Comparative assessment of pervious concrete mixtures containing fly ash and nanomaterials for compressive strength, physical durability, permeability, water quality performance and production cost

Three optimized fly ash (FA)- and nanomaterial-added pervious concrete mixtures (PCNI, PCGP, PCNS) and one control PCCT were compared for five criteria: compressive strength, physical durability, permeability, water quality performance and production cost. Both nanoSiO2-added PCNS and nanoFe-added PCNI had a higher compressive strength (∼17 MPa), a greater resistance to abrasion (<30% mass loss), and a better water quality improvement (<12 Water Quality Index) and runoff volume control (>8 mm/s permeability) than other two PCs. Nevertheless, the production of the nanomaterial-added PCs was costly than the control PCCT. For those areas where a high compressive strength is not required, a cost-effective (∼$360/m3) PCCT could manage stormwater well for runoff quality and volume. Although PCGP could be produced with a high-volume FA substitution (60%), it was poor in other four criteria, especially in the compressive strength (4.7 MPa) and physical durability (59% mass loss).