摘要: |
Icing of pavements during the winter leads to problems affecting the majority of the
U.S. Department of Transportation's strategic goals. Icy roadways clearly pose a hazard to the safety of
drivers and vehicle occupants. Icy roads also affect economic competitiveness as
truck based transport of goods is slowed or interrupted. The use of de-icing agents,
such as salt and Magnesium Chloride, can help prevent ice build-up on the roads,
but bring with them significant initial and long term maintenance costs. Beyond the
costs associated with purchasing and applying the materials, the application of
chloride based agents to steel infrastructure (e.g. reinforced concrete pavements and
bridge decks and steel bridge components) can lead to corrosion and possible
premature failures. The American Society of Civil Engineers current grade of the
U.S. roads is a D and bridges are a C+ (ASCE 2013). The deterioration caused by
corrosion raises technological and economic issues associated with the state of good
repair goal including how to inspect, manage, and repair deteriorating
transportation structures. The use of these chemicals to prevent icing also has
environmental costs, relating to the goal of sustainability. The climate of the
Region 8 states served by Mid Planning Conference (MPC) means that icy roads are a national issue of great
local significance.
Heated pavements offer a potential solution for the problems caused by icy roads.
New research is investigating the application of heated pavements to keep airport
runways clear and decision making tools to help airport managers decide when the
heated pavements or other snow clearing solutions are viable (Vigar 2013 ). Heating
a full network of roads is likely not viable at this point, but the targeted heating of
particular safety trouble spots, critical freight routes, and heavily salted areas has
the potential to make significant contributions to the quality of U.S. and regional
transportation networks. These networks often include generous right-of-way areas
that may lend themselves to supporting a distributed energy producing
infrastructure; potentially decreasing costs in remote locations. The presence of ice
in concrete pores is a fairly well-understood process (Penttala 1998, Kauffmann
2004) that can accelerate environmental
degradation of pavements or other roadbases. A number of novel approaches have
been attempted, including conductive concrete (Yehia and Tuan 1999, 2000, 2004,
Tuan 2004), conductive asphalt (Chen and co-workers 2011), heated wiring (Tuan
2004, Zhao and co-workers 2010) and there has been at least one full bridge
demonstration project reported in the literature (Tuan 2008). However, there are no
broad-based design or implementation guidelines for use of this class of technology,
nor is there a fixed approach for powering such methods.
Three key questions arise regarding the feasibility of a targeted heating approach:
1) How will locations where pavements will be targeted for heating be determined
to make substantial contributions to improving safety, movement of goods,
longevity of infrastructure and/or impact on the environment?
2) How will the appropriate source of energy necessary to heat the pavements be
evaluated for each site in a sustainable manner (i.e. considering the triple bottom
line)?
3) What type of paving technology can be effectively heated with the available
energy or in a way that minimizes the energy demand? |