PERMEABILITY OF DOUBLE-LAYER POROUS

ASPHALT PAVEMENT

Jørn Raaberg, Research Engineer, Danish Road Institute,

Hans Bendtsen, Senior Researcher, Atkins Denmark A/S

Abstract

In 1999, Oester Soegade, a tree-lined scenic central city road in Copenhagen, Denmark, was rebuilt and
paved and four test sections were included for investigating porous asphalt pavements. Three continu-
ous test sections were surfaced with a similar double-layer porous asphalt pavement, and the fourth, a
reference section, was surfaced with a conventional dense asphalt concrete pavement. The objective of
the study was to investigate the durability of double layer porous bituminous surfacings under Danish
weather conditions and also to investigate the variations in the noise levels measured during the life-
times of the pavements.

This paper describes the investigations of the durability and permeability of the three porous asphalt
test sections and compares the noise level measurements made at each of the four test sections. Perme-
ability measurements were carried out using the Beckers tube Method (Standard Reference No.) and
noise level measurements applied the Statistical Pass-By Method

The test sections were constructed in August 1999 and the permeability and noise levels were first
measured during September of that year. In addition, permeability was measured before and after every
flushing operation (a standardised process to clear accumulated materials from the voids of the porous
bituminous pavements), which was carried out twice a year in the spring and autumn. The noise meas-
urements were carried out once each year during the summer months.

The initial results from the permeability and noise level measurements show that some form of relation-
ship exists between them. However, it was not possible to identify any definite effect from the flushing
operations as no significant difference could be detected between permeability measurements made
before and after flushing.

The condition of the porous asphalt was measured after two years and was compared to the test results
from the samples taken for production control during paving. Bituminous binder recovered from the
two year-old pavements showed that a hardening of the binder had occurred since paving.

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1. Introduction

In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid to traffic noise in Danish residential areas; since
major extensions are being planned of the motorway system in and around Copenhagen, the capital of
Denmark, the neighbours of some of these roads have made enquiries and demands to obtain as good
noise reduction as at all possible.

Already in the national transport plan “Transport 2005” from 1993, the Danish government had set a
goal that not more than 50,000 homes should be exposed to a noise level over 65 dB by 2010. At pre-
sent, about 150,000 homes are exposed to noise levels over 65 dB.

Therefore, in the late summer of 1998 the Danish Ministry of Transport decided to finance a project
which would help bring these numbers down by using porous asphalt in urban roads. A project group
was formed which included participants from The Danish Road Directorate, The Environmental Protec-
tion Agency (ETA), The Danish Asphalt Industries represented by NCC Roads, the Municipality of
Copenhagen, DELTA Acoustics and Vibration (a private consultant), Atkins Denmark A/S and The
Danish Road Institute (DRI). The Danish Transport Research Institute took part in the group in 2001-
2002.

This project group looked at projects, which were being carried out in other European countries; in Hol-
land, they have developed double layer porous asphalt which has been used since the beginning of the
1990'ies. Here measurements of noise levels achieved had showed reductions of up to 6 dB with the
“Micro Drain” method, which is a third generation development of these double-layer porous asphalt
pavements.

The Danish project group therefore decided to investigate and apply in practice the Dutch technologies,
under Danish conditions. A project description was prepared in autumn 1998, and at a seminar in De-
cember of that year, two Dutch experts were invited to give their critical assessments. After receiving
their advice, the project description was finalised (Bendtsen H. 1999).

2. Description of the test sections

The project group was looking for a street in the Municipality of Copenhagen to place the test sections,
and in the spring 1999 the street Oester Soegade (the name of the road) was found to be the most useful.
Oester Soegade is situated in the centre of Copenhagen along one of the inner city lakes. Alongside the
side of the road skirting the lake (on the left side of the road), there is a line of horse chestnut trees. On
the opposite side of the road (the right side of the road) there are house frontages. The average daily

2
traffic (ADT) is about 7000 vehicles per day with 7% of heavy vehicles.

Following the seminar, it was decided to surface three sections with double-layer porous asphalt and to
surface a reference section with conventional dense asphalt concrete. Every test section had a length of
about 100 m that was divided into three 20 m long sections for noise measurement tests and four 10 m
sections, from which cores would be extracted for laboratory investigations. The four test sections were
as follows:

Total depth of
Top layer Bottom layer
Porous Asphalt
Section Type
Depth Aggregate Depth, Aggregate
mm
mm size, mm mm size, mm
I PA8 - 70 70 25 5/8 45 11/16
II PA5 - 55 55 20 2/5 35 11/16
III PA5 - 90 90 25 2/5 65 16/22
IV AC 8t (ref.) (30) (30) 0/8 - -
Table 1: Descriptions of the test sections at Oester Soegade, Copenhagen

In the mix design of the porous asphalt (PA), the project group followed the advice of the Dutch ex-
perts, with the exception of the choice of bitumen. The Dutch advice was to use bitumen modified with
granulated rubber; in the study SBS (Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene) was used. The reason for using SBS
modified bitumen was that this bitumen is commonly used in Denmark and at the time when these test
sections were constructed there was no local experience of using bitumen modified with granulated
rubber.

Copenhagen municipality made one condition, namely that 15% of light aggregate should be added to
the top layer of the pavement; the project group was aware that this could reduce the durability of this
layer.

The bitumen used in the dense asphalt was normal straight-run bitumen with a penetration of approxi-
mately 85.

The whole pavement was reconstructed following the completion of reconditioning of the in-road mu-
nicipal water supply and sewerage services. It was therefore first possible to pave the section in August
1999.

As mentioned earlier, double-layer porous asphalt was developed in Holland in the early 1990'ies. Sin-
gle layer porous asphalt had already been used in Denmark in the 1970'ies, but due to some unfortunate
choices where quite a few accidents occurred during the winter period on these sections, this type of

3
surface was no longer used. This was the case until the beginning of the 1990s when two trials with
porous asphalt in a single layer pavement were carried out. One of the trials was carried out on an urban
road in Copenhagen (Oesterbrogade) where the noise reduction, immediately after paving was 3 dB;
after 2 years the noise reduction benefit had disappeared (Bendtsen H. 1996). The other section was on
a country road, where test sections with porous asphalt were paved. Two of these showed a noise reduc-
tion of at least 3 dB throughout their entire lifetime of seven years compared to a reference pavement,
which was dense asphalt concrete.

3. Hypotheses

After the decisions on the type of pavements had been taken, the project group drew up the following
hypotheses, which the test sections should clarify:

• New double-layer porous asphalt has a high noise reducing capacity on urban roads compared
to dense asphalt
• The double-layer porous asphalt with the smallest aggregate size has the best noise reduction
• The thickest of the double-layer porous asphalt has the best noise reduction
• Flushing the pavements twice a year will keep their porosity and acoustical absorption and for
these reasons they will keep their high noise reduction in their entire lifetime on urban roads
• The durability of such pavements is the same as that of ordinary dense pavements in urban
roads
• Roads in urban areas with porous asphalt pavements have the same traffic safety quality as or-
dinary dense pavements
• There will be no special problems with winter maintenance connected to using porous asphalt in
urban areas

This paper will present the provisional results found after three years regarding the first five points of
the hypotheses given above. The entire report on the project can be found in (Bendtsen, Larsen,
Greibe, 2002)

4. Noise measurements

The purpose of noise measurements has been to prove whether porous asphalt has a noise-reducing ef-
fect. The noise measurements are made according to the so-called Statistical Pass-By Method described
in ISO 11819-1. This is described as the SPB method. The method requires that a Statistical Pass-By
Index (SPBI) should be determined based on the following equation:

4
  Lveh , x

SPBI ' = 10 × log  ∑Wx × 10 10 
 
 

where

L veh,x is the vehicle noise level for category x and

Wx is the weight for that category shown in Table 2.

ISO 11819-1 (1997) specifies 90% light vehicles and a total of 10% for heavy vehicles. The category of
light vehicles has been assumed to consist of 80% passenger cars and 10% vans.

Vehicle Category: Light vehicles Heavy vehicles

Two-axle Multi-axle
ISO 11819-1 0,9 0.075 0.025
Cars Vans
This paper 0,8 0,1 0,1 0
Table 2: Weights, Wx, used for various vehicle categories when calculating SPBI.

For light vehicles, the noise is converted to the reference speed of 50 km/h, for two-axle vehicles it has
been converted to the reference speed of 45 km/h. Multi-axle vehicles are not taken into account in this
paper. There are an insufficient number of such vehicles on Oester Soegade.

The first noise measurements on the sections were made in September 1999 ("year 0" measurements).
Since then, measurements have been carried out every summer. The results are a mean value of three
measurements for each section shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the noise reduction obtained for each
year on each section.

On average the noise level before the new pavement was constructed was 73 dB, so even on the refer-
ence section a certain noise reduction has been obtained. This corresponds to what has been found in
other projects: a new pavement gives a noise reduction of two to three dB in relation to that found on an
old wearing course. On the best of the three test sections (section III, porous asphalt with a thickness of
90 mm) a reduction in "year 0" of approximately 8 dB is obtained compared to the situation before re-
construction. As can be seen also in Figure 1, a large noise reduction is obtained on the porous asphalt
in relation to reference section in the first year. Unfortunately this tendency does not continue, and in
"year 3" it has almost disappeared on section III, which was the section which at the start of the project
had the best noise reduction (6dB). It should be mentioned that it is normal to see an increase of approx.
1-2 dB from the time the pavement is new and to the year following construction.

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 75

70 1999

2000
dB

65
2001
60
2002

55
Sect ion I Sect ion II Sect ion III Ref .

Figure 1. SPBI´ for each of the test sections at the three measuring positions on each test section in
1999 to 2002; Bendtsen 2003

-7

-6 Sect ion I
Sect ion II
-5 Sect ion III

-4
dB

-3

-2

-1

0
1999 2000 2001 2002
Figure 2. Noise reduction expressed as the difference between
SPBI measured the same year on the porous asphalt pavement and the reference pavement.
Bendtsen 2003

6
5. Permeability measurements

The purpose of permeability measurements is to observe any clogging of the voids in connection with
the flushing which is undertaken twice a year. At the same time it could be interesting whether a con-
nection could be seen with the tendency of noise reduction. Thus permeability measurements have been
made before an after flushing. In Figure 3 and 4 chosen values from these measurements are shown.

Permeability measurements were made at the same locations as the noise measurements, and taken as
the average of at least two measurements

s/ 10 cm

70 Sect io n I
Sect io n II
60
Sect io n III
50

40

30

20

10

0
1 4 4 7 7 15 15 20 27 29 33 33 39 39
b a b a a b a b a b a a b
M onths after paving
b: Before Flushing
a: After Flushing

Figure 3. Permeability measurements on Oester Soegade - right side of road, right wheel track

7
 s/ 1 0 cm

70 Se ct i o n I
Se ct i o n II
60 Se ct i o n III

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 4 4 7 7 15 15 20 27 29 33 33 39 39
b a b a a b a b a b a a b
M o n t h s a f t e r p a v in g b: Before Flushing
a: After Flushing

Figure 4. Permeability measurements on Oester Soegade left side of road, left wheel track

As can be seen in Figure 3, the permeability is virtually unchanged on the right side of the road until the
last measurements, which were made in connection with the flushing in November 2002.

Figure 4 shows that both test Section II and III, on the left side of the road, showed minimal permeabil-
ity. The reason for this clogging of the voids is thought to be that dirt and fine materials from the
nearby dense asphalt concrete pavement are dragged onto the porous asphalt by the tires of passing ve-
hicles. This assumption is made on the observation that the first clogging appeared in measuring point
IIIc and since has spread.

In order to show whether a similar development with penetration of "dirt" on the pavement can be seen
on the right side of the road, some additional permeability tests have been made at the start of section I
outside the actual measuring area. These extra measurements also give poor permeability data (43,7
sec/cm), so it must be assumed that there will also be a reduction of permeability on the right side of the
road, since the tires of the vehicles will drag "dirt" onto the porous asphalt pavements. The reason that
corresponding clogging at the official measuring points has not yet been found on section I can be due
to the fact that this is a layer of porous asphalt with 5/8 mm chippings, whereas on section III, this is a
layer with 2/5 mm chippings. The voids in 5/8 are bigger than the ones found in porous asphalt with 2/5

8
and therefore they seem not to clog as quickly.

6. Asphalt tests

While constructing the pavements in 1999, the materials used were continuously controlled. Two years
later, in 2001, cores were taken from the three sections with porous asphalt and their composition was
analysed. Table 3 show data which has been obtained from the determination of air voids from cores
from year 0 (1999) and year 2 (2001).

Air voids
Section Type Changes
Year 0 Year 2
Top layer PA 8 26,5 27,2 +0,7
I Bottom layer PA 16 22,8 24,0 +1,2
Top layer PA 5 26,6 22,7 -3,9
II Bottom layer PA 16 25,2 24,1 -1,1
Top layer PA 5 23,7 19,9 -3,8
III Bottom layer PA 22 21,8 21,9 +0,1

Table 3: Comparison of results from void determination of cores from Oester Soegade “year 0" and
“year 2"

It can be seen in Table 3 that in the top layers with porous asphalt 2/5 a small reduction in the void
number has occurred, which presumably is due to the fact that a clogging of voids has taken place. On
the other hand, there does not appear to be a clogging of voids in any of the lower layers of the porous
asphalt. The "dirt" which has gone into the lower layer does not seem to stay, but is flushed out again to
the roadside and the gully. The layer has therefore fulfilled its purpose with regard to cleaning.

Penetration and Softening point have been determined on the recovered bitumen. The data from these
tests can be seen in Table 4, together with the data determined at the time of reconstruction. It should be
remembered that the same bitumen has been used in all layers of the porous asphalt.

Section Softening point °C Penetration 1/10 mm

"0" All 81,0 83
Top layer PA 8 71,5 30
I Bottom layer PA 16 81,5 25
"2" Top layer PA 5 72,0 24
II
Bottom layer PA 16 78,5 30
III Top layer PA 5 73,5 25

Table 4: Bitumen data determined on virgin bitumen “0” and on the recovered bitumen from cores after
two years “2”.

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It can be seen from Table 4 that there has been a considerable reduction in the penetration values,
whereas the values for softening point are not as marked. It must be stated however, that this change in
the binder can have influence on the lifetime of the pavement.

No tests of the reference section have been made. As mentioned earlier, polymer bitumen has not been
used on this section.

When inspecting the sections in December 2002, ravelling has only been found in a few places on the
two sections with the porous asphalt with 2/5 mm chippings.

7. Discussion and Conclusion

As a part of the efforts made by Danish authorities to reduce noise from traffic for the roads'
neighbours, test sections were established in Oester Soegade in 1999 in the Municipality of Copenha-
gen. A project group was set up with representatives from the road owners, contractors and advisors.
This group set up some hypotheses, on which the project should clarify. This paper tries to answer
some of the hypotheses, even though only 3½ years of the project time have passed.

With the present results of the noise measurements, it can be concluded that in "year 0" there was a
greater noise reducing effect of 5-6 dB on the two pavements with the smallest grain sizes (2/5 mm)
compared to the one with 5/8 mm having a noise reduction on about 4 dB. All these sections with po-
rous asphalt reduced noise compared to the reference section, which can been seen in figure 1 and 2.
Data from "year 0" showed also that the best noise reduction was obtained with the thickest of the dou-
ble-layer porous asphalt. However, this did only occurred in "year 0", in year 1 no difference between
the three porous asphalt sections were seen and they all showed a noise reduction of around 4 dB. In the
third year the noise reduction was still approximately 3 dB at two of the sections but only around 1 dB
for the thickest pavement with 5 mm chippings in the top layer.

By flushing the pavements twice a year it was expected that it was possible to maintain the permeability
of the pavements. Unfortunately permeability measurements have shown that despite flushing, the
voids become clogged on some of the pavements. The pavement with 8 mm chippings in the top layer
seems to keep its porosity rather well, and it also keeps a good noise reduction The pavements with 5
mm chippings in the top layer shows some tendencies of clogging. This is presumably mainly due to
the fact that the tires of the cars drag the "dirt" with them from the neighbouring dense surfaces. It can
however not be excluded that some of the clogging happens due to leaves falling from chestnut trees,
which are planted alongside the road and lake.

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Materials analysis made on cores taken in "year 2" showed, when compared to data from the time of
reconstruction, that there has been a hardening of the binder as it can be seen in table 4. Based on these
results, it must be assumed that these pavements might not have a durability, which will correspond to
dense asphalt. However, visual inspections have not yet shown any areas with damage. Data from the
material examination support the permeability measurements, since reduced void content can be seen in
the wearing courses with PA5.

8. Acknowledgements

The authors wish to gratefully thank the Ministry of Transport, the Municipality of Copenhagen, the
Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the Danish Asphalt Industries represented by NCC
Roads who contributed financially and provided other support to this investigation, making the prepara-
tion of this paper possible.

9. References

Bendtsen H. 1996. Forsøg med støjreducerende vejbelægninger (Test of road surfaces with a noise re-
duction capacity). Report 45 (In Danish with an English summary) Copenhagen: Road Directorate,
Denmark.

Bendtsen H. 1999. Development of noise reducing pavements for urban roads. VD Notat 66. Copenha-
gen: Road Directorate, Denmark.

ISO 11819-1:1997: Acoustics - Method for measuring the influence of road surfaces on road traffic
noise - Part 1: "The statistical pass-by method".

Bendtsen H., Nielsen C.B., Raaberg J. and Macdonald R. A., Clogging of porous bituminous surfacings
– an investigation in Copenhagen. 4th European Symposium on Performance of Bituminous and Hy-
draulic Materials in Pavements Nottingham, England 11-12th April 2002

Bendtsen, Larsen, Greibe, 2002 Udvikling af støjreducerende vejbelægninger til bygader. Statusrapport
efter 3 års målinger. Development of noise reducing road surfaces for urban roads. Status after 3 years
of measurements. (In Danish with an Extended English summary). Report 4, 2002. Danish Transport
Research Institute.

Kragh J., Jessen B., 2002 Trafikstøj ved fire forsøgsstrækninger på Øster Søgade, År 3. Road traffic
noise at four test sections on Øster Søgade. (In Danish). Delta, Dansk Elektronik, Lys & Akustik. Rap-

11
port AV 1525/02. Revideret 4. november 2002.

Bendtsen H., Sammenfatning og vurdering af målinger udført i 2002. Teknisk notat 2003. Atkins Dan-
mark A/S.

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