Feasibility of a Ground-Source Bridge Deck Deicing System to Mitigate Concrete Deterioration from Temperature Fluctuation

Temperature fluctuations lead to the deterioration of concrete through phenomena like frost action and thermal stresses. As the concrete in bridge decks cracks and spalls, the steel reinforcement is exposed which leads to corrosion and further deterioration of the bridge deck. This research will investigate the use of a ground-source bridge deck deicing system to mitigate deterioration within concrete bridge decks. Ground-source bridge deck deicing systems extract heat from the Earth and transfer it into the concrete through a closed-loop system of heat exchanger pipes embedded in the ground and the concrete bridge deck. This paper outlines the design and construction of a physical geothermal bridge deck model constructed at Montana State University (MSU). Preliminary results from experiments in MSU’s Subzero Research Laboratory under generic Montana weather conditions suggest that the heating system can mitigate certain mechanisms of concrete deterioration.