Modelling of anti-icing systems with geothermal energy for highway pavements

According to the World Health Organization data, deaths and injuries as a result of accidents on highways emerge as a serious public health problem and economic and social costs become one of the most important problem to be solved for every country. Due to weather conditions and icing in winter, serious numbers of traffic accidents occur which leads a considrable economic and social losses in the cold climates regions. The time and labor expenses spend in anti icing are quite burdensome, and also the damage to the road surface and elements during the snow and ice struggle is considered within the scope of maintenance and repair works and it is not included in this snow and ice fighting costs. Therefore, the economic cost of snow and ice fight is quite high. In these days, in a struggle of reduction of our dependence on foreign energy consumption, it is inevitable to use our existing resources more efficient way. Although, Turkey, that is the seventh richest country in the world, has the huge potential of geothermal energy is limited in areas where can use our resources. High energy generating geothermal resources are primarily used for electricity generation, and the geothermal source energy returning from here can be used in residential or greenhouse heating. Again, the energy resulting from this geothermal home heating cannot be wasted, it is only converted into energy with lower availability. Within the scope of this study, the quality of the energy will be reused for the snow and ice prevention systems within the scope of eliminating the negativities that occur in our highways during the winter months without wasting, and the geothermal energy will be used effectively and will be benefited for the third time. In the study, it has been shown that the formation of ice and snow can be prevented by circulating geothermal spring waters through pe-x pipes placed underneath of the asphalt pavement layer. After the experiments on 4 identical asphalt samples under real weather conditions, the data were collected and evaluated. Geothermal resource simulation has been achieved by using an electric boiler. A data logger and 8 temperature measuring thermocouples were used for data recording. As a result of the study, it has been shown that by using geothermal resources, icing on highways can be prevented before it occurs with the use of our own resources in tunnel entrances, ramps, horizontal and vertical curves and bridge sections. The study suggests that, a system solution that has been proposed to anti icing and snow which is a huge problem in the cold winter months on highways. It has been demonstrated that geothermal resources, which are both renewable and local resources that can be used in fighting snow and ice for road safety and the prevention of the damage caused by the salt and chemicals used on highway pavements and the environmental distruction, therefore, a significant contribution to the highway safety and performance.