Pervious Concrete

The California Experience

Andy Youngs
Technical Representative
California Nevada Cement Promotion Council
PO Box 7179, Citrus Heights, CA 95621
PH (916) 722-4247 FAX (916)722-7642 email: andy.youngs@cncpc.org

Introduction
Pervious concrete has been around for a number of years in the U.S., but was
commercially introduced into California in 2000. The acceptance of this material has
grown steadily in Northern California alone 360,000 square feet of pervious concrete
was placed in 2005, with over 1.3 million square feet specified for placement in 2006.
Much of the growth in pervious concrete in this region is due to improvements in mix
design and placement techniques which have resulted in more durable and aesthetic
installations.

Stamped pervious concrete at Heritage Bomanite in Fresno, CA. This placement was
done using a 6.5 sack mix, / 3/8 blended aggregate, polycarboxylate high range
water reducers, latex modifier, high level of hydration stabilizer, and placement with a
Bunyan screed. The surface is smooth and tight, with virtually no surface raveling and a
flow-thru rate in excess of 8 gallons per minute per square foot. Photo courtesy Sergio
Ilic of Heritage Bomanite and Brent Coulson of Euclid Chemical.
Mix Design
The conventional mix design for pervious concrete had been a 4 or 5 sack mix, 3/8
pea gravel, occasionally a small amount of sand, and a water-cement ratio of about 0.35.
When we began placing pervious concrete in California, the decision was made to
optimize strengths by increasing the cementitious content to a 6.5 - 7 sack mix and keep
the water-cement ratio close to theoretical at 0.27. This required the use of water-
reducing admixtures. 3/8 pea gravel was still utilized, although finding sources of clean,
gap-graded pea gravel and using it without disrupting the conventional concrete
operations of ready-mix plants has been an ongoing challenge.

As more and more placements were done, interesting tidbits emerged, and mix design
modifications have been made:

Aggregate Moisture Content the batch-to-batch inconsistency of pervious

concrete has been dramatically reduced by keeping an eye on aggregate moisture
content. An increase in aggregate moisture content from 0.5% to 1.0% adds an
additional 1.5 gallons of water to the mix. If the mix was designed for 0.5%
moisture and the aggregate is 1.5% moisture, 3 gallons of water are added by the
aggregate and the w/c ratio changes from 0.27 to 0.31! And the batch that was
perfect at 0.5% is sloppy wet at 1.5%. These fluctuations come as aggregate
moisture changes based on where from the stockpile the aggregate is taken,
stockpile watering patterns, etc.

High Range Water Reducers disperse cement grains in the paste, promote
more complete hydration, and improve compressive and flexural strength. New
generation Polycarboxylate based HRWRs have shown excellent performance.

Hydration Stabilizers the high cementitious content and low water-cement

ratio used in California generates fairly aggressive hydration of the cement. Due
to this, without the use of hydration stabilizers it was common for contractors to
have to stop twice or more during emptying of a load and add water to regain the
desired paste characteristics. Mixes now are recommended to have hydration
stabilizer added at a rate of 6 oz/cwt of cement a very high dosage. What we
have found, though, is that by using this level we gain a consistent mix throughout
emptying the truck, increased time for the mix to be in the trucks, and more time
on the ground when placing.

Aggregate Gradation as more aggressive compaction techniques began to be

used (vibratory plate compactors; Bunyan screeds), it was possible to use larger
aggregate and still get a relatively smooth, acceptable surface. In the Reno/Tahoe
area, where 180 freeze/thaw cycles every winter are common, the mix of choice
which emerged was based on a manufactured X 3/8 hard aggregate. When
placed with a vibratory plate compactor this mix gave excellent properties from
cores taken from placements 4000 psi compressive strength and 23% voids,
even with air entrainment of the cement paste.
 More recently, a mix was developed which utilizes as aggregate a mixture of one
part 3/8 pea gravel to 2 parts crushed rock. If these materials are clean and
gap-graded, the resultant mix has a very nice appearance, a void content greater
than 20%, compressive strengths well in excess of 3000 psi, and virtually zero
surface raveling when properly placed with a Bunyan screed. The processing
window, both on how much you can work the surface and on acceptable water
content, is much greater with this mix than any I have seen.

The largest challenge in this market has been to convince suppliers to produce
mixes with clean, gap-graded aggregate. The importance of aggregate gradation
on the ability to produce an acceptable placement cannot be overstressed.

Specialty Admixtures one of the more exciting things seen this year has been
the initial emergence of the use of Latex modifiers which promote adherence of
the cement paste to the aggregate. Although some can be expensive and difficult
to use, these modifiers keep the paste on the aggregate and make it easier to work
the surface hard with a Bunyan screed to produce a table-top flat surface and all
but eliminate surface unraveling. Used with the 3/8:1/2 aggregate gradation
detailed above, mixes with these modifiers show promise of being acceptable for
high speed pavement applications. Of course the firms supplying these mixes
are keeping things highly proprietary as to the exact usage details of these
admixtures.

Delivery Options
Conventional ready mixed concrete trucks have been the primary delivery method until
recently.
The use of volumetric mobile mixers for pervious concrete first debuted in the Lake
Tahoe region in 2005, where the established ready mix firms felt that pervious concrete
was too new and too small a market for them to deal with.

Since that time the use of mobile mixers has expanded up to and including their use as
on-site plants for 50,000 square foot placements. The volumetric mixers normally
require much less admixture, and have the advantage of being continuously adjustable for
water content never a rejected truck! The other big advantage is a fast discharge rate
usually at least a cubic yard per minute.

