Experimental investigation on the flexural behavior of pervious concrete beams reinforced with geogrids

Pervious concrete has been widely used due to the environmental and stormwater management benefits. However, its susceptibility to cracking and low flexural strength limited the widespread use for vehicular traffic pavement. This paper focuses on the flexural behavior of pervious concrete beams reinforced by geogrids with different layer number at various positions. The influences of the embedded geogrids on effective porosity, strength and cracking behaviors are studied. The load-vertical displacement curves are obtained by four-point bending tests to describe the toughness and post-cracking performance of pervious concrete beams. Meanwhile, the acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) techniques are used to monitor the internal fracture characteristics, strain fields and crack propagation. The experimental results indicate that the compressive strength and flexural strength of pervious concrete can be improved owing to the embedded geogrids. Notwithstanding an increased porosity is induced, the reinforced beams demonstrate significantly superior post-crack performance. Furthermore, the embedded geogrids in pervious concrete restrain the generation and propagation of the crack, resulting in a low strain field level as well as showing a short crack length and a small crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD). Embedding the geogrids at both one-third depth and two-thirds depth of the thickness provides the optimal performance. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.