A more sustainable approach for producing less expensive electrically conductive concrete mixtures: Experimental and FE study

For pavement and bridges in cold regions, cost reduction is an important requirement in the wide applicability of snow- melting and de-icing systems. In their previous work, the authors have investigated the mixing design, electrothermal behavior and measurement methods of electrically conductive concrete (ECON) containing recycled nano carbon black (RNCB). In this study, 45 x 45 x 5 cm ECON specimens containing 20 wt% RNCB and 0.5 vol%, 0.75 vol% and 1 vol% CF have been produced. Despite the high dosage of RNCB, satisfying compressive strengths have been obtained for cylinder specimens produced from all three different mixtures. Although the cost of the specimen containing 0.5% CF was lower than the others, no significant difference was observed between the heat test results. Using the electrical properties of mixture containing 0.5% CF, an ECON de-icing system has been simulated on a real scale with Abaqus program, as finite element (FE) method. By defining different voltages, temperature-time relationships have been investigated. The temperature results of the slab modeled at the same power have been confirmed by experimental results.