Evaluating the Performance of Selected Deicers Through On-Site Real-Time Road Test |Biomedgrid

Winter roadway maintenance operation is crucial for traffic safety. Deicers are commonly used to remove ice formed on roadways. In this paper, we proposed a new method to evaluate and compare the performance of different deicers. With the help of Road Weather Information System from PennDoT, the roadway friction changes after applying deicers were recorded along with the other variables including ground temperature, air temperature, snow layer thickness, relative humidity, barometric pressure, precipitation in 1 hour, wind Speed, deicer application rate and deicer type. A large amount of data could be easily collected. A linear regression model was fitted to predict the performance of each deicer and to compare the performances of different deicers. Another field test on parking lot was also conducted as a comparison. Two rankings from the two methods matched well with each other. Our work could provide a convenient and effective method for deicer evaluation especially suitable for governments but could be extended to a universal method.