Electrical and Thermal Properties of Asphalt Pavements Utilizing Electrically Conductive Geogrids for Snow and Ice Melting

Abstract

Constructing electrically heated asphalt (EHA) pavements utilizing electrically conductive asphalt mixtures or installing electric pipes, cables, and wires for snow and ice melting has been reported widely. This study utilized electrically conductive geogrids, i.e., carbon–glass fiber geogrids, in EHA pavements for snow and ice melting. The pavement prototype slabs were used to systematically investigate surface temperature rise characteristics and distribution uniformity in the laboratory, and then to conduct two outdoor snow-melting experiments under real winter weather conditions. The results indicated that it is necessary to select a proper power density to raise the pavement surface temperature to above 0°C according to the specific ambient temperature, but the final temperature rise was little affected by different ambient temperatures at a certain power density. There was a good linear relationship between the final surface temperature rise and the initial power density. The heating efficiency was significantly compromised when the geogrid was buried 7.5 cm deep. The pavement surface temperatures were evenly distributed. Fresh snow with a thickness of 10 and 15 cm on pavement slab with a carbon–glass fiber geogrid burial depth of 5.0 cm was completely melted within 210 and 240 min, respectively, using an initial power density of 600 and 800 W/m2, respectively. During all the electrothermal testing, the electrical resistance of the prototype slabs had good stability, with a variation of less than 8%. Therefore, utilizing carbon–glass fiber geogrids is a novel promising method of constructing EHA pavements.