Laboratory and Field Evaluation of Anti-Icing Strategies

Abstract

Departments of transportation use a variety of strategies to maintain roadways effectively during winter while considering a number of factors, such as level of service, cost, infrastructure and environmental impacts, equipment, and weather. The impacts of chemicals on infrastructure, vehicles, and the environment have motivated the State of California to reduce salt usage on highways and to move toward anti-icing strategies, which typically use fewer chemicals to achieve effective results. However, a lack of established recommended dispersal rates, laboratory studies to verify field studies, and an understanding of the science associated with anti-icing principles has slowed full implementation of anti-icing strategies in California. This research effort focused on synthesizing available information regarding winter maintenance best practices and establishing a set of preliminary guidelines to implement anti-icing strategies in California. A qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the performance of five typical anti-icing chemicals was conducted. Performance measures included the temperature at which the snow–pavement bond failed, friction of the pavement surface after snow removal, and snow–pavement bond strength. In general, anti-icing methods used in the laboratory and in full-scale controlled field tests reduced the effort required to remove compacted snow from the pavement surface and improved pavement surface friction after plowing when compared with untreated pavements. A set of guidelines was developed to initiate implementation of anti-icing practices in California. Further assessments are necessary to optimize this methodology on the basis of specific weather conditions and application methods.

Bioinspired Surfaces with Superwettability for Anti‐Icing and Ice‐Phobic Application: Concept, Mechanism, and Design

“…Ice accumulation is not only a concern for drivers, but also the cause for personal injuries on walkways due to numerous slipping and falling. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] When ice accumulates on the wings of aircraft, turbine engine structures, or insulators and transmission lines on power systems, it will impose serious problems and cause some disastrous damage in the aircraft and power industry. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] In the winter of 2008-2009, frozen rain lasted for more than three weeks in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, causing downfall of 37% of Ice accumulation poses a series of severe issues in daily life.…”

“…Ice accumulating on solid surfaces can cause serious problems on roads, aircrafts, power lines, ships, and some energy equipment. Statistics indicates that 10–15% of roadway accidents are related to weather conditions, which have caused thousands of human injuries and deaths and millions of dollars in property damage annually.…”

“…Statistics indicates that 10–15% of roadway accidents are related to weather conditions, which have caused thousands of human injuries and deaths and millions of dollars in property damage annually. Ice accumulation is not only a concern for drivers, but also the cause for personal injuries on walkways due to numerous slipping and falling . When ice accumulates on the wings of aircraft, turbine engine structures, or insulators and transmission lines on power systems, it will impose serious problems and cause some disastrous damage in the aircraft and power industry .…”

Assessment model of levels for winter road maintenance

“…The analysis of the experience of Lithuania and foreign countries lead to suggesting a research methodology of efficiency of chemical slipperiness reducing materials (SRMs), which would allow to make objective assessment of the chemical materials alternative to traditional chloride salts under meteorological and traffic conditions in Lithuania (Cuelho, Harwood 2012;Chen et al 2009;Flintsch et al 2009;;Malmivuo 2011;Nakatasuji et al 2005 To identify the most efficient SRMs under the road weather conditions in Lithuania a preliminary research plan was compiled with two stages:…”

Research of Snow Melting Materials Performance Efficiency for Road Winter Maintenance

“…Tests were conducted in a laboratory (Cuelho, Harwood 2012;Xu, Tan 2012;Abel'hanova, Borisyuk 2012) and in the field to study five different SRMs: sodium chloride (NaCl), calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ), magnesium chloride (MgCl 2 ), a mixture of sodium and calcium modified chlorides (hereafter referred to as NCMC), and a mixture of sodium acetate and sodium formate (SASF). Test results were obtained for the ice mass losses and efficiency of SRMs.…”