Permeable Asphalt Hydraulic Conductivity and Particulate Matter Separation With XRT

Permeable asphalt (PA) is a composite material with an open graded mix design that provides a pore structure facilitating stormwater infiltration. PA is often constructed as a wearing course for permeable pavements and on impervious pavements to reduce aquaplaning and noise. The pore structure of PA functions as a filter promoting particulate matter (PM) separation. The infiltrating flow characteristics are predominately dependent on pore diameter and pore interconnectivity. X-Ray microTomography (XRT) has successfully estimated these parameters that are otherwise difficult to obtain through conventional gravimetric methods. Pore structure parameters allow modeling of hydraulic conductivity (k) and filtration mechanisms; required to examine the material behavior for infiltration and PM separation. In this study, pore structure parameters were determined through XTR for three PA mixture designs. Additionally, the Kozeny-Kovàv model was implemented to estimate k. PM separation was evaluated using a pore-to-PM diameter categorical model. This filtration mechanism model was validated with data from a rainfall simulator. The filtration model provided a good correlation between measured and modeled data. The identification of filtration mechanisms and k facilitate the design and evaluation of permeable pavement systems as a best management practice (BMP) for runoff volume and peak flow as well as PM and PM-partitioned chemical separation.