
• heat transfer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgements

U.S. Department of Transportation’s center for sustainable transportation in cold climate (CesTicc) is acknowledged for funding this project. WSU-Pullman Facilities is also acknowledged for their collaboration during the construction and instrumentation of the field project.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by USDOT’s sustainable transportation in cold climate (CesTicc) [grant number 126474].