PFI-RP: Materials and System Design for Thermal management in Asphalt Pavements Using Solar-Geothermal Energy award

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is to advance a new cost-effective, safe, and sustainable technology to reduce the surface temperature variation for enhancing the safety, lifespan, and service quality of pavements. Asphalt pavements are damaged or degraded by strong summer sunlight or winter snow plows and salts/sands. The proposed architecture is such that in summer, heat is harvested and stored in geothermal wells to prevent road softening and rutting; in winter, the heat is pumped to the surface for ice/snow removal and low-temperature crack mitigation. This technology can be used in driveways, parking lots, highway ramps, and other surfaces, and in the longer term can be extended to other infrastructure surfaces, including building envelopes, airports, and bridges. This convergent approach to critical needs in civil infrastructure will also be extended into coursework for hybrid teaching, and the student recruitment and outreach program will promote STEM participation and entrepreneurial leadership from women and under-represented groups.

The proposed project uses a heat exchange system to connect a pavement with a geothermal heat well to regulate the pavement surface temperature by the vast thermal mass of the earth. It integrates experimental mechanics, materials engineering, civil engineering, and fluid system design to evaluate: 1) seasonal heat storage and utilization through thermal management with bi-directional geothermal energy utilization; 2) the lifespan extension of pavement overlays because of the favorable temperature ranges; 3) material design and optimization for life-cycle performance improvement. The energy and mass transfer through the system with time will be simulated by the Green’s function technique and validated by experimentally.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.