Thermal characteristics of a conductive cement-based composite for a snow-melting heated pavement system

Abstract This study evaluated the thermal properties of an early-opening conductive heated pavement system with snow-melting functionality. The pavement system consisted of several layers: a base layer with copper plates, a conductive cement-based composite layer, and a protective layer of concrete. The conductive cement-based composite was placed over the copper-containing base concrete layer, followed by a concrete protective layer. The surface temperature of the protective concrete layer and the internal temperature of the conductive cement-based composite were measured to determine the thermal conductivity of the pavement system. Our results indicated that the thermal conductivity of the protective concrete was in the range of 1.8075–2.0534 kcal (m h °C)−1. Based on the thermal characteristics of the early-opening conductive heated pavement system and the experimental thermal conductivity results for the protective concrete, heat transfer analysis was performed on a full-scale sample; here, the separation distance between the copper plates in the base concrete layer (1000, 1250, and 1500 mm) was used as a variable. Our results indicated that separation distances of 1000 and 1250 mm provided a fairly uniform temperature distribution; however, with a separation distance of 1500 mm, the temperature between the copper plates in the central area was low.