College - Author 1

College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences

Department - Author 1

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Date

12-2012

Primary Advisor

Richard Cavaletto

Abstract/Summary

This project tests infiltration rates on three different slabs of pervious pavement. A methodology was put in place to ensure that all three slabs were tested the same way. The test that is used for the infiltration rates is a constant head test. A steel ring is placed on the surface of the pervious pavement and sealed with Plumbers Putty around the bottom of the ring. A mark is then sketched on the inside of the ring at 2 inches above the surface of the pavement for a constant backpressure that is equal in all scenarios. Five gallons of water is then poured into the steel ring, maintaining a height of 2 inches inside the ring at all times. The time it takes for the five gallons to infiltrate is recorded. Three test locations were carefully selected to get a wide range of data. The first location was a clean slab of pervious pavement at the Water Resources Facility. The second location was a small slab at the Government Center in Ventura, California. This slab has been in place for about 1 year in a high traffic parking lot. The third location was a parking lot off of Mt. Bishops Road in San Luis Obispo. The slab of pervious pavement has been in place for years, and has never been vacuumed. It is currently used primarily for storage. The testing results came back extremely clear, if pervious pavement is not maintained properly infiltration rates will suffer. At the Mt. Bishops Road location it was found to only infiltrate 0.12in/sec, whereas cleanest slab at the Water Resources Facility was able to infiltrate close to 2in/sec.

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