Developing Anti-Icing Airfield Runways Using Conductive Concrete with Renewable Energy

Snow, ice, and slush runway conditions significantly impact aircraft landing and takeoff safety. Although airport operators do an excellent job in maintaining runway safety during winter conditions, snow removal is costly and significantly impacts aircraft scheduling. This article presents using an alternative approach for snow removal with solar energy coupled with conductive concrete to develop an anti-icing airfield runway. By maintaining the runway slab surface at an above-freezing temperature, snow and ice accumulation are prevented. An anti-ice runway slab was developed during this Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) study at the University of Arkansas Engineering Research Center by supplying direct current (DC) energy from a photovoltaic energy system to a conductive concrete pavement overlay. The conductive concrete mix used for the overlay was developed during this study and is presented in this article. Experiments were conducted by supplying energy to test panels and investigating surface temperature changes. The article identifies the difficulties in developing an anti-icing system that incorporates solar energy and conductive concrete.