Optimization and Analysis of Electrical Heating Ice-Melting Asphalt Pavement Models

Jiguo Liu, Kai Xu, Zhi Chen (), Wenbo Peng and Longhai Wei
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Jiguo Liu: CCCC Second Highway Consultants Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430090, China
Kai Xu: School of Civil Engineering and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Zhi Chen: School of Civil Engineering and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Wenbo Peng: CCCC Second Highway Consultants Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430090, China
Longhai Wei: CCCC Second Highway Consultants Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430090, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: Electrical heating ice removal pavement represents a promising technology for pavement ice melting. Existing studies primarily focus on optimizing cable-heated asphalt pavement through indoor model tests or finite element results. To obtain more accurate and reasonable temperature rise processes and heat transfer results, we propose a new evaluation metric for heat transfer capability and optimization in electric heating asphalt pavement. Firstly, a three-dimensional heat transfer model considering environmental heat exchange is established, and the accuracy of the model is verified by outdoor measured data. A dual-variable control experiment was carried out between the cable buried depth and insulation layer configuration to specifically analyze their influence on the temperature field of the asphalt layer. We further investigated heat transfer performance metrics (entransy dissipation and entransy dissipation thermal resistance), with results indicating that shallower cable burial depths reduce environmental interference on pavement heat transfer; the thermal insulation layer most significantly enhances pavement surface temperature (35.66% improvement) when cables are embedded in the lower asphalt layer. Placing cables within corresponding pavement layers according to burial depth reduces heat transfer loss capacity and thermal resistance, and positioning cables in the lower asphalt layer with a thermal insulation layer significantly decreases thermal resistance in both concrete and lower asphalt layers while reducing heat transfer capacity loss, demonstrating that installing thermal insulation layers under this structure improves heat transfer efficiency. The combined experimental and simulation verification method and fire dissipation evaluation system proposed in this study provide a new theoretical tool and design criterion for the optimization of electric heating road systems.

Keywords: heating cable; asphalt pavement; snow and ice melting; heat transfer capacity; structural optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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