Absorbed heat in pavements leads to enhanced pavement temperature and subsequent rutting. Strategies of preventive maintenance are largely missing, and existing methodologies of repair are expensive and energy intensive. An alternative strategy involving flowing water under the pavement coupled with heat spreaders allows reduction in pavement temperature and therefore prevention of rutting. The objective of the this study is to understand the interaction between thermal properties of novel heat spreading materials, asphalt mixture, piping material and the subsequent temperature and structural response of the roadways. The goal is to utilize this understanding to develop an optimum system of appropriate heat spreader and pipes that could be used to minimize the temperature in asphalt pavements under hot climatic conditions, and allow harvesting of heat energy and reduce heat radiated from the pavement. The scope of work consists of theoretical and experimental work with small and large scale models. The results from small scale models will be utilized for building theoretical models, and the predicted results from the theory will be validated with tests on large scale models.
This research will help in the design of ?smart pavements? that are more sustainable from a resource utilization standpoint. Undergraduate students will gain experience in this research through the observation and experimentation and also as assistants in research resulting from collaboration. All of the experimental steps will be documented and recorded using digital video, which will be used for undergraduate and graduate level classroom instruction on instrumentation, heat transfer and fluid flow.
