Determination of Infiltration Capacity of Interlocking-Block Permeable Pavement

Interlocking-block permeable pavements (IBPPs) are designed to allow surface runoff to infiltrate downward. High infiltration capacity is a key operational requirement and a major design consideration of IBPPs. Currently there is no analytical or experimental method that allows pavement designers to evaluate during the design phase, or any stage during operation, the differences in infiltration capacities of different IBPP designs. To overcome this limitation, the present research introduced a concept of representative test area, and employed the finite-volume approach to solve the problem of infiltration flow through IBPP. The proposed method permits a designer to (1) numerically evaluate the infiltration capacities of different IBPP designs of interlocking blocks having different shapes, sizes, and joint widths; and (2) recommend a design that is environmentally most desirable. Laboratory infiltration tests were conducted in this research to experimentally validate the proposed finite-volume fluid dynamics computational method. An illustrative example is presented to compare the infiltration capacities of eight common IBPPs designs.