Comparison of Theoretical Freezing Depths of Permeable and Conventional Pavements

Permeable pavements allow water to seep through the bound pavement layer and to be temporarily stored in the unbound pavement layers. Permeable pavements are used in environmentally sensitive areas in order to minimize the effects of the pavement on the natural ground water regime. However, the presence of the water in the pavement structure raises concerns related to frost action in cold regions. This paper investigates the effects of the specific features of permeable pavements on frost depth. Weather data for Anchorage, Alaska was used in the finite element simulations to predict the depth of freeze. The results of this exercise found evidence to suggest depth of freeze under permeable pavements might be less than that of conventional pavements. All modeling in this paper is theoretical. Though the findings of this paper are considered reasonable, more research and modeling must be conducted to make a definitive conclusion.