Study of ice and snow melting process on conductive asphalt solar collector

This paper investigates the snow melting process on asphalt pavements as solar collector by experiments and numerical simulation. A numerical simulation method was used to predict the general design requirements for snow melting system of asphalt pavements, and a type of experimental asphalt snow melting system has been built using the design parameters obtained from the preceding simulation. Graphite powders were used to improve the thermal conductivity of asphalt concrete and thus resulting in an improved efficiency of asphalt collector. A laboratory snow melting test was performed after real snowstorm events. The effects of thermal conductive asphalt concrete (CAC) on snow melting performance and asphalt pavement temperature distribution were evaluated. The heat transfer in the asphalt slabs and the heat requirement for the snow melting were analyzed. The results that are obtained show that asphalt solar collector (ASC) provides us a better alternative method for snow melting. The higher fluid temperature is a positive way to improve the performance of snow melting system. However, it is unnecessary to keep a too high fluid temperature so as to reduce the waste of energy. The non-uniform temperatures in the asphalt slabs are noticeable. Furthermore, the heat-transmission and the snow melting performance can be enhanced using CAC.