Experimental study of ice melting of concrete permeable brick sidewalks using embedded carbon fibre heating wire

Abstract

Electric heating methods have been proven to be effective means to melt ice on sidewalks and bridge decks. However, sidewalks are covered with permeable concrete bricks separated by gaps, which differ from surfaces of roads and bridge decks. Therefore, it is necessary to study methods of melting ice on sidewalks. In this paper, a method for melting ice on sidewalks based on carbon fibre heating wire (CFHW) is proposed. The experiments compare the effects of various environment temperatures, wind speeds, and energising voltages and spacings of CFHW on the surface temperature and melting of ice on sidewalk specimens. The transfer law of heat energy produced by CFHW inside the specimen and the effect of sealing concrete brick holes with a thermal conductive silicone grease in ice melting sidewalks are analysed. The results show that the proposed method has good ice melting performance on sidewalks.