Pervious Pavement
Pavement is ubiquitous in developed areas, but building more sustainable cities will require a more sustainable approach to paving. Pervious concrete is one solution, which allows stormwater to infiltrate into the ground as it would naturally, instead of running off in a way that can cause flooding and upset the delicate ecology of nearby lakes and streams. This technology is already catching hold, and being implamented in sidewalks and parking lots.
The focus of this project is to further improve the benefits of pervious concrete material by designing a mix that will control stormwater contaminants – the heavy metals, greases, and oils that are washed off of the surfaces of roads and parking lots. The pavement material must have some means to remove or destroy these contaminants so they don’t affect soil and groundwater.
Students working on this project will participate in lab-scale testing of the pavement material, looking at how it removes different pollutants and how it performs in long-term simulations. They will also learn how to use some different analytical equipment.
Student Contact: Austin Weidner, weidnera@lafayette.edu
Adviser: Art Kney
Summer 2010 Update
…coming soon…
2010 Fall Semester
There are two goals we wish to accomplish this semester.
1) Conduct a mass balance of a 24-hour batch test in order to determine where the copper goes as it is removed from the solution and to understand what mechanisms are responsible for removing it. This will require creating a procedure to destroy a once tested concrete sample.
2) Continue experimentation with adding iron filings to the pervious concrete mix. The idea is that at a high pH, iron acts as an ion exchanger, which would theoretically increase the rate of copper removal. In order to achieve this goal, new mix designs will be created with varying amounts of iron filings.