Bhubaneswar: Researchers at IIT Bhubaneswar have developed pervious concrete pavements as a solution to mitigate stormwater runoff and promote groundwater recharge.
According to the scholars, unlike conventional pavements, the pervious concrete ones have interconnected voids with a minimum of 15% porosity, enabling stormwater to permeate through the pavement and replenish groundwater.This reduces runoff, alleviates urban flooding and is especially appropriate for areas such as parking lots, cycle tracks and pedestrian walkways. The researchers have opined that urban spaces do not need impervious pavements since they experience light traffic.

The school of infrastructure at IIT Bhubaneswar had recently implemented pervious concrete pavements, covering 150 square meters with 18 slabs, in a cycle parking area, “The system can store over 20 cubic meters of water without runoff. Pervious concrete, produced at a ready-mix concrete (RMC) plant, facilitates stormwater infiltration, promoting percolation into the subgrade and aiding groundwater recharge,” the researchers said.
Anush K Chandrappa, a faculty member at the school of infrastructure, and his students conducted extensive research on the advantages of pervious concrete pavement and evaluated its effectiveness and found that it infiltrated 6.8 cubic meters of stormwater per hour during 47.24 mm/hr rainfall from 1:30 pm to 4 pm on June 27 without any runoff.
Their research shows that these pavements not only decrease runoff but also reduce urban heat island (UHI) effects due to their increased porosity and latent heat flux. During their evaluation, they found that bituminous pavement reported 73.6°C, while pervious concrete pavement reported 52.4°C.
“During the summer season at IIT Bhubaneswar, the surface temperature of bituminous pavement was approximately 20°C higher than that of pervious concrete pavement, significantly contributing to the urban heat island phenomenon,” Chandrappa said.

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