Study on the snow-melting model based on hydronic heating for bridge deck

To solve the problem of bridge structure corrosion and environment pollution, a new type of snow-melting by embedding heating pipes in the bridge deck was presented based on hydronic heating. Then its mathematical and physical model was developed on energy conservation law and the numerical solution in two-dimensional steady-state was obtained by finite-element analysis method. Simulation results showed that the temperature and heat flux on upper surface of bridge distributed nonlinearly, and the unevenness of the distribution decreased when increasing space between two pipes. It was more reasonable to treat upper surface boundary condition by using the methods given in the paper than using traditional methods, at the condition of small embedded pipe's depth and large space. The required heating fluid temperature increased nonlinearly with the increasing of pipe space and embedded depth. And the least heat loss of upper and lower surface was achieved through optimizing the embedded depth of the pipe, when there was no heat-preserving treatment.