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The National Academies

NCHRP IDEA 20-30/IDEA 239 [Completed (IDEA)]

A Real-Time Ice Warning System Empowered by Dielectric Ice Sensors for Bridges
[ NCHRP 20-30 (NCHRP-IDEA) ]

  Project Data
Funds: $135000
Staff Responsibility: Inam Jawed
Research Agency: University of Texas at Arlington
Principal Investigator: Xinbao Yu
Effective Date: 7/1/2022
Completion Date: 12/31/2024
Fiscal Year: 2021

Highway bridges freeze before roads because they lack thermal insulation underneath. Black ice on the bridge decks causes more weather-related deaths and injuries each year than all other severe weather events combined. This project developed a novel real-time active ice warning system for bridge decks. The system includes a sensor that uses the dielectric constant of the surface media to determine the pavement surface condition by time domain reflectometry (TDR). An automatic algorithm was developed for signal analysis and a control module to activate the warning lights when ice or the potential of ice is present. The system is integrated with the National Weather Service (NWS) feed to activate the system when specified weather parameters are met. After the design, fabrication, testing, and optimization of the TDR probe sensors, initial testing was done under controlled conditions inside a freezer box. Integration with the NWS weather feed was accomplished by designing an activation program that would collect input parameters from the user to define the location of the system and the program to be run. The system is equipped with remote access that is secure and reliable via a router and static IP address. Automatic analysis of the signal was established using a C++ script for parsing data in combination with Selenium Python for automated waveform data download. Dielectric constant and surface temperature parameters were determined by analyzing phase diagrams created using controlled testing data. The warning system prototype, consisting of the developed sensor, automated TDR signal analysis with NWS data trigger, and the lighted warning sign, was installed in the field at a site on the Oregon Institute of Technology campus for testing over the winter season. Several successful demonstrations of the warning system were performed, indicating its reliability and the methodology of TDR for characterizing pavement surface conditions.

The Final Report is available here.

 

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