Laboratory simulation of frost on a pavement column inside a freezer under a controlled environment.

Meteorological factors like air and dew point temperature and relative humidity levels influence a pavement surface's response to rapidly increasing air temperature combined with freezing conditions. This scenario can result in black ice. Black ice is dangerous due to its thinness and transparency. Understanding the conditions for black ice development benefits winter pavement maintenance by limiting chemical overuse and forming a basis for warning systems. However, limited experimental data on this weather scenario exists. A fully instrumented model column was built using soil and a concrete pavement slab obtained from the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airport. The column duplicated the airport pavement structure and subgrade. The system was placed in a freezer box and wrapped in insulation. The weather scenarios simulated historic airport weather involving freezing temperatures followed by rapid temperature increases and high relative humidity. After multiple baseline tests, two successfully replicated the rapid temperature increase scenario. The formation of frost on the pavement surface occurred 40 min after condensation developed combined with a surface temperature of −2°C and dew point temperatures above 0°C. The results of this study provide insight into frost development on pavement and is useful in implementing proactive winter pavement maintenance for black ice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]