While snowplows and deicing chemicals work well to clear Iowa’s roadways of ice and snow much of the time, these strategies have drawbacks: plowing is difficult and time-consuming work and deicers can cause damage to pavements and roadside vegetation. Certain locations are especially challenging, like bridge decks and exit ramps that require frequent reapplication of deicers and pedestrian sidewalks that are not easily cleared during snow events.
Researchers have recently begun to explore a new approach that could help with these trouble spots: heating pavements and sidewalks with electrically conductive concrete to melt the snow and ice on the surface.
To determine the benefits that electrically conductive concrete could offer, researchers needed a place to conduct field tests under real-world conditions. Now, the parking lot at Iowa DOT’s headquarters in Ames is home to the world’s largest installation of electrically conductive concrete, embedded with carbon fibers and a variety of differently sized and shaped electrodes in a range of configurations.
For the past three years, researchers have monitored the pavement’s performance and have data to show its success. While questions regarding costs and operational logistics remain, the research shows that electrically conductive heated concrete could one day be a viable solution in some applications.
Iowa DOT is excited about this promising new technology, and other states are taking notice as well. This project was recently honored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as a High Value Research project, and this technology was also selected by the AASHTO Innovation Initiative as a Focus Technology for its potential to significantly benefit agencies nationwide.
Learn more about the project in Iowa DOT’s new research brief and the researchers’ final report and technical brief.
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