Journal of Cold Regions Engineering

Traditional deicing approaches such as salting pollute the environment and corrode reinforcing steel bars in concrete. Meanwhile, recently emerging carbon nanofiber material has improved electrical conductivity, a large heating capacity at low voltage, high strength, and, in particular, natural immunity to corrosion. This material offers an excellent alternative as the heating element in electrical resistive deicing systems. This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of a deicing system that has embedded carbon nanofiber paper heating elements and to evaluate the effects of several key parameters on the performance of such a deicing system. A physics-based finite-element model was built, validated by test results, and used to assess the performance of such a deicing system when applied to roadway conditions. Factors considered include air temperature, wind speed, pavement and insulation layer thicknesses, and heating input. Results show that the proposed system can be very effective for roadway deicing. Future research is needed to validate its feasibility and effectiveness in a field experiment.

By using ANSYS/LS-DYNA explicit dynamical analysis software, finite element models for an ice sheet and a $T$-frame bridge were set up individually. On the basis of the deformation compatibility condition and momentum equation, the impact force of a drift ice sheet on a bridge pier was computed. The effects of ice-breaking nose shapes on the ice impact force were investigated. The parameters studied included the nose angle of a wedge-shaped ice-breaking nose, the inclination angle of both wedge-shaped and bow-shaped ice-breaking noses, and the curvature of a bow-shaped ice-breaking nose. The research results indicated that the inclination and nose angle of a wedge-shaped ice-breaking nose and the curvature and inclination angle of a bow-shaped ice-breaking nose are important factors affecting the drift ice impact force. On the basis of the study results, design parameters for the ice-breaking nose shapes were proposed.