Pervious Concrete Summit, A Huge Success

The recent Pervious Concrete Summit, hosted by Centre Concrete, was very successful. Approximately 60 attendees, representing 22 ready mixed concrete producer companies (including 5 non-member companies), contractor and associate members attended the event.

The Summit brought some of the brightest minds in the business to State College to share their expertise. Speakers for the event included: Dr. Colin Lobo P.E. (V.P. Engineering NRMCA), Matt Offenberg P.E. (Chairman ACI 522 Committee – Pervious Concrete, Grace Construction Products) and Dave Mitchell (Bunyan Industries).  The topics they covered started with proper mix design proportioning, then to testing and specifications, and ended with a discussion on placement techniques and considerations. In addition, two contractors, John Bazella (J. Bazella Concrete Construction) and Jim Engelman (Engelman Construction) joined the other presenters in a panel discussion regarding their experiences constructing pervious concrete projects.

Following the presentations and panel discussion, attendees traveled to Centre Concrete’s facility for a placement of pervious concrete. Based on the positive comments that were heard throughout the event, it appears that the industry was well served by the day’s activities.

One attendee shared the following comment: “The speakers were outstanding and the placement portion went well.  Everyone walked away with a new way of thinking about producing pervious concrete.”  Another noted, “This is one of the best events of its kind that I have attended.” Sentiments such as those were noted from others who attended as well. Does this mean there will be a Pervious Concrete Summit II? Stay tuned.

For more information on pervious concrete, please visit our concrete education/promotion website. There is a variety of information available on the site including a pervious concrete to conventional pavement cost comparison brochure and an electronic version of The Concrete Difference, the association’s semi-annual magazine.

Tell us what you think!

We recently conducted a focus group to gain a better understanding of perceptions within the industry on concrete, and its applications. Another goal of the research was to identify the tools and information that would be most helpful to you during the design process. We learned a great deal from this research, and invite you to give us your feedback as well.

We have posted our questions online, in a user-friendly format for you to share your thoughts, opinions and experiences with us. Your feedback, in addition to our focus group research, will help us understand how our programs, services and information are being received, and also help us identify the top needs and most helpful tools for the specifying community.

Take our survey!

A Closer Look at Pervious

Villanova University, under the direction of Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership (VUSP), conducted a porous asphalt/pervious concrete comparison study. By constructing both types of pavement side-by-side, the data collected over a 2-year period proved to be both interesting and valuable. Check out the full report here.

The Environmental Protection Agency also performed a similar study, with the overall objective to demonstrate and document the performance and capabilities of three permeable pavement systems —porous asphalt, porous concrete, and interlocking concrete paver blocks—at the same site. View the full report here.

Ask the Expert!

Q: Conventional concrete has a variety of testing procedures that may be performed on it to assure that it is meeting the design specifications. Is pervious concrete subject to the same procedures and test methods?

A:  Simply put, no. Industry continues to develop testing methods and several are currently in effect. Those methods are ASTM C1688 (Standard Test Method for Density and Void Content of Freshly Mixed Pervious Concrete), ASTM C1701 (Standard Test Method for Infiltration Rate of In-Place Pervious Concrete). In addition to these methods that were developed specifically for pervious concrete, two other methods may also be used. ASTM C138 (Standard Test Method for Density (Unit Weight), Yield, and Air Content) is used in conjunction with ASTM C1688 and ASTM C140 (Standard Test Method for Sampling and Testing Masonry Units) may be used for testing the in-place density of pervious concrete.

For more information on how these test methods are integrated in specifications for pervious concrete I would encourage you to review ACI 522.1-08 (Specification for Pervious Concrete).