SUMMARY
Cell phone images of pervious pavement surfaces were used to explore relationships between surface infiltration rates (SIR) measured using the ASTM C1701 standard test and using a simple falling head test. A fiber-reinforced porous asphalt surface and a highly permeable material comprised of stone, rubber and a polymer binder (Porous Pave) were tested. Images taken with a high-resolution cellphone camera were acquired as JPEG files and converted to gray scale images in Matlab® for analysis. The distribution of gray levels was compared to the surface infiltration rates obtained for both pavements with attention given to the mean of the distribution. Investigation into the relationships between mean SIR and parameters determined from the gray level distribution produced in the image analysis revealed that mean SIR measured in both pavements were proportional to the inverse of the mean of the distribution. The relationships produced a coefficient of determination over 85% using both the ASTM and the falling head test in the porous asphalt surface. SIR measurements determined with the ASTM method were highly correlated with the inverse mean of the distribution of gray levels in the Porous Pave material as well, producing coefficients of determination of over 90% and Kendall’s tau-b of roughly 70% for nonparametric data.