Microwave heating and deicing efficiency for asphalt concrete with SiC–Fe3O4 microwave enhanced functional layer

A method of deicing using microwave heating is proposed to make scientific and economical road deicing in a cold area, and to make up for deficiencies in the existing methods for melting snow and ice. This paper proposes to define microwave deicing efficiency as the heating rate of a concrete surface when heated to 0 °C (the efficiency of deicing is equal to the difference divided by heating time, which is between 0 °C and the initial temperature at the junction of ice and concrete). Based on the mechanism of microwave heating and deicing, a method combining the finite element simulation model with indoor experiments was proposed to study the deicing efficiency of microwaves, and the effects of different microwave frequencies and different road structure materials on microwave deicing efficiency were analyzed. The results show that the microwave frequency and road structure materials have a great influence on microwave deicing. For asphalt concrete, the ice melting efficiency of 5.8 GHz is 4.31 times that of 2.45 GHz, but the heating depth is less than that of 2.45 GHz. At 2.45 GHz, the melting efficiency of cement concrete is 3.89 times that of asphalt concrete. At 5.8 GHz, the melting efficiency of cement concrete is 5.23 times that of asphalt concrete. Through the consistency of the simulation and experimental results, the validity of the simulation model based on the finite element theory is verified. The results provide theoretical guidance and a practical basis for future applications of microwave deicing.

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Accelerated Healing in Asphalt Concrete via Laboratory Microwave Heating

Journal of Testing and Evaluation ◽

10.1520/jte20170621 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 20170621 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Haopeng Wang ◽

Jun Yang ◽

Guoyang Lu ◽

Xueyan Liu

Keyword(s):

Microwave Heating ◽

Asphalt Concrete

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The Prospect of Microwave Heating: Towards a Faster and Deeper Crack Healing in Asphalt Pavement

Processes ◽

10.3390/pr9030507 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 507

Author(s):

Shi Xu ◽

Xueyan Liu ◽

Amir Tabaković ◽

Erik Schlangen

Keyword(s):

Microwave Heating ◽

Asphalt Concrete ◽

Asphalt Pavement ◽

Asphalt Mixture ◽

Heating Time ◽

Porous Asphalt ◽

Heating Efficiency ◽

Healing Effect ◽

Uneven Heating ◽

Porous Asphalt Concrete

Microwave heating has been shown to be an effective method of heating asphalt concrete and in turn healing the damage. As such, microwave heating holds great potential in rapid (1–3 min) and effective damage healing, resulting in improvement in the service life, safety, and sustainability of asphalt pavement. This study focused on the microwave healing effect on porous asphalt concrete. Steel wool fibres were incorporated into porous asphalt to improve the microwave heating efficiency, and the optimum microwave heating time was determined. Afterwards, the microwave healing efficiency was evaluated using a semi–circular bending and healing programme. The results show that the microwave healing effect is largely determined by the steel fibre content and the mix design of the porous asphalt concrete.. Besides, the uneven heating effect of microwave contributes to an unstable damage recovery in the asphalt mixture, which makes it less efficient than induction heating. However, microwaves exhibited the ability to penetrate further into the depth of the test specimen and heat beneath the surface, indicating deeper damage recovery prospects.

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