Influence of surface characteristics of cement pavement on ice-concrete adhesion

Abstract

Breaking the adhesion between ice- and pavement is crucial for road de-icing. This study investigates the impact of concrete pavement surface characteristics on ice-pavement adhesion. To achieve this, 20 cement concrete specimens with different combinations of 10 surface textures and 2 wettability surface characteristics were prepared. The water contact angle (WCA) and six texture parameters were determined using the sessile drop and tangent line methods, as well as the sand patch and laser texture scanner techniques. To evaluate the ice–concrete adhesion, shear strength measurements obtained through interlayer shear instrument testing were utilized. In our analysis, we examined the relationship between ice adhesion strength and several factors, including the freezing temperature (T), water wettability, and surface texture parameters. A partial least squares (PLS) model was built to comprehensively analyze the effects of different factors on ice-concrete adhesion. The results indicate that improving hydrophobicity, as demonstrated by an increase in WCA from 20.4° to 119.4°, and raising the freezing temperature were both effective approaches for significantly reducing ice-concrete adhesion. The effects of different texture parameters on hydrophilic and hydrophobic concrete were significantly different. Specifically, for ordinary concrete, the ratio of the surface area (Sr) and the mean texture depth (MTD) demonstrated a positive correlation with ice adhesion strength. For hydrophobic surfaces, the MTD exhibited the greatest correlation with adhesion, followed by Sr. However, skewness (Rsk) also had a significant effect on the ice adhesion of hydrophobic concrete, and ice adhesion preferred valley-texture concrete. Finally, the PLS model results showed that the order of influence on ice-concrete adhesion was: Sr > WCA > MTD > T > Rsk. Based on our findings, we suggest three approaches for reducing ice adhesion to concrete surfaces: implementing semicircular or trapezoidal groove textures, reducing the surface energy of the concrete, and introducing the valley texture surfaces. This study focuses on the influence of surface characteristics of concrete pavements on ice adhesion and provides guidance on designing concrete surfaces for effective road de-icing.