Design of electrically conductive asphalt concrete

Since early times, the most important problems in road transport have been the closure of roads due to icing and snow accumulation. There are two different approaches to anti-icing: passive (traditional) and active (new technology) methods. The use of active methods to prevent icing is increasing day by day. Traditional methods have many negative aspects. The most effective way to eliminate such problems is to use sustainable and environmentally friendly anti-icing methods that are activated by intelligent systems before snowfall. Within the scope of this thesis work, it is aimed to develop conductive Asphalt Concrete (CAC) with electrical conductivity to prevent snow accumulation and icing on road surfaces. Conventional asphalt concrete has an insulating property due to its content, but asphalt concrete can be converted into an electrically conductive material with some conductive materials added to the mixture. If an electrical current is passed from the pavement, due to pavement behaves as a resistance, the temperature increases in the pavement, and thus the formation of icing on the road surface can be prevented the system is by using together with intelligent technologies. In this thesis, it was aimed to determine and design the asphalt mix combination which has the most efficient electrical conductivity, and a two-stage study was performed. In the first stage, CAC specimens with 25 different aggregate and conductive component contents were produced and the resistivity on them, temperature increase under constant (30 volt DC) electrical voltage and specimen temperature changes measured against constant heat source were determined. As a result of these experiments, Marshall design experiments were performed for selected series (2.1, 4.1 and 4.3) and optimum bitumen percentages, Marshall stability - flow properties were determined and how electrical conductivity changed according to bitumen percentage was determined. As a result of the study, asphalt samples were developed which are very high in electrical conductivity, also have environmentally friendly and the engineering properties meet to TCK specifications (2013). It was concluded that the CAC specimens can be used as an anti-icing system.