Experimental Study on Water Percolating Concrete

This paper addresses two aspects namely a newmethod for manufacturing of percolating concrete blocks usingdifferent proportions of concrete mixture such as Portlandcement, Coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, limestone, and waterhave been designed. Apart from this an attempt has also beenmade by adding small quantities of additives such as fly ash, ricehusk ash etc. for its strength and suitability on par with thenormal Concrete blocks.Another is a partial replacement of cement with supplementarycementation materials such as fly ash and metakaolin in differentproportions for reducing high grade cement consumptions beenproposed.The design of a Pervious Concrete is made in such a way that itallows the entire surface run off water to percolate down withoutretaining any drop/quantity in it. Thus, it is named as waterpercolating Pervious Concrete/ porous concrete. An alternativefor reducing cement usage in concrete makes concreteeco-friendly. Thus, there comes an idea of partially replacingcement with supplementary cementations materials,The concern has been growing in recent years towardsreducing the pollutants in water conservation and theenvironment. The continual urbanization has led to the increasein impervious surface area of the cities, further leading toblockage in percolation of precipitation from rainfall. This resultis excess surface run off. To counteract this, pervious concrete isthe solution. Hence, the pervious concrete having 15% to 35%interconnected pores by volume, allows direct infiltration of waterthrough its structure. Since the strength of this block for highwaysuitability of roads is not yet tested. The main aim of this paper isto improve the strength characteristics of porous concrete.However, on comparison, with the published data it is suitable forfoot paths/ pathways and parking lots and as driveways in theresidential and small rural areas where less vehicular traffic. Thiswill help in reducing the risk of water clogging and recharges thenearby ground water level. The Maintenance of the slab is alsominimum and can be repaired and cleaned easily. Thus, it isworthy and useful in many ways