Effect of silica fume on the physical, hydrological and mechanical properties of pervious concrete

• Published in: Materials today : proceedings 2023-04
• Main Authors: Seeni, Bright Singh, Madasamy, Murugan, Chellapandian, Maheswaran, Arunachelam, Nakarajan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Mechanical characteristics; Permeability; Pervious concrete; Porosity; Silica fume
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2023.03.473

Pervious concrete is a special concrete which is prepared by partial or complete elimination of fine aggregates. Thus, the quality of the cement paste plays a crucial role in defining the properties of pervious concrete. This study aims at investigating the impact of replacing cement in pervious concrete by silica fume. Cement in pervious mix was replaced partially by silica fume in a range of 0 to 20% at 5% intervals. Two varying sizes of aggregates namely 12.5 mm and 20 mm (single-sized) were used in mixes and the aggregate to cementitious material ratio was maintained at 3.54 with a water cement to cementitious material ratio of 0.35. The investigated properties include density, porosity, permeability, abrasion resistance and mechanical properties namely compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength. Incorporation of silica fume up to 15% was found to cause considerable positive impact on the mechanical properties of pervious concrete irrespective of the aggregate size due to their pozzolanic behavior which improved the paste formation. The compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength were increased to a maximum of 20.14%, 12.73% and 13.74% respectively with the use of 12.5 mm aggregates and 15% of silica fume. The output of the experiments revealed that the cement content of the pervious mix can be optimally replaced up to 15% with silica fume for balanced physical, hydrological and mechanical properties.