Design and Full-scale Implementation of the Largest Operational Electrically Conductive Concrete Heated Pavement System

Abstract

Many aviation and transportation agencies allocate significant time and resources each year to remove ice and snow from their paved surfaces to achieve a safe, accessible, and operational transportation network. An electrically conductive concrete (ECON) heated pavement system (HPS) has been shown to be a promising alternative to the conventional snow removal operations using snowplows and deicing chemicals, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive and environmentally unfriendly. ECON HPS utilizes the inherent electrical resistance of concrete to maintain the pavement surface above freezing and thus prevent snow and ice accumulation on the surface. This sustainable concrete pavement system improves the resiliency of infrastructure by allowing it to be safe, open, and accessible during even harsh winter storms. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the full-scale implementation of 10 ECON HPS slabs at the Iowa Department of Transportation headquarter south parking lot in Ames, Iowa. This study consists of system design and control, field implementation, and sensor instrumentation procedures for the construction of the ECON system, which took place on October 2018. A programmable logic controller (PLC) was designed, programmed, and utilized to control, operate, and monitor the system remotely. The heating performance of the remotely-operated ECON slabs was evaluated using the instrumented sensors under snow and ice events in 2019. The performance evaluation showed promising results in providing snow, and ice-free pavement surfaces through several winter weather events.