STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Each month, or every other month, a student will provide a 1-page illustrated abstract of the research they are currently conducting. This is a wonderful opportunity for the student, for our International Society for Concrete Pavements (ISCP) Members, and for the transferring and sharing technology/research through our concrete paving industry.
The ISCP “STUDENT RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT” for July 2022 is Amir Malakooti, a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering at Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa, USA).
BIO:
Amir Malakooti is a Civil Engineering Ph.D. candidate at Iowa State University (ISU), majoring both in Intelligent Infrastructure Engineering and Civil Engineering Materials under the supervision of Dr. Halil Ceylan. He also has received a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation from Ivy College of Business at ISU. He is currently working as a Research Engineer at Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center as he is finishing his Ph.D. journey.
His Ph.D. study has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), and Iowa Highway Research Board (IHRB). Amir had the opportunity to write a research proposal and secure funding from NSF for part of his Ph.D., and serve as co-principal investigator. In addition, Amir was awarded the 2021 ASTM International Emerging Professional, 2020 FAA PEGASAS Outstanding Student Researcher, and numerous academia and industry awards during his Ph.D. study at ISU.
TITLE:
Electrically Conductive Concrete Heated Pavement System
Many transportation agencies annually allocate significant time and resources to remove ice and snow from their paved surfaces to achieve a safe, accessible, and operational transportation network. For example, U.S. freeways, including interstates, experience 5 to 40 percent average speed reduction and 12 to 27 percent mobilization capacity reduction during snow and ice precipitation. Since 70 percent of U.S. roads (115,000 miles of highways) are in snowy regions, 21 percent of car crashes each year are weather-related (FHWA 2020). Flight delays in airports, one-third of which are weather-related, especially impact the U.S. economy during the winter season. It has been estimated that the U.S. air transportation sector in 2019 incurred 33 billion dollars of revenue loss due to flight delays alone, and the estimated cost per minute of such delays in 2019 was $74.24 (Airlines for America 2019; FAA APO-100 2019). Current winter maintenance practices include using snowplowing and de-icing chemicals, all of which are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and environmentally unfriendly.
The U.S. consumed 22.8 million metric tons of rock salt (43% of total U.S. salt consumption and about 153 lb per American) for roadway de-icing purposes in 2020, a 2,300 percent increase from 1960 (Bolen 2020). Salt and de-icing chemicals contaminate soil, surface runoff, and groundwater and impact the ecological system. De-icing not only affects the ecosystem but also speeds up the corrosion process of America’s aging infrastructure. It has been estimated that the corrosion damage from salting highways alone costs the U.S. about $5 billion USD per year (Vox 2015).
Our innovation, an Electrically Conductive Concrete (ECON) Heated Pavement System (HPS), is a smart, promising, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional snow and ice removal, enhancing the sustainability and resiliency of the transportation infrastructure network. ECON HPS represents an effort for electrification and automation of winter maintenance of transportation infrastructure systems to reduce the environmental impact of de-icing chemicals on the surrounding ecosystem. ECON HPS utilizes the inherent electrical resistance of concrete to maintain the pavement surface above freezing and thus prevent snow and ice accumulation on the surface. Our overall goal with this innovative technology is to keep the transportation infrastructure systems safe, open, and accessible during winter weather events in a resilient and sustainable manner. The key components of ECON HPS technology include an ECON layer (heating element), electrodes, temperature sensors, electrical wiring, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) conduits, control system, and power supply. This technology can be either constructed as an overlay on top of an existing pavement system if the pavement is in good condition, or as a top layer of a two-lift paving for a new construction.
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ISCP would like to feature a “STUDENT RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT” each month, or every other month. If you would like to nominate a student, or if you are a student and would like to nominate yourself or a colleague, please send ISCP an email to: newsletter@concretepavements.org
ALL SPOTLIGHTS:
DECEMBER 2021—Inaugural: Katelyn Kosar, Phd Student-Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt): www.concretepavements.org/2021/12/14/new-at-iscp-student-research-spotlight/
JANUARY 2022: Aniruddha Baral, Ph.D. Candidate-Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign: www.concretepavements.org/2022/01/15/student-research-spotlight-jan-2022/
FEBRUARY 2022: Jordan Ouellet, Tech, BEng, MASc, PhD Candidate, Teaching and Research Assistant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: www.concretepavements.org/2022/02/26/student-research-spotlight-february-2022/
MARCH 2022: Sampath Kumar Pasupunuri, Ph.D. candidate, Pavement Engineering-School of Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK: https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/03/31/student-research-spotlight-march-2022/
APRIL 2022: Anupam B R, Pursuing his doctorate-Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India: https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/04/15/student-research-spotlight-april-2022
MAY 2022: Andréia Posser Cargnin, Ph.D. Candidate, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil): https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/05/09/student-research-spotlight-may-2022/
JUNE 2022: Charles Donnelly, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, USA): https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/06/24/student-research-spotlight-june-2022/