There is an abundance of published literature on the characteristics, mechanical properties and durability aspects of PC since this type of concrete has been developed some time ago. For example, there is available literature that addresses plain PC [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17] as well as PC that incorporates supplementary cementitious materials [18,19,20,21,22]. However, research on PC that contains RCA as partial or full replacement of NA remains relatively scarce, especially in combination with fibers that are capable of compensating for the inferior properties of the recycled aggregate. Samples of conducted investigations on PC containing RCA with and without fibers are presented below.

Recent research on PC made with RCA includes the work of El-Hassan et al. [23] who showed that an increase in RCA replacement fraction caused a reduction in workability, an increase in void content, and a reduction in compressive and tensile strengths, although slag incorporation could enhance the mechanical performance. Tensile splitting and flexural strength were linearly correlated with the compressive strength, and abrasion resistance of PC was mainly influenced by the RCA replacement. Vieira et al. [24] found that mechanical properties of pervious recycled concrete decrease with a smaller water/binder (w/b) ratio, there was an increase in the permeability and infiltration rate in pervious concretes with RCA, and replacement of NA by RCA increases the surface abrasion of pervious concrete. Zhang et al. [25] used response surface methodology (RSM) to design the mix proportion of recycled aggregate pervious concrete and found that the Box–Behnken Design approach showed that efficient paste thickness and actual coating thickness are notably influenced by the amount of superplasticizer, viscosity-modifying admixture, and set retarder. For target response based on optimizing models of admixtures, suitable aggregate grading and amount combination of admixtures can be attained. Tests on PC with small coarse aggregate gradation by Chaitanya and Ramakrishna [26] demonstrated 12.5% higher compression and flexure strength than the specimens made with relatively larger coarse aggregate gradation. Replacement of normal aggregate with 25% RCA decreased the compressive strength by 60% and increased permeability by 6.5%. The addition of 8–16% silica fumes increased the compressive strength by 56% and flexure strength by 33% but decreased the permeability by 60%. Yang et al. [27] reinforced pervious concrete made with RCA by paste-coating on the surface and established the association between paste-coating thickness with different size RCA and paste with 5% silica fume fluidity, and that of paste fluidity, leading to proper w/c ratio and superplasticizer dose. The obtained concrete presented outstanding workability, adequate permeability (6.5 mm/s), and reasonable compressive strength (28-day 𝑓′𝑐 = 18.5 MPa). Strieder et al. [28] used experiments to establish that an increase in the content of RCA leads to surge in hydraulic performance and a reduction in compressive strength, while rheology modifying admixture does not contribute to mechanical properties. Compared to results from laboratory experiments, field tests showed lower values of compressive strength and modulus of elasticity, and just about the same infiltration rate and modulus of elasticity. Tijani et al. [29] found that utilizing RCA in PC mixes increased the void ratio and hydraulic conductivity but decreased the density and compressive strength, irrespective of the substitution quantity of cement with sorghum husk ash (SHA). Additionally, compressive strength at 5% SHA replacement was greater than the control mix regardless of the fraction of RCA replacement. For a concrete mix incorporating 100% RCA and 25% SHA, the CO2 emission and production costs were, respectively, 38.23% and 51.29% lower than those of the control mixture. Compared to PC with cement, Gowda et al. [30] observed that alkali activated slag-based pervious concrete had the same workability and tensile strength, but 23% less compressive strength. The addition of RCA to the mix reduced the tensile and compressive strengths but helped increase the porosity of the concrete. El-Hassan et al. [31] concluded that RCA reduced the slump, recycled fine glass (RFG) caused minimal reduction in the slump, and GGBS improved the slump flow response. The mechanical properties and abrasion resistance of PC were deteriorated while the permeability increased with the rise in the replacement of NA by RCA and/or NFA by RFG.

