Comparing Deicing Methods of Asphalt/Cement Concrete Pavements

One of the issues facing the transportation system regarding paved suburban roads and airport runways is the icing of the pavement surface, which may lead to accidents. Hence, numerous studies have been conducted to identify which methods to apply to address this phenomenon. Historically, the conventional method to combat this has been to spread sa lt together with abrasives (sand and gravel) over the pavement surface. Given the corrosive nature of salt as well as the breaking of big ice slabs into smaller pieces, which have the risk of being kicked out and thrown by airplane tires, this method cannot be applied on airport runways. Due to environmental issues, the use of salt is also not recommended. New methods based on thermal energy are the most recent and appropriate ones in this area. Considering the number of different methods, as well as their pros and cons, specific research are needed in this regard to choose the best method in different conditions. In this paper, using a data gathering procedure, conventional together with modern deicing techniques were introduced. Furthermore, given the fact that currently the most widely applied deicing method is to use different chemical substances as deicing agents (deicers), they were introduced in detail, and by investigating their experimental characteristics under the tests of ice melting capacity, ice penetration, and weight loss of concrete specimen in the presence of a deicer in successive cycles, the materials with a better performance were identified. Finally, calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) was revealed to show the best performance among different chemical substances.