Analysis of entransy dissipation thermal resistance and heat transfer efficiency of electrical heating snow-melting pavement

Abstract

The electric heating pavement can accurately control the heating area and temperature to melt snow or ice on the pavement. However, both climate change and the pavement layer’s thermal properties can impact the pavement’s internal and surface temperatures. Improving heat transfer within the electric heating system so that generated heat can effectively be transferred to the pavement surface, as well as measuring its heat transfer efficiency remains a challenge. This study aims to apply entransy dissipation theory to establish an energy balance equation for snow-melting pavements. Twelve types of pavement structure models are designed using the finite element method. The entransy dissipation thermal resistance ($R_t$) and heat transfer rate ($Q_{\phi }$) of different electrically heated pavement structures were analyzed. Results indicate that thermal insulation cable models exhibit higher heat transfer performance and snow melting efficiency compared to the without insulation, with the temperature being transferred to road surfaces within the 2100 s in this arrangement scheme. Additionally, embedding cables causes changes in temperature and temperature gradient within structure layers. The entransy dissipation thermal resistance of upper layers ranges from 0.1 °C/W to 0.6 °C/W, while lower layers range from 0.03 °C/W to 0.45 °C/W. The temperature rise of the insulation layer embedded in the asphalt concrete(AC) layer is 1.709 times higher than that of the heat transfer rate without insulation, and the snow melting is increased by 2.139 times.