The use of fibers or geogrids to enhance the properties of pervious concrete has been addressed in the available literature by some researchers. For example, Meng et al. [32] were able to achieve porosity above 20%, a permeability coefficient higher than 4.5 mm/s, flexural strength reaching up to 5 MPa, compressive strength attaining up to 30 MPa, and maximum toughness of 90 Jouls when geogrids were placed at both one-third and two-thirds the depth of the member thickness of PC. Zhu et al. [33] found that permeability of the recycled pervious concrete with fiber was highest when the W/C = 0.30, and pervious concrete with thick polypropylene fiber content of 3 kg/m³ exhibited highest strength in flexure of 3.42 MPa and in compression of 21.43 MPa. Juradin et al. [34] reached the conclusion that compaction of PC yielded good pore-related and mechanical properties due to the formation of a viscous layer at the contact surface between the aggregate and the cement matrix. The addition of fibers had no influence on the density, a positive impact on the compressive and splitting tensile strengths of the concrete, and unfavorable consequence on permeability. A study by Wu et al. [35] demonstrated that the addition of basalt fiber content of 4 kg/m³ to pervious concrete increased the compressive strength by 39%, reduced the flexural strength by 17%, lowered the permeability coefficient by 42%, and reduced the porosity by 35% when compared to control specimens. Results of a study by Ozel et al. [36] showed that the mechanical properties of PC were improved by the inclusion of steel fibers and downgraded with the polypropylene fiber addition, the compressive strength had a strong correlation with the tensile strengths, the infiltration rate increased with polypropylene fiber inclusion, and weak relation between porosity and permeability for the PC mixtures containing fibers.

With respect to PC made with RCA and fibers, Aliabdo et al. [37] determined that use of polypropylene in PC mixes slightly decreased the concrete’s compressive strength, had a positive effect on the tensile strength, and slowed down the degradation resistance. To improve the performance of recycled pervious concrete, silica fume and styrene butadiene latex can be added. Toghroli [38] found that porosity of pervious concrete increased with the utilization of RCA and addition of fibers, and decreased with partial replacement of cement with SF and nano-clay (NC). Moreover, the compressive strength was negatively affected by the addition of RCA and NC, and positively impacted by the incorporation of SF and fibers. Novak et al. [39] developed fiber-reinforced pervious concrete made with recycled aggregate for airfield pavement applications. In comparison with conventional concrete, results of the study showed that although the material possessed a ductile behavior, it had a low modulus of elasticity. A field study utilizing the concrete as subbase course showed a 20% compaction ratio with flatness deviation within the range of 10–25 mm over 2 m length of the course. Mehrabi et al. [40] noticed that adding RCA in pervious concrete increased the water permeability and void content and lowered the mechanical strength and density and suggested incorporating pumice and NC in mixes to densify the pore system. Incorporation of fiber negligibly affected the porosity and permeability but had a significant effect on the compressive and tensile strengths, especially when RCA was present. Xiao et al. [41] included polyvinyl alcohol fibers in pervious concrete mixtures containing recycled ceramic aggregate. Findings of the study suggest an optimum ceramic substitution rate of 40% can help the compressive and flexural strengths reach 21.35 MPa and 2.74 MPa, respectively, with only a 2.5% reduction in the permeability coefficient from its maximum value. Adding 0.3 volume content of polyvinyl alcohol fibers to the blended recycled pervious concrete mix improved the flexural strength by 24.5%, with negligible effect on the compressive strength and permeability. Results from a study by Mitrosz et al. [42] showed that recycled concrete aggregate with a weight replacement ratio of 50% increased the mechanical properties of PC, while rubber waste aggregate with a volume replacement ratio of 10% reduced the compressive strength by 11.4%. Best results were obtained by adding 2.0 kg/m³ of polymer fibers, which was able to increase the strength by up to 25%. A study by Sangthongtong et al. [43] on the mechanical properties of pervious recycled aggregate concrete embedded with sackcloth fibers showed that the compressive strength of the pervious concrete decreased by 40–60% as the void ratio was enlarged from 10 to 30%, irrespective of the size of the aggregates. The use of recycled aggregates did not affect the permeability of pervious concrete made with small-size aggregates with 10% designed air void ratios, keeping it around 7.05 mm/s. Fawzi and Awad [44] investigated the impact of adding polypropylene fiber and silica fume on the mechanical characteristics of pervious concrete containing recycled aggregate. The study showed that the best volumetric percentage of polypropylene fiber was 0.5%, added to 10% replacement of natural aggregate with recycled ones, which increased the tensile and compressive strengths as well as the modulus of elasticity while decreasing the dry density in comparison with conventional concrete mixes. Hailong et al. [45] included fly ash and basalt fibers in pervious concrete mixes containing recycled coarse aggregate made from demolished concrete and brick wastes. Findings of the study suggested an optimal mix combination consisting of 10% fly ash cement replacement and 0.05% basalt volumetric fiber content with 85% recycled concrete aggregate and 15% brick aggregate can greatly improve the mechanical properties, frost resistance and water permeability of pervious concrete.