Placement Techniques

Vibra-Plate Compaction surface raveling has been the major concern for
specifiers and contractors alike. The use of a vibratory plate compactor (vibra-
plate; platewhacker), either directly on the pervious mix, or run over sheets of
plywood placed on the pervious mix, produces a very tight surface. Contractors
who prefer this technique have made special plates for their units to spread the
load and avoid overcompacting 3/8 pea gravel mixes. Perhaps the biggest
downside with using platewhackers is that it can produce a relatively uneven,
wavy surface.

Bunyan Screed initial attempts with roller screeds were unsuccessful due to the
use of too small of a tube, not enough weight in the tube, and mixes with
excessive fines. The improved mix designs and the use of a sand-filled Bunyan
screed have alleviated those problems, and have produced very flat, tight surfaces
with acceptable void content and very little surface raveling. Proper training is
 critical, as the best placements with this screed require an appropriate level of
material build-up in front of the screed. Dave Mitchell from Bunyan Industries
has been very active in helping to train the industry both in the use of the screed
and the importance of aggregate gradation to pervious concrete.

Evaporation Retarders and Curing Compound in an effort to keep the

moisture in the top layer of cement paste and reduce surface raveling, the practice
of spraying an evaporation retarder immediately after screeding has been
completed. This provides the contractor with a bit of extra time, but mostly
enhances the ultimate surface by locking the moisture into the top layer of paste.
In a similar vein, many contractors spray curing compound on the surface
immediately after compaction and before covering with plastic. The goal here is
to both reduce raveling that can occur from poorly secured plastic and to help
eliminate the mottling and efflorescence that can result from unevenness of the
plastic cure sheeting.

Slip-Form Pavers as potential 10, 20 and 30 acre pervious concrete potentials

emerge, finding the most efficient placement techniques is critical, as these
placements can be lost to competitive materials based on cost. Experimentation
with slip-form pavers has been quite successful. The main factor in utilizing
pavers is the delivery of feedstock trials with a paver fed from two volumetric
mixers have demonstrated a rate of 120 yards an hour, or 6,000 square feet an
hour. Whether that rate is sustainable over a days production has yet to be seen.
Unfortunately, this is a bit of a chicken / egg situation a large job is required to
prove the technique, but contractors are reluctant to bid a large job using paver
economics as it has not been demonstrated on a large scale in this region.

Stamping in nearly every presentation I have given to architects, the desire to

stamp pervious concrete is brought up. At a placement in early 2006 at Builders
Concrete in Fresno, an experiment was performed using the old-time, heavy open
steel stamps which were in the warehouse at Heritage Bomanite but had not been
 touched for years. Placing these stamps on top of the curing sheets, standing on
them and hitting each corner a sharp blow with a steel-plate tamper to drive them
in about an inch, worked very well. The plastic tended to tear, so after stamping
one needs to install an additional curing sheet on top. Both 12X12 tile patterns
and cobblestone patterns were successfully stamped.

Design and Promotion

Drilled Dry-Wells in Clay Soils northern California has a predominance of

clay-containing soils. Pervious concrete has flourished in this area in spite of
normally unfavorable soil conditions. Clay soils of low to moderate expansivity
are dealt with by over-excavating, placing a filter fabric on the soil, twelve inches
of drain rock, and then the six inches of pervious concrete. A new trend for more
expansive soils has been to do the same, but place an impervious fabric on the
soil, and drill several three or four foot diameter dry wells about thirty feet deep
and fill them with drain rock this gets through the expansive clay strata and
allows infiltration. The drilling of the dry wells can be surprisingly inexpensive.

Pervious CD on Concreteresources.net the four ready mix associations in CA

and NV, the CA/NV Cement Promotion Council and the Western States Chapter
of the ACPA have banded together to form the Pacific Southwest Concrete
Alliance, working together to standardize promotional materials and approaches
specific to our region. One of the most successful efforts has been the creation of
the Pervious Concrete CD and posting it on the PSCA website
(www.concreteresources.net) . This makes promotion of pervious concrete easier
as there is no need to send out literature, and one can walk a specifier through
 promotion and technical materials which are presented there in a very
professional format.

NRMCA Training Course the bane of pervious concrete promotion in this

region has been lack of qualified contractors there have been enough contractors
to place the jobs, but competition was so scarce that bids for pervious concrete
kept getting higher and higher. The use of the NRMCA Pervious Concrete
Technician Certification program to increase the base of contractors for bidding
has begun to alter that imbalance in the marketplace. This course is also being
embraced by agency engineers and inspectors as a means to learn about pervious
concrete and ensure that installations in their areas are done correctly.

Northern California Pervious Concrete Working Group at the suggestion of

Barb VanMaren, a civil engineer who has specified more than 30 jobs in pervious
concrete, an ad hoc group was formed which meets every six weeks or so. This
group includes Caltrans engineers, civil engineers, architects, concrete suppliers,
contractors, association staff and city/county/ regional agency staff. We meet at a
pervious concrete placement, review the placement, then adjourn to a local eatery
to have lunch and a free-form discussion of pervious concrete what has worked,
what hasnt, what is needed, etc. Many good things are emerging from this group,
even though it is less than six months old.

Its For Real! with the emergence of so many placements in California, the
emphasis in presentations to architects, engineers and agencies has been to drive
 home the point that pervious concrete is not new that there is little risk for them
in specifying or allowing it because there are so many successful installations in
California and so many 20+ year old successful installation in Florida.
Eliminating the feeling of it being a new or experimental material has
dramatically increased acceptance and specification of pervious concrete.

Summary
The California Experience continues to grow and change with regard to pervious
concrete. As more and more agencies see this material as a way to meet Provision C3
requirements, expectations are to see the use of pervious concrete continue to grow
exponentially. Innovations in mix design, placement techniques and design/promotion
have fueled this growth, and will be essential for maintaining it.