Colour pervious concrete pavements applied to bikeway track: mechanical, hydraulic and functional performances

ABSTRACT

Pervious concrete pavement test sections employing coloured permeable concrete were constructed as an experimental bicycle lane. For two of the sections, coloured concrete was used with pigment addition consisting of Fe₂O₃ (red) and Cr₂O₂ (green). The impacts on the resistance and stiffness of the concretes when using these pigments were analysed in relation to the reference concrete (grey). Alterations in plasticiser dosage during mixing were readily observed with the red concrete. The flexural strength increased substantially in the case of the red coloured concrete, as well as the modulus of elasticity of the material. Initial infiltration rates decreased with the use of coloured pigments, especially for red concrete, with expressive drops in permeability. Simultaneously, the resistance to friction given by the British Pendulum Number was reduced due to the use of red or green pigments. The consequences of using red pigment with a very high grains specific surface are discussed, since they are advantageous in the case of mechanical responses eventually inferior in terms of hydraulic and functional aspects.

KEYWORDS:

• Coloured concrete
• permeable pavements
• pigments
• infiltration rate
• resistance friction

Acknowledgements

First author is indebted to São Paulo Foundation for Fostering Research (FAPESP, Brazil) due to general financial support for the research and to SANTANDER-USP Sustainable Cities Project for complimentary financial support; to City Hall of the Capital Campus – USP for strategic support and pavement infrastructure construction; the last two coauthors are grateful to CONICYT (Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica del Chile) for supporting the Chilean team. The authors also acknowledge the cooperation given by: POLIMIX (ready-mix plant supplier); LANXESS (colour pigments donation for the study); Engenharia de Pisos – EP (pervious concrete finishing); SBR Reciclagem (recycled aggregates for bases donation).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Banco Santander; Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo.