Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120

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Applied Acoustics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

Properties of quiet pervious concrete containing oil palm kernel shell

and cockleshell
Elnaz Khankhaje a,⇑, Mohd Razman Salim b, Jahangir Mirza c, Salmiati b,⇑, Mohd Warid Hussin c,
Rawid Khan d, Mahdi Rafieizonooz a
a
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
b
Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
c
UTM Construction Research Centre (UTM CRC), Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
d
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Nowadays, the significant increase in noise has become a major problem in urban areas. Using pervious
Received 29 November 2016 concrete pavement is recommended to reduce the noise. Unfortunately, standard materials used to pro-
Received in revised form 21 February 2017 duce pervious concrete are not completely environmental friendly. As a result, many researchers have
Accepted 22 February 2017
devoted their attention towards identifying eco-friendlier substitutions to be used in the manufacturing
Available online 6 March 2017
of pervious concrete. In this respect, this current paper discussed the efficiency of two different sizes of oil
palm kernel shell (KS) and cockle shell (CS) as partial replacement of natural coarse aggregate for sound
Keywords:
absorption of pervious concrete. Thirteen mixtures were made, which replaced 6.30 mm limestone with
Pervious concrete
Noise reduction
0, 25, 50 and 75% of 6.30 mm and 4.75 mm of both shells. The specimens were cured in a fog room and
Cockle shell void content and compressive strength were tested. The replacement of both KS and CS as the natural
Palm oil kernel shell aggregate decreased the compressive strength, although the range was still acceptable for pervious con-
crete at 28 days. However, the angular shape of both shells caused high void content. The maximum
increase in void content compared to that of the control pervious concrete (CPC) was achieved with
the use of 75% of 6.30 mm KS at 28 days. Moreover, by increasing sound absorption with the application
of both shells, particularly KS, the concrete could be used as silent road pavement. It was therefore con-
cluded that the use of both KS and CS to produce cleaner and quitter pervious concrete pavement is prac-
tical, both mechanically and environmentally.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and is among the Best Management Practices (BMPs) recom-

Of late, the significant increase in noise has become a major
problem in urban areas. The said noise is typically generated from
a variety of sources, including various types of vehicles on the road,
airplanes, factories and construction sites. Noise exposure does not
only impair human hearing capacity, but may also cause certain
mental disorders [1]. Therefore, using of pervious concrete pave-
ments have been recommended by Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) of the United State (US) to reduce traffic noise in
urban area. Pervious concrete is one of the best materials used in
top layer of permeable pavement system. In the past 30 years, per-
vious concrete has been gradually used in the United States (US),
⇑ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: elnazkhankhaje@gmail.com (E. Khankhaje), salmiati@utm.my
(Salmiati).
mended by EPA and American Concrete Institute (ACI) [2,3].
Due to the lower durability and strength of pervious concrete
compared to normal concrete, the application of pervious concrete
is limited to the roads that have light volume traffic [2,3]. However,
due to the advantages of pervious concrete, the utilisation and con-
struction properties of pervious concrete have been studied by
many researchers [4–6]. The benefits of using pervious concrete
are: reduction of downstream flows; reduction of large volumes
of surface pollution flowing into rivers; decreasing of urban heat
island effect; reducing traffic noise; enhancing safety of driving
during raining; and removing heavy metal from stormwater runoff
[3,7]. The use of pervious concrete in building site design can also
aid in the process of qualifying the building for Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) [8].
In pervious concrete, water passes through an interconnected
network of voids structure, resulting from the constrained use of
fine aggregates, uniform gradation and low water-to-cement ratio

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2017.02.014
0003-682X/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
114 E. Khankhaje et al. / Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120
[3]. Void content of pervious concrete ranging from 20 to 30% is a
consequence in a concrete with high drainage rate from 0.25 to
6.1 mm/s [6]. Moreover, typical range for the compressive strength
of the pervious concrete are between 2 and 28 MPa [3,6,2].
Previous researches have reported that pervious concrete has
the potential to reduce significantly the noise produced by vehicles
due to high void content [9–12]. Normal concrete, for example,
typically has an absorption coefficient (a) of 0.03–0.05 [13]. Pervi-
ous concrete typically has an absorption range from 0.1 (for poorly
performing mixtures) to nearly 1 (for mixture with optimal pore
volume and size) [3]. This is due to the voids inside the material,
which absorbed the sound energy through internal friction. For
pervious concrete to effectively absorb sound, 15–25% of con-
nected void content is essential. Meiarashi et al. [14] compared
the noise reduction levels of pervious asphalt and normal asphalt
pavement. They found that 2–5 dB noise reduction was obtained
by pervious asphalt, and concluded that it was crucial to keep
the pavement porosity at 20% or higher for noise reduction pur-
pose. In another study, Kim and Lee [15] investigated the effects
of three levels of cement flow and five types of aggregates on the
mechanical properties and sound absorption level of porous con-
crete. They observed that the sound absorption of specimens with
smaller size was better than that of the control sample. This was
because the total void ratios of the specimens were higher when
smaller sized aggregates were used. Berengier [16] measured
acoustical performance of porous pavement over real road surfaces
and compared to theoretical predictions. They found that the
microstructural model provided a good physical description of
the acoustical properties of porous pavement. This was due to
the flow resistivity and the porosity of the material and, to a lesser
extent, on the tortuosity. Further, the properties of the pavement
are relatively insensitive to pore shape factor.
The effective management of by-product waste materials plays
an important role in increasing environmental sustainability. One
of the strategies in waste management is the utilisation of by-
product waste materials in the construction industry to reduce
the landfill of waste materials. Moreover, with the application of
waste materials, more sustainable, clean and green construction
could be achieved due to the decrease of cost [17]. In addition,
most materials used in concrete production are natural aggregates,
and a majority of the materials are excavated from mines and river
beds or dredged from sea shelves [18]. These activities have
resulted in severe damage to the environment, including disrup-
tion of the ecosystem and contamination of soil, air and water
[19]. Therefore, the construction industry encourages the incorpo-
ration of sustainability in production issues with the application of
solid waste materials as aggregate in concrete [20–23]. Neithalath
et al. [11] reviewed the benefits of using farming waste materials
in concrete. They reported that both the reliance on standard mate-
rials used to produce concrete and adverse effects on the environ-
ment could be reduced with the reuse of farming waste materials
in concrete. In addition, it was indicated that the method could also
ensure waste conservation, and subsequently, decrease waste dis-
posal in the involved sectors. Moreover, they concluded that by
selecting proper farming waste materials, concrete with better per-
formance could be produced. Asdrubali et al. [25] evaluated the
acoustic performance of sustainable products made from natural
and recycled materials. They concluded that the substitution of
conventional sound insulating materials with sustainable ones
has significant effects on the impact of all the various phases of
the life of the building (construction, operation, end of life). Ibra-
him and Razak [26] studied the use of palm oil clinker (POC) as
coarse aggregate in the production of pervious concrete. They indi-
cated that with using POC the compressive strength and density of
the concrete reduced. However, the coefficient of permeability and
porosity increased.
Two of the farming waste materials, which were successfully
utilised as coarse aggregate in conventional concrete, were oil
palm kernel shell (KS) and cockle shell (CS). KS is a waste product
obtained from the production of oil from oil palm trees [27,28].
Malaysia produces over four million tonnes of KS annually
[28,29], and the county is expected to grow five million hectares
of oil palm trees by the year 2020 [30]. According to the Depart-
ment of Fisheries Malaysia, 57,544 tonnes of cockles were har-
vested along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In addition, it
was reported that the retail value of cockles in Malaysia was esti-
mated to be at over USD 32 million [32]. Boey et al. [32] also indi-
cated that the active and lucrative industry has resulted in a
significant amount of waste shells. Moreover, left untreated and
dumped irresponsibly, CS may produce unpleasant odour [33].
In this paper, the effects of KS and CS as a partial replacement of
natural coarse aggregate on the properties of especial type of con-
crete, pervious concrete, was investigated. To the author’s best
knowledge, there are currently no studies investigating the effects
of oil palm kernel shell (KS) and cockle shell (CS) on the noise
absorption of pervious concrete. On a related note, the aim of this
study was to replace KS and CS (0, 25, 50 and 75%) with two differ-
ent sizes (6–9 mm and 4–6 mm) as natural coarse aggregate in per-
vious concrete. The effects of replacing coarse aggregate with KS
and CS on void content and compressive strength of pervious con-
crete were investigated and compared against the control pervious
concrete (CPC). In addition, sound absorption coefficient and sound
transmission loss were also examined and analysed.
2. Specimen and preparation
2.1. Materials
The cement used in this study was Ordinary Portland Cement
(OPC) type I. To achieve a system with interconnection voids in
the pervious concrete, the selection of single-sized aggregates is
necessary [3,2]. The details of the aggregates are listed in Table 1.
In this study, crushed limestone (LS) with a grain size of
6.30 mm (passed through a 9.5 mm sieve and retained on a
6.30 mm sieve) was used as the natural coarse aggregate. LS pre-
sented a specific gravity of 2.6 kg/m3 and water absorption of 1.8%.
In addition, KS and CS was used as a replacement of natural
coarse aggregate. In this study, KS was collected from a local palm
oil producing mill located in Johor, a southern state of Malaysia. On
the other hand, CS was obtained from a local market located in the
south coast of Malaysia, and were crushed before they were used.
Subsequently, both KS and CS were sieved and divided into two
different size categories, namely (KS1, CS1) 6.30 mm (passed
through a 9.5 mm sieve and retained on a 6 mm sieve) and (KS2,
CS2) 4.75 mm (passed through a 6.30 mm sieve and retained on
a 4.75 mm sieve), as illustrated in Fig. 1. Following that, they were
washed and air dried in a laboratory. The purpose of washing both
KS and CS was to remove oil and dirt. Fig. 2 presents the Scanning
Electron Macroscopy (SEM) image of KS and CS particles. It can be
seen that the high porous and heterogeneous structure of KS and
CS respectively.
2.2. Mixture proportions
Placement or compaction method plays an important role
towards the properties of pervious concrete [34]. For this study,
the technique of filling in three layers using 25 drops of a
15.9 mm diameter steel rod and 10 drops of a standard Proctor
hammer (2.5 kg) for each layer was used from the results of Khan-
khaje et al. [35].
 E. Khankhaje et al. / Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120 115

Table 1
Physical properties of waste and natural aggregates.

Characteristics Waste aggregates Natural aggregate

CS KS LS Sand
CS1 CS2 KS1 KS2
Gradation (mm) 6.30 4.75 6.30 4.75 6.30 0–4
Bulk specific gravity (SSD) 2.09 2.64 1.29 1.30 2.6 2.62
Water absorption (%) 1.8 2.5 24.73 25.62 1.8 7.4
Dry rodded density (kg/m3) 1408 1420 631 656 1475 –

Fig. 1. Particle shapes of aggregates: (a) CS1, (b) CS2, (c) KS1 and (d) KS2.

Fig. 2. SEM image of (a) CS and (b) KS.

Table 2
Mixture proportion of pervious concrete.

Mix Cement (kg/m3) Water (kg/m3) Coarse aggregate (kg/m3) Sand (kg/m3)
LS CS KS
CPC 339.5 107.54 1313.8 – – 139.0
SPC1-25 339.5 107.54 985.4 348.4 – 139.0
SPC1-50 339.5 107.54 656.9 696.8 – 139.0
SPC1-75 339.5 107.54 328.5 1045.2 – 139.0
SPC2-25 339.5 107.54 985.4 348.4 – 139.0
SPC2-50 339.5 107.54 656.9 696.8 – 139.0
SPC2-75 339.5 107.54 328.5 1045.2 – 139.0
KPC1-25 339.5 107.54 1094.9 – 157.6 139.0
KPC1-50 339.5 107.54 729.9 – 315.3 139.0
KPC1-75 339.5 107.54 365.0 – 472.9 139.0
KPC2-25 339.5 107.54 1094.9 – 157.6 139.0
KPC2-50 339.5 107.54 729.9 – 315.3 139.0
KPC2-75 339.5 107.54 365.0 – 472.9 139.0

Table 2 shows the weight of each materials in one cubic metre coarse aggregates used. ‘CPC’, ‘SPC’ and ‘KPC’ representing control,
of pervious concrete mixture. Each mixture proportion was desig- cockle shell and oil palm kernel shell pervious concrete respec-
nated with a specific code. The first labels represented the types of tively. The second labels, ‘1’and ‘2’, referred to the size of the coarse
116 E. Khankhaje et al. / Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120
aggregates used, big and small respectively. Finally, the third
labels, ‘0’, ‘25’, ’50’ and ‘75’, indicated the percentage of waste
aggregate added in terms of the weight percentage of the natural
coarse aggregate proportion. All batches were designed with the
purpose of investigating their void content as well as sound
absorption. Both water cement ratio (w/c) and sand content were
fixed at 32% and 10% (wt.% of the coarse aggregate) respectively.
In addition, the mixtures with constant void content (23%), which
were similar to that of the CPC mixture, were selected, given that
void content is one of the factors that affects the sound absorption
of pervious concrete [15]. Therefore, KPC1-25, KPC2-50, SPC1-25
and SPC2-50 were selected to investigate the influence of KS and
CS on the sound absorption of pervious concrete.
To prepare the needed pervious concrete, a small amount of
cement (<5% by mass) was blended in a mixer with coarse aggre-
gates for about one minute. Subsequently, sand and the remaining
cement together with water were added into the mixture. Mixing
was continued for another three minutes. The mixture was then
rested for three minutes, and finally, was mixed again for another
two minutes. After that, the void content and compressive strength
of the pervious concretes were measured. In order to examine the
void content as well as compressive strength, the pervious con-
crete specimens were casted in steel cylinder molds (100 mm
diameter
200 mm high). Each test result of the properties exam-
ined was the average of at least three specimens. In addition, for
both sound absorption and transmission loss evaluations, the
cylindrical specimens with size of (99 mm diameter
100 mm
thickness) and (28 mm diameter
100 mm thickness) were used
in sound absorption test. The thickness of the samples was selected
based on typical cross section of pervious concrete pavement.
Immediately upon casting, all the specimens were cured for 24 h
in a fog room, which was maintained at a temperature of
20 °C ± 2 °C and 95% ± 5% relative humidity. After 24 h, the speci-
mens were removed from their molds and kept at the same condi-
tions for 7 and 28 day curing periods. The structural arrangements
of the pervious concrete mixtures containing limestone, KS and CS
are shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen that angular shape of the KS and
CS particles led to reduced compactness and increased void
content.
2.3. Experimental details
The void content of the hardened samples were tested based on
ASTM C1754 [36] using the volumetric method.
Paste
KS
LS
Void
(a)
Fig. 3. Structural arrangement of the pervious concrete matrix (a) with natural aggregate (LS); (b) with KS and (c) with CS.
The compressive strength test was measured according to
ASTM C39 [37]. The cylindrical specimens for compressive strength
tests were dried in room temperature for about two hours and then
capped with sulphur capping compound at both ends in accor-
dance to ASTM C617 [38]. This step was taken to fill up any voids
and level both ends of the cylinder specimens.
To evaluate the sound absorption and transmission loss charac-
teristics of the pervious concrete, two impedance tube with
100 mm and 30 mm diameter were employed for low (50–
1500 Hz) and high frequency (1500–5000 Hz) test respectively,
which was according to ASTM E 1050 [39] (Fig. 4). The ability of
a material to absorb sound can be calculated using a single value
known as the noise reduction coefficient (NRC), as given in Eq.
(1) [40]:
a250 þ a500 þ a1000 þ a2000
NRC ¼ ð1Þ
4
where a indicates the sound absorption coefficient at different
frequencies.
As the pervious concrete can be used in wall [2], the transmis-
sion class (STC) also was evaluated. STC is an integer rating of how
specimens stops or blocks airborne sound. In this study, STC calcu-
lation was performed according to ASTM E413 [41].
3. Test results and discussion
3.1. Void content
Typical range of void content for pervious concrete is between
15 and 25% [2]. Fig. 5 illustrates the void content of the pervious
concrete mixtures containing natural and waste coarse aggregates.
It can be seen that the void content increased with an increase in
the percentage of waste. For instance, there was an increase of 2,
4 and 20% for the void content of SPC1-25, SPC1-50 and SPC1-75
respectively in comparison to that of CPC. This could be due to
the angular shape of CS, which decreased the compactness of all
SPC1 mixtures, and subsequently, disturbed the granular arrange-
ment of the pervious concrete. Nguyen et al. [42] reported compa-
rable findings, in which the void content increased along with an
increase in the percentage of crushed crepidula seashells.
The void content of mixtures containing the bigger sized KS,
including KPC1-25, KPC1-50 and KPC1-75, increased about 1, 17
and 25% compared to that of CPC at the age of 28 days. From the
results as shown in Fig. 5, it could be concluded that the void
Paste
CS
LS
Void
(b) (c)
 E. Khankhaje et al. / Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120
Fig. 4. The impedance tube for acoustic test.
31 KPC1 KPC2 CPC SPC1 SPC2
29
27
Void content (%)
25
23
21
19
17
15
0 25 50
Waste content (%)
Fig. 5. Void content of pervious concrete mixtures.
content of the mixtures with KS was higher than that with CS. This
could be due to the high water absorption of KS particles, which
absorbed more water during the mixing process, and thus entrap-
ping air on its surface causing the void content ratio of the KPC1
mixtures to increase. The highest void content ratio was obtained
by KPC1-75.
The mixtures containing the smaller sized waste materials (KS2
and CS2) showed lower void content than the mixtures with the
bigger sized waste materials (KS1 and CS1). This might be because
the smaller sized KS and CS were able to fit into the voids, and thus
decreased the void content ratio.
3.2. Compressive strength
Typical range of compressive strength for pervious concrete is
between 2 and 28 MPa [2]. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the compressive
strength of the pervious concrete mixtures decreased as the per-
centage of waste materials replacement increased. For instance,
there was a reduction of 20, 25 and 38% for the compressive
strength of SPC1-25, SPC1-50 and SPC1-75 respectively in compar-
ison to that of CPC. As previously discussed, this was caused by the
angular shape and heterogeneous structure of the CS particles,
which led to reduced compactness and increased void content
(Figs. 2 and 3). Similar finding was reported by Nguyen et al. [42]
in regards to the structure of crepidula seashells.
On the other hand, the compressive strength of the mixtures
contains KS1, including KPC1-25, KPC1-50 and KPC1-75, decreased
about 27, 52 and 58% compared to that of CPC at the age of 28 days.
The results showed that the compressive strength for the KPC mix-
117
16 KPC1 KPC2 CPC SPC1 SPC2
14
Compressive strength (MPa)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
75 0 25 50 75
Waste content (%)
Fig. 6. Compressive strength of pervious concrete mixtures at 28 days.
tures was lower than the SPC mixtures. The entrapped air on the
surface of the KS particles led to a reduction in the bonding area
matrix. Furthermore, as discussed before the cement paste in the
pervious concrete was very thin, and thus it was not able to fully
bond with the KS particles. However, with natural coarse aggregate
(LS), this was not a significant issue. As the load was applied to KPC
during the strength test, micro cracks formed at the weak interface,
between the cement paste and KS, due to stress focus. This resulted
in the failure of continuous load application.
Moreover, referring to Fig. 6, it could be concluded that the mix-
tures, which contained the smaller sized waste materials (KS2 and
CS2), showed higher compressive strength than the mixtures con-
taining the bigger sized waste materials (KS1 and CS1). This could
be a result of the small parts of both KS and CS being able to fit into
the voids, which then decreased the void content, and at the same
time, increased the compressive strength of the mixtures. Further-
more, by decreasing the size of both KS and CS, the surfaces, which
could be coated with cement paste, increased and resulted in bet-
ter bonding between the cement paste and smaller coarse
aggregate.
3.3. Sound absorption and transmission loss
The sound absorbing performance of a material is defined by its
sound absorption coefficient (a), which is the incident sound
energy that is absorbed by the materials and not reflected back.
Generally, conventional concrete has a ‘a’ value of 0.05–0.10
[43]. According to the results in Fig. 7, it could be observed that
‘a’ values of pervious concrete mixture were almost higher than
118 E. Khankhaje et al. / Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120

0.9 CPC KPC1-25 KPC2-50 SPC1-25 SPC2-50 ture of KPC, and caused the sound to be easily absorbed. In addi-
Sound absorption coefficient ( )

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 40%) of the specimens that was used in their study, which might
0 500 1000
Fig. 7. Sound absorption coefficient of pervious concrete mixtures.
that of the conventional concrete in most of the frequencies. This
could be due to the interconnected voids in the pervious concrete,
which was able to reflect sound inside the said voids. Subse-
quently, this caused the sound to vibrate and convert into heat.
Therefore, the incoming sound was easily absorbed through the
voids on the pervious concrete.
Fig. 8 shows the noise reduction coefficient (NRC). The pervious
concrete mixtures, which contained waste materials, showed bet-
ter sound absorption than CPC. For example, the NRCs for the
SPC mixtures were almost 16% compared to 9% of the CPC mixture.
This could be due to blending aggregates of different shape typi-
cally results in a higher void content as compared to the mixtures
made using single sized aggregates. The blended aggregate system
resulted in an increased sound absorption in most cases [44].
This could be due to the angular shape and heterogeneous
structure of both KS and CS, which affected the macro and micro
structure of the pervious concrete, and as a result, was capable of
producing more voids on the structure of the pervious concrete.
Moreover, void size, along with void content, is instrumental in
tion, the high sound absorption of the KPC specimens could be
due to the high porosity of KS in micro level, which increased the
air void further (Fig. 8). Thus, sound was easily absorbed into the
KPC specimens. However, this finding was in contrast to that of
Kim and Lee’s [15]. They compared the sound absorption coeffi-
cient of porous concrete with normal and lightweight aggregate,
and found that the size (in the range of 4–19 mm) and type of
aggregate did not affect the sound absorption of porous concrete.
Nonetheless, this could be due to the higher void content (30–
1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
have easily absorbed almost all incoming sound in comparison to
Frecuency (Hz)
the void content of 23% for this current study.
Both transmission loss coefficients (TLC) and sound transmis-
sion class (STC) are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The TLC of the pervious
concrete specimens was much lower than that of the conventional
concrete. This could be because the high connected void content in
the pervious concrete had allowed sound to easily pass through the
pervious concrete, and thus reduced both TLC and STC.
With the use of waste materials, TLC decreased due to an
increase in the air content in both SPC and KPC. It was observed
that the STC of all mixtures, which ranged between 20 and 26,
was much lower than the range of the conventional concrete
(40–80). As the porosity of pervious concrete increases due to an
increase in air content, the TLC decreased as the sound is easily
passed through the air void present inside the pervious concrete
by using KS and CS. In addition, the surface density of a material
is a significant factor affecting the TLC [45]. In fact, with using KS
and CS the surface density of the pervious concrete was decreased
by 34 kg/cm2 and 37 kg/cm2 in comparison with that of CPC
(38 kg/cm2), which caused the reduction of the STC and TLC. The
40 CPC KPC1-25 KPC2-50 SPC1-25 SPC2-50
Soumd tranmission loss coefficient (db)

