Concrete Slab Installed with Carbon Fiber Heating Wire for Bridge Deck Deicing

Abstract

A method of deicing with carbon fiber heating wire (CFHW) buried inside concrete slab is presented in this paper, which avoids the negative effects on structure function and environment caused by traditional deicing salt. The rational interval range of CFHW buried inside concrete slab is determined by the temperature field of four heating CFHW and the minimum input powers for deicing under the conditions of different air temperatures and ice thicknesses are summarized by the laboratory experiments. Snow melts more quickly than the ice with same weight under the same input power condition by comparison the deicing processes in refrigerator. The field experiments of concrete slab performed satisfactorily: the snow on slab with the thickness of 10, 40, and 70 mm was melted in 0.75, 2.5, and 3.5 h, respectively, under an appropriate input power. It demonstrated that the electrothermal method of CFHW for bridge deck deicing is practicable.