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

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.