determining the acoustic characteristic of pervious concrete mix-

35
ture [13]. Neithalath [13] also found the linear relationship
between the aggregate size (7.5 mm in this research) and charac- 30
teristic void size Dvoid = 1.44 + 0.36
Daggregate. This characteristic
void size value (4.14 mm) indicates that the CS 6.3 mm cannot 25
enter into these voids. On the contrary, a part of CS 4–6 mm can
fit into these voids and decreased the size of void for SPC2. This 20
could be an explanation of the lower sound absorption of the per-
vious concrete made with CS 4–6 mm (SPC2-50) in comparison 15
with that of SPC1-25.
However, it could be noted that by using KS, the sound absorp- 10
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
tion strongly increased. The maximum sound absorption was Frequency (Hz)
achieved by KPC1-25 with NRC of 23%. This could be due to the
entrapped air on the KS surface, which was inside the microstruc- Fig. 9. Sound transmission loss coefficient of pervious concrete mixtures.

25 30
22.79
Noise reduction coefficient (NRC) (%)

Sound transmission class (STC) (db)

26
25 24
23
20 19.00
20 20
16.47 16.00 20
15
15

10 9.03
10

5 5

0 0
CPC SPC1-25 SPC2-50 KPC1-25 KPC2-50 CPC SPC1-25 SPC2-50 KPC1-25 KPC2-50

Mixes Mixes

Fig. 8. Noise reduction coefficients of pervious concrete mixtures. Fig. 10. Sound transmission class of pervious concrete mixtures.
 E. Khankhaje et al. / Applied Acoustics 122 (2017) 113–120
reduction in TLC is marginal and can be partially restored by inclu-
sion of boarder to the surface of pervious concrete such as gypsum
boarder. Mohammed et al. [46] also reported almost similar find-
ings. They investigated the effects of using crumb rubber (CR) as
partial replacement to fine aggregate on sound absorption and
transmission loss of concrete. They reported that with increasing
CR the void content increased, which was due to the high porosity
of CR, therefore, the sound easily absorbed into the concrete. How-
ever, TLC was decreased due to the present of air void inside the
concrete [46].
4. Conclusion
In this paper, the effects of waste materials, specifically oil palm
kernel shell (KS) and cockle shell (CS), on the fresh and hardened
properties of pervious concrete mixtures were analysed. Generally,
the utilisation of KS and CS in pervious concrete mixture was able
to address the demand of preserving a cleaner environment and
producing sustainable pervious concrete using waste materials.
Based on the experimental results and observations made, the
following conclusions could be drawn:
1. Void content significantly escalated with the increase of KS and
CS. This is due to the angular shape of the waste materials.
Smaller particles of KS and CS produced lower void content
and permeability compared to that of the control pervious con-
crete (CPC). This was probably because the smaller parts were
able to fit into the pores, and thus reduced the void content.
2. The compressive strength of pervious concrete decreased as the
content of both KS and CS increased, owing to escalated void
content. However, the values obtained were still within the typ-
ical range for compressive strength of pervious concrete (2–
28 MPa).
3. SPC and KPC showed better sound absorption with higher noise
reduction coefficient in comparison to CPC. In addition, the
sound transmission class (STC) for pervious concrete mixtures
with KS and CS decreased compared with that of CPC. This could
be due to the microstructure of KS and CS, which increased the
entrapped air inside the pervious concrete. It could therefore be
concluded that SPC, and especially KPC, could be used as quiet
pavement to absorb the noise produced by tyres and traffic.
However, the low STC indicated that the pervious concrete con-
taining KS and CS should be partially restored by inclusion of
boarder to the surface such as gypsum boarder.
To summarise, the findings and observations of this study sug-
gested that quieter pervious concrete incorporating KS and CS can
be produced. However, it was recommended that future studies
investigate the durability of pervious concrete containing KS and
CS.
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