NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF A GEOTHERMAL SNOW-MELTING SYSTEM ON A TYPICAL BRIDGE

Document Type : Research Note

Authors

1 Islamic Azad University - Karaj Unit.

2 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Sharif University of Technology

3 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Khaje Nasir Toosi University of Technology

Abstract

A geothermal snow melting system consists of hydronic tubes embedded at critic.al points of roads, highways and bridges. A fluid can be heated by using a ground source heat pump system (GSHP) and circulated through the embedded pipes to pre­vent freezing conditions on the surface. The goal of this paper is to find practical techniques to de­ crease the operation time of heat pumps to save en­ ergy. This paper consists of a 2D parametric simu­ lation of a typical bridge, considering the weather of Tehran.This imulation contains different paramet­ ric. inputs, like physical propert ies and geographical conditions.One important c.haracterist ic. of this pa­ per is the c.onsideration of different layers and ma­ terials in the bridge.

Keywords