Development of apparatus for permeability testing on pervious asphalt

This article aims to evaluate the performance of a prototype variable load permeameter developed with hydrosanitary pieces in order to measure the permeability coefficient of pervious asphalt, which is a mixture composed of mineral aggregates and pure or modified asphalt binders, having an air void content close to 20%. This material must have permeability and porosity characteristics that influence the hydrological behavior of the surface. Faced with the need to quantify the degree of permeability of specimens used in studies of pervious asphalt and the absence of a regulatory standard for this test, a permeameter was created from hydrosanitary pieces. It was observed that the operation was easy, the system had an excellent degree of tightness and that the results were coherent and aligned with literature. To enable the development of the mentioned permeameter, a laboratory study was carried out on a mixture of pervious asphalt with a binder modified by polymers and an air void content of 18.3%, in which the influence of the addition of four different levels of cellulose fiber was evaluated (0%, 0.25%, 0.50% and 0.75%). It was observed at the end of the study that the material with the addition of 0.50% fiber presented the best results in terms of permeability. It should be noted that the developed permeameter proved to be an efficient, simple and precise testing tool, consisting of the creation of a set capable of laterally surrounding a traditional test specimen and allowing water to pass only in a vertical direction.

Keywords:
permeability test; pervious asphalt; testing apparatus