Carbon-Fiber Tape Based Electrical Deicing System: Experiments, Field Performance and Application Issues

Presentation

Carbon-Fiber Tape Based Electrical Deicing System: Experiments, Field Performance and Application Issues

In cold regions, snow and ice cause serious safety problems to the transportation system.  Southcentral Alaska, particularly, Anchorage, is susceptible to a large number of icing events due to frequent freeze and thaw cycles in the winter season.  Icing on pavement and bridge decks has been a persistent problem. For example, black ice (or glare ice) forms on roadways with a slick surface is of particular concern because of its near invisibility to drivers, pilots and pedestrians. Traditional deicing has been accomplished by mechanical, chemical and thermal methods. These approaches either cause pollution to the environment and corrosion to reinforcing steel bars, or are too expensive. To find an environment-friendly, anti-corrosion, and cost-effective deicing technology for the broader cold regions, an integrated electrical heating system using carbon fiber tape embedded in concrete as heating element is proposed. This presentaton describes results from field testing of such technology.  The system performance in terms of temperature change, snow/ice melting time, and energy usage under various ambient temperature, wind speed, snow/ice density and snow/ice thickness are presented. Application issues, including induced current, automatic control algorithms, impact of CFT embedment on the structural integrity of concrete slabs, survivability of CFT during concrete cracking, and field performance observation, will be discussed. The results demonstrate that the carbon fiber tape based deicing system performs well in terms of snow/ice melting time and cost. This new de-icing technology is potentially applicable to bridge decks, road sections susceptible to icing, airport runways, street crossings and frequently used sidewalks in urban areas in cold regions.

Speaker

Zhaohui (Joey) Yang, PhD, Professor
University of Alaska Anchorage

Prof. Zhaohui (Joey) Yang holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Sichuan University, China and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis. He joined the faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) in June 2003 and is currently Professor and Director of Geotechnical and Frozen Ground Engineering Research Laboratory. Prof. Yang is Associate Editor of ASCE J. of Cold Regions Engineering and an editorial board member of Cold Regions Science and Technology, Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions, and J. of Infrastructure Resilience and Preservation. Prof. Yang’s research interests focus on geotechnical earthquake engineering, frozen ground engineering, and de-icing, with an emphasis on sustainable engineering and climate change